View from St. Paul’s Cathedral, 1870

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

Taken from scaffolding around St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1870, this photo offers a view that would have been familiar to anyone in Buffalo in 1880.

St. Paul’s still stands at the corner of Main and Church, but not much of what you see in this image is still there.

The two churches are long gone. The building on the left is the Washington Street Baptist Church, which was on the northeast corner of Washington and Swan. The spot is now parking for the Ellicott Square Building and the ball park.

The church on the right is St. John’s Episcopal Church. The congregation moved to Colonial Circle in 1893, and in 1906, the church was torn down to make way for Ellsworth Statler’s first downtown Buffalo hotel. That spot is now the plaza in front of the downtown ballpark.

The train sheds in the distance were a part of the original New York Central terminal on Exchange Street. The small Amtrak station and the I-190 stand in that spot now.

The buildings in the foreground were on Main Street and were torn down in 1895 to build what was then the world’s largest office building — the Ellicott Square Building.

From the 1880 map: St. Paul’s Cathedral is labelled No. 9, the Washington Street Baptist Church is No. 23, and the New York Central terminal is No. 37.

Torn-Down Tuesday: Statler’s Hotel Buffalo made way for Pilot Field

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

Jimmy Griffin’s dream-turned-reality for a downtown ballpark helped spur the rebirth of a Buffalo neighborhood and nearly brought a major league baseball team to Buffalo.

Mayor Griffin throws out the opening pitch at Pilot Field.

It was doing what might have seemed impossible for Buffalo on the face of it. A new, $56 million baseball stadium right in the middle of city that, over the previous decade, had become the butt of national jokes about blizzards, toxic waste and shuttered industry.

“We get screwed by the national media all the time,” said Irv Weinstein at the time. “Johnny Carson and those jerks.”

Mid 1970s, before Pilot Field was built.

But the new ballpark was different. People from all over the country came to look at how Pilot Field was built and how it worked. It helped bring about a renaissance in inner-city pro baseball not only in Buffalo, but around the country – most notably in Baltimore, where the Orioles and the city followed the lead of Buffalo and the Bisons when they built Camden Yards.

Major League Baseball was expanding by two teams, and Rich and the Bisons were players in the conversation up until the teams were eventually awarded to Denver and Tampa.

Big league dreams were never realized, but the opening of Pilot Field in 1988 was one of the early large-scale success stories that became a part of the new Buffalo story that’s still being written.

A 1985 aerial view of the parking lot where the Bisons’ home ballpark would be built in the coming years.

By the time the mid-1980s rolled around and the plans for what would become Pilot Field were well into the pipeline, the spot where Coca-Cola Field now stands was mostly a parking lot.

The most notable building that once stood there was the Hotel Buffalo – which was built by Ellsworth Statler in 1907 and was called the Hotel Statler until the much-larger building we still know as the Statler was opened in 1923.

A 1967 photo of The Hotel Buffalo, which originally opened as the Hotel Statler.

The Hotel Buffalo, on the southeast corner of Washington and Swan streets, was torn down in 1967, and soon thereafter, demolition also began on the other side of Washington Street for the Marine Midland Tower.

Ground was broken on the downtown ballpark in 1986. Since opening in 1988, the field will have its sixth official name when Coca-Cola’s naming rights sponsorship runs out at the end of this baseball season.

After 1967’s demolition of the Hotel Buffalo, before the 1970 construction of the Marine Midland Tower.

What it Looked Like Wednesday: Lost vista at Washington and Swan

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

The “wows” evoked by photos of lost vistas are often maudlin or tinged with nostalgia. This lost vista might instead inspire satisfaction in the progress in Buffalo over the last three decades.

Thirty years ago, standing behind the Ellicott Square Building, at Washington and South Division looking south toward Swan Street, the view of the I-190, Buffalo News building, and General Mills elevator was virtually unabated.

Buffalo Stories archives

The caption on the photo taken from a report on downtown’s retail core reads “View south down Washington toward the grain elevators.”

Significant development in this part of the city has placed useful civic buildings, including Coca-Cola Field and KeyBank Center, between South Division Street and General Mills.

Coca-Cola Field opened in 1988. For the previous 20 years, the southeast corner of Washington and Swan was a surface parking lot after the demolition of the Hotel Buffalo on the site.

The Hotel Buffalo was the first permanent hotel built by Ellsworth Statler and originally known as the Hotel Statler — until the more recent, larger hotel was built in Niagara Square. It was torn down in 1968.

Hotel Statler, later the Hotel Buffalo, at Washington and Swan. Now the site of Coca-Cola Field.

What it looked like Wednesday: Pilot Field, Marine Midland Arena and Rich Stadium

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

With new names appearing on two of Western New York’s three major sports facilities, BN Chronicles looks back at the umpteen names that have graced these venues since the mid-’90s when the ballpark and arena first opened.

The math: 28 years, 5 names (Buffalo News archives)

The math: 28 years, 5 names. (Buffalo News archives)

The downtown ballpark opened as Pilot Field in 1988. After Pilot Air Freight stopped making payments on the naming rights, it was billed simply as “The Downtown Ballpark” for part of the 1995 season, until it became North AmeriCare Park. In 1999, it was rechristened Dunn Tire Park, and in 2009, the signs were changed again to the current name, Coca-Cola Field.

The math: 20 years, 4 names (Steve Cichon/Buffalo Stories photo)

The math: 20 years, 4 names. (Steve Cichon/Buffalo Stories photo)

As it was being built, the structure that was replacing Memorial Auditorium was known as “The Crossroads Arena.” Before it opened, Marine Midland Bank bought the naming rights. Marine Midland Arena remained the name until 1999, when the bank was bought out by HSBC. HSBC Arena became First Niagara Center in 2011 when First Niagara bought out most of Buffalo’s HSBC branches. KeyBank is in the process of acquiring First Niagara right now, and the signage at the arena has begun to reflect that.

The math: 43 years, 4 names (Buffalo News archives)

The math: 43 years, 4 names. (Buffalo News archives)

Rich Products bought the naming rights to the Orchard Park home of the Bills in 1973 for $1.5 million. The rights weren’t renewed when the agreement expired in 1998. For part of that year’s football season, national and local media referred to the building as Bills Stadium. As a new lease was signed for the stadium in December 1998, Governor George Pataki persuaded Bills owner Ralph Wilson to allow the stadium to be named in the team owner’s honor.  It was announced this past weekend that New Era has purchased the stadium naming rights, and New Era Field will be the home of the Bills for seasons to come.

The Butcher and Preservation

By Steve Cichon | steve@buffalostories.com | @stevebuffalo

I was saddened to hear of the death of Donald Palmer, forever etched in Buffalo’s memory as “The Butcher.” He will remain forever one of Buffalo’s sports and pop culture icons. Rest in Peace. -Steve Cichon 11/22/16

BUFFALO, NY – I love preservation and giving current context to Buffalo’s old stuff. My attic is a testament to my single handed efforts at saving our city’s past.

Sometimes, though, I’m frustrated that we don’t celebrate things as a city until they are moments from the wrecking ball.

The Bisons have been here forever. They aren’t going anywhere. They have beer and peanuts and baseball. And a giant TV screen. Do we have to wait to show them massive amounts of Buffalove until they decide to move to Carolina with Carborundum or Arizona with Teds?

It’s hard to believe that the Bisons just wrapped up the 26th season of baseball at PilotNorthAmericareDunnTireCocaColaJimmyGriffin (sorry if I left one out) Field.

TheButcher1986

The Bisons’ Most Famous “Bat Boy”: The Butcher at War Memorial Stadium, “The Rockpile,” in 1986.

Also hard to believe: if any good Buffalonian were on Family Feud, and RichardDawsonRayCombsLouieAndersonTheGuyFrom-HomeImprovementJohnOHurleySteveHarvey (sorry if I left one out) asked, “Name a Bisons’ Bat Boy,” we’d all have an immediate number one answer.

No other baseball city in the country has a bat boy turned bat man who lasted through two baseball stadiums and became an icon like our Butcher, shown above in 1986 at War Memorial Stadium.

We love our Bills and Sabres, but our Bisons are a much more Buffalo organization at the heart of it.

Mayor Griffin’s brass ones built the ball park. He just started building it, and sending some of the bills to Albany. And they paid.

The most famous Bisons of the last few decades include the Butcher, Conehead, The Earl of Bud, Larry the peanut guy, and Irv from the 7th inning stretch.

For the record, that’s beer, beer, peanuts, and shouting obnoxious things in unison during Gary Glitter’s Rock’N Roll Part 2. There’s some genuine, real article Buffalove.

It’s too late now, but maybe next season we can get all hipster and act like we just unearthed this amazing gem that is soooo Buffalo that we need to go and look at it, and drink beer. It’s at Washington and Swan.

Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers worked in grain mills or steel plants and nothing will bring them back. But guess what? They also watched the Bisons at Offerman Field.

And many of us went with our dads to the Rockpile. And the “new” ballpark.

It’s like preservation, without having to strap yourself to anything!

I love finding new-old stuff to rally behind, but I like the old-old stuff, too.

So, I hope I’m not alone in grabbing my Red&Blue/Green&Red/Blue&Orange/backtoRed&Blue (sorry if I left one out) Bisons gear, and looking forward to opening day at a home grown institution that screams Buffalo by screaming “WHO NEEDS A BEER…”

Charge!

Originally appeared on Trending Buffalo on September 3, 2013