Historic photos, particularly of places that no longer exist or have changed over time, offer a snapshot into the past. Sometimes an image is intriguing because you’re not sure what is actually going on in the photo. In the Niagara History Center collection there are several photos without a date or description that you have try and piece together with whatever information you can find. The photo that accompanies today’s installment of Niagara Discoveries is one example.
When looking at the image, it is easy to focus just on the firefighter near the top of the ladder. What exactly is he doing up there? He is holding something in his hands that could be a camera; he is also not holding on to the ladder as the man below him is. Although the photo is undated it must have been taken after April of 1946 as that is when Lockport Fire Department purchased a new Seagrave aerial truck with an 88-foot extension ladder. An open house was held on April 29, 1946 at the fire house on Richmond Avenue with ladder demonstrations using the Masonic Building as the “fire” site.
This photo was probably taken during summertime; the exact year is unknown but from the automobiles, it appears to be the late 1940s. The truck served LFD for 25 years until a new aerial truck was purchased in 1971.
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In the left of the photo you can see the William H. Upson Coal Company office building. Upson came to Lockport while working as an agent for the Erie Railroad in the 1860s. According to a plaque on the building, the coal company was founded in 1877 and the stone office building was erected in 1902 by William’s son Charles A. Upson. The coal and wood yard was located on Hawley and Caledonia streets where the Erie Railroad crossed the intersection.
The company sold Jeddo, Highland, Leigh Valley and Upson Star Anthracite Coal, and it had an unusual invoice. In large red and black capital letters across the top half it reads: THIS IS A STATEMENT OF ___(name of debtor)___ INDEBTEDNESS TO WILLIAM H. UPSON ISSUED FROM THE FUEL MARKET OF THE TOWN, BY THE BIG BRIDGE. That would certainly get your attention to pay the bill.
In 1910, in anticipation of the expansion of the Erie Canal into the Erie Barge Canal, as well as the need to widen the “Big Bridge” at Cottage Street, the 440-ton stone Upson office building was moved 32 feet to the west to accommodate the enlarged waterway and span. William H. Upson died in 1924 and the company was operated by his son W. Edward Upson until 1952 when the coal and wood yard was sold to Farley Trucking Co. The Upson family also sold off the office building but in 1985 it came back into the family when William H. Upson’s great-grandson, Henry W. Schmidt, purchased and restored the structure for use as his law office.
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Though not directly connected to Lockport, the Simon Pure Beer sign is prominent in the photo. The brewery was founded in 1896 when William Simon took over the John Schusler brewery (1859) at Clinton and Emslie streets in Buffalo. It was constructed on top of 12 West Main Street, on a brick building that is still there today. A photo caption in the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal on Jan. 16, 1987, when the sign was being taken down, stated it had been put on the building in 1929. In 1936, a similar large neon Simon Pure sign went up in Niagara Falls atop the Oppenheim Building. Simon Pure struggled through the Depression by selling “near beers,” which could legally contain no more than .05% alcohol, as well as other non-alcoholic beverages. It reopened to full capacity at the end of Prohibition in 1933 and survived for another 40 years before going out of business in 1973 as the last full scale brewery left in Buffalo.
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On the right side of the photo is the Lox Plaza Hotel. A hostelry had stood on the spot since 1832. The first was the Eagle, and then the Tremont, in 1853. A year later, on Nov. 2, 1854, the Great Lockport Fire consumed the Tremont and at least 17 structures in the vicinity of Canal, Niagara and Church streets. A new Tremont Hotel was started on the site in 1855 but construction was halted by the economic Panic of 1857. It resumed two years later with a new owner, George Judson, and the place became known as “Judson House.” It was sold in 1863 to William Tenbrook who retained the name and expanded the hotel’s footprint. It continued as Judson House for 25 years, but after being sold again in 1888, the hotel had three owners and names in a little more than 10 years: the Grand, the Rheutan and the Stevens House.
By 1901, operating under yet another name, the “Kenmore,” the hotel had regained its former glory and prominence in the community. The next 30 years proved to be the heyday for the hotel despite the advent of Prohibition. The Kenmore was known for its exceptional cuisine. Shops lined the first floor. But all good things come to an end and by 1931 the hotel was in financial trouble again, as the Great Depression had arrived in Lockport. The Kenmore was sold to the Collins family who renamed it the Lox-Plaza Hotel.
There was a brief resurgence in the hotel in the 1940s and early 1950s but by the 1960s it had become more of a rooming house with boarders occupying the once posh rooms and suites. The city of Lockport purchased the hotel at auction for $42,000 in 1965. With the site already being considered for the new Municipal Building, the hotel was demolished in December 1966, after serving visitors and residents of Lockport for more than 100 years.