Not long ago, someone asked about the Rialto Theater that once stood at the southeast corner of Walnut and Pine streets in Lockport. It was recently featured on the Niagara History Center Facebook page. While looking into the history of a property, it is always interesting to learn what was on the site before and after a particular structure was there.
On the 1851 map of the village of Lockport, the earliest one that includes names, the southeast corner of Walnut and Pine is occupied by Dr. C. Hill. A quick check of the 1856 Lockport Directory reveals his first name as “Caleb.” He was born in Orwell, Vermont, in 1802 and graduated from the Vermont Academy of Medicine in 1827. Dr. Hill was still living in Vermont in 1830 at about which time he married Fannie Bacon; their son and only child, Linnaeus, was born in 1832. In 1840, the family was residing in Ridgeway in Orleans County. When Dr. Hill moved to Lockport is unclear, but he was there by 1850. In an 1890 reminiscence in the Lockport Daily Journal, it is stated that, “Dr. Hill, formerly in company with Dr. J. H. Helmer, lived here for some years and built the home now occupied by James Jackson, Jr….”
Not much could be learned about Dr. Hill’s tenure in Lockport. At least one local physician, Dr. Peter Faling of Gasport, wrote that he had studied under Dr. Hill in Lockport in the 1850s. One lasting connection the Hills had to this area was their daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Van Horn. She was the daughter of John Van Horn and granddaughter of James Van Horn of Newfane. Linnaeus and Elizabeth married in 1856 and moved to Brooklyn. Dr. and Mrs. Hill sold the house at Walnut and Pine a year later and also moved to Brooklyn where Dr. Hill died in 1863 at the age of 61.
Before Dr. Hill left Lockport, his house and property were purchased for $7,000 by his partner, Dr. Josiah H. Helmer, who, within a short time, sold it to Dr. Samuel S. Thorn for the same amount (about $270,000 in 2024). In 1860, Dr. Thorn sued Dr. Helmer for selling him the property “above its estimated value.” Thorn won a $1,000 ($38,500) judgment against Helmer. Dr. Thorn did not keep the property for very long and soon moved to Toledo, Ohio.
The next owner of the house was James Jackson, Jr. The address was 33 Walnut Street (later changed to 106 Walnut) and Jackson would reside there for 30 years until his death in 1891. He was born January 26, 1825 in Medina, where he also married Lizzie Gurden, in 1845, and his only child, J. Carl, was born a year later. The family moved to Lockport in about 1855 and Jackson opened his first lumber yard at Clinton and Mill streets a few years later. Lizzie died in 1861 and Jackson later married Emily Fitch.
By the mid-1860s, Jackson was involved in the political life of the village. He was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Democrat representing Lockport for one term in 1864. Three years later he was elected Mayor of Lockport for one term. He ran for the 29th New York District in the U.S. Congress in 1868 and was defeated. In 1873, Jackson was elected a New York State Canal Commissioner for a three-year term. He re-entered politics in 1886 when he ran again for Congress, this time in the 33rd District. His opponent was Civil War hero Col. John B. Weber of Buffalo, who won the election. Following this defeat, Jackson retired from politics and concentrated on his business and community activities.
In 1872, Jackson acquired the Van Valkenburgh lumber mill on East Market Street, about where Widewaters is today. This greatly increased his business as well as his assets; the 1870s was a good decade for him. He improved and expanded both of his lumber mills as well as his home and property at Walnut and Pine streets.
A sketch of Jackson’s house in the 1878 Illustrated History of Niagara County shows a quaint Gothic-style home with gingerbread trim. The home and property were the scene of many social and charity events. By the 1870s, Jackson had turned the mill businesses over to his son, J. Carl, but he retained offices in several other companies including president of the Farmers’ & Mechanics’ Bank, treasurer of the Merchant’s Gargling Oil Company, vice-president of the Lockport Pulp Company, as well as member of the boards of the Holly Manufacturing Company, the Union Printing & Publishing Company and several others. Jackson died suddenly of a stroke on March 6, 1891, at the age of 66, in the Gilsey House Hotel while on a business trip to New York City. His body was brought back to Lockport for burial in Cold Spring Cemetery.
Following Jackson’s death, his wife Emily remained in the home for a few years but later moved just across Walnut Street to the Blackley Flats Apartments. There were reports in the newspapers that the Jackson property was being considered for development including an apartment building in 1895, and the new Federal Building/Post Office in 1899. Neither project came to fruition and the home was turned into a boarding house. In 1912, the property was sold at public auction for back taxes. Emily Jackson died the following year, on January 14, 1913, at the age of 72. Six months later the house was heavily damaged in a fire caused by a flying ember from another fire on Buffalo Street. This ended the story of the nearly 65-year-old, once beautiful home.
By the end of 1913, Lockport entertainment mogul Henry Thurston, who already owned the Temple Theater on Walnut Street, announced plans to build an open “Airdome” on the former Jackson property, primarily to hold sporting events. A few years later, he enclosed the arena, calling it Thurston’s “Auditorium.” With the growing popularity of motion pictures, Thurston once again transformed his venue at Walnut and Pine streets, this time into the Rialto Theater. The business was operated by the Schine Corporation. The new theater opened on November 11, 1924 to two sold out shows, with 1,500 people for each show, and a crowd of at least that number waiting to get into each performance. Gloria Swanson in “Wages of Virture” was the first movie presented there.
A novelty of the new theater was the chance for the audience to see themselves on the big screen in the “Civic and Industrial Review of Lockport,” which featured films of the city’s business, industrial, retail and public places. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, even with competition from the Hi-Art and the Palace, the Rialto continued to attract a crowd with first-run movies and short features. The theater was remodeled and updated over the years and the main entrance was moved from Pine Street to the Walnut Street side.
The last year the Rialto was in operation was in 1957. It was torn down in 1962 for a parking lot for the nearby M & T Bank. Later a small branch bank was built on the site.