Archive

Ownership of Batavia's Ellicott Hall was questionable for over 60 years of its life.

Old Photo Album: Batavia’s Route to Becoming a City: 11 Years in the Making

As Batavia celebrates its centennial in 2015, city historian Larry Barnes shares a collection of images of the community from the beginning of the 20th century.

Fighting the Demon Drink in Fredonia: The Women’s Temperance Crusade

Not everyone in Western New York in the late 1800s was a fan of the drink. Fredonia’s Women’s Temperance Union took a stand against alcohol in December 1873, successfully closing many drinking establishments and laying the roots for the national W.C.T.U..

A Matter of Light and Death: Buffalo & the Electric Chair

Before Buffalo earned the title, “City of Light” the city had a more sinister brush with electricity.

Enemies, Foreign and Domestic: A Century of Anarchy on the Niagara Frontier

From the McKinley assassination to the Lackawanna Six, Western New York has seen its share of seditious activity, both real and imagined.

Buffalo Takes on the Ku Klux Klan

In the early 1920s, the city and its mayor, Francis X. Schwab, took a dramatic stand against a resurgent Ku Klux Klan that boasted thousands of local members.

Frontier Justice: Lawyers Comes West

From sensational murder trials to cultural disputes with the Seneca Indians, Buffalo attorney Jacek Wysocki chronicles the development of law and the legal profession on the Western New York frontier.

Snatched from Time: The Trial and Execution of David D. How for the Murder of Othello Church

Snatched from time is the phrase David How used to refer to his taking of the life of Othello Church. It's also what the gallows did to How.

Western New York Heritage

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