Lafayette Square, Buffalo - History

History

At one time, a rivulet flowed from Lafayette Square down Court Street where it eventually met a stream at Niagara and Mohawk Streets. The square hosted the Niagara County Courthouse from 1810 until it was destroyed by the British Army during the Burning of Buffalo during the War of 1812 on December 30, 1813. In 1831, the Holland Land Company gave the deed of the public park to the city.

The original Erie County court house was built facing the square park in 1818. Buffalo was the county seat of Niagara County until 1821, when Erie County was created. In 1833 an adjacent county jailhouse was added. The jail, which was crude, and a debtor's prison were located in the back of the courthouse. In 1853, the city fenced in the square and installed a US$30,000 ($838,080 today) fountain. Erie County Sheriff Grover Cleveland once personally hanged a criminal in the square when it was still named Court House Square, after his subordinates refused to do so. President-elect Abraham Lincoln spoke at the square on February 16, 1861. The courthouse was used as the place for the determination of justice for the American side of the Niagara River until it was abandoned on March 11, 1876.

A Cyrus Eidlitz Buffalo Public Library building was first erected on the Court House's location and dedicated on February 7, 1887. The current Buffalo & Erie County Public Library building that replaced Eidlitz's building was constructed between 1961 and 1963. Eidlitz had won an architectural competition against the likes of Henry Richardson, who was regarded as the nation’s top architect at the time. The gargoyles of the Romanesque Eidlitz building were widely respected and admired. However, they were not saved due to prohibitive expense at the time of the early 1960s demolition.

In 1825 American Revolutionary War veteran and French General Lafayette visited this square during his historic tour of the United States and gave a speech in the square. He spoke on a platform in front of the Eagle Tavern, a highly-regarded hotel in its day, on June 4 as part of ceremonies to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the war. That same year, Buffalo carried out its last official public hanging when brothers Israel, Isaac and Nelson Thayer were hanged for murdering John Love, which some accounts say occurred in the square, while others say it was at Niagara Square. The square hosted many public meetings and early Erie County Fairs, such as the October 1841 fair that was held in the square and behind the courthouse.

In 1848, the Free Soil Party, which was absorbed into the Republican Party in 1854, held its national nominating convention in Buffalo. A the convention, the party selected former New York Governor and former United States President Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams as their nominees for United States President and United States Vice President for the 1848 election. Forty thousand people witnessed the event at the square. The square has hosted several notable speakers such as Henry Clay in 1842 and Daniel Webster in 1833.

The first meeting regarding the erection of a Civil War monument was held on April 14, 1866. Efforts stalled until Mrs. Horatio Seymour organized the Ladies Union Monument Association on July 2, 1874, which raised $12,000 ($246,494) and approved a design by George Keller. Following this proactive effort, the city of Buffalo approved an additional $45,000 ($924,353) for the project. Support for the monument effort coalesced when public interest in and support for an arch by Henry Hobson Richardson at Niagara Square in front of Buffalo City Hall faded. In 1879, the name of the square was changed from Court House Park to Lafayette Square.

Then-Mayor of Buffalo Grover Cleveland laid the cornerstone of Keller's 85-foot (25.9 m) granite-shaft Soldiers and Sailors monument in the center of the square on July 4, 1882 and returned as New York Governor to dedicate the monument July 4, 1884. When the cornerstone was laid with military pomp and Masonic ritual, Cleveland spoke, and a time capsule was sealed away. In addition, Brigadier General Stewart Woodford made remarks at the first ceremony. Woodford was among several notable people who attended the dedication, including Pennsylvania Governor John Hartranft and Brigadier General William Findlay Rogers. Columns of Union Army veterans marched down Main Street to celebrate the day.

The monument has survived two significant threats. First, in 1889, the foundation was found to have settled unevenly, causing a dangerous tilt similar to that of the Tower of Pisa. The square was cracking and crumbling due to an inadequate core of rubble and mortar to support the granite shaft and statuary. In addition the copper box time capsule was found to be three feet below its intended chamber and cracked with its contents destroyed. The monument was dismantled and rebuilt with an expanded 15-foot (4.6 m) base. On February 12, 1973, a motorist drove his vehicle into the monument, prompting calls for its demolition by 1982 by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. Instead, the monument was repaired through fundraising efforts by the Buffalo Civil War Round Table involving a successful public awareness campaign.