It seemed like Buffalo had it all at the turn of the century. Unlimited hydro electric power from Niagara, a location at the hub of an extensive, modern rail transportation network, cheap and abundant supply of European immigrant workers and hundreds of industrialists who had millions to invest in the future. By 1901 The Union Stock Yards, located along William Street and the tracks of the New York Central Railroad, was the second largest live stock processing site in the United States; third in the world. In 1904 it was estimated that over one hundred million dollars in business was being transacted at the site annually.
Amidst an environment of explosive industrial growth and personal profit, The Union Stock Yards Bank of Buffalo was organized.
“Buffalo is the only leading live stock markets in the country which has not a bank conveniently located at or within reasonable distance of its stock yards, and this in spite of the fact that Buffalo is the third largest live stock market in the world,” reported the Buffalo Times newspaper on March 20, 1904.
As a convenience for the business men of East Buffalo, a group of prominent bankers and stock men formed the Union Stock Yards Bank of Buffalo in 1904. Hiram Waltz, a partner in the live stock trading firm of Swope, Hughes, Waltz & Benstead, was named President. Board members included Alonzo C. Mathers, owner of the Mather Stock Car Company, Charles Dold, George Laub, and Eastside businessmen Stanislaus Lipowicz, John A. Eckhardt and John G. Stattler.
On November 10, 1904, with capital in excess of $150,000.00 the Bank opened with offices inside the Live Stock Exchange Building at the corner of William and Deport streets. The venture was an immediate success as “the location of this bank has proved of very valuable service to the large live-stock, manufacturing and whole and retail-houses in their immediate vicinity.” (Buffalo Express, September 9, 1905.) By 1906, the little bank on William Street was processing over $36,000,000.00 in transactions, which at the time was about 10% of the entire clearings of the city of Buffalo (Buffalo Express, July 22, 1906). By 1909, the bank was considered one of the fastest growing financial institutions in Buffalo and was quickly out growing its location across from the Stock Yards.
Looking for a high-profiled location to build its new headquarters, the Union Stock Yards Bank settled upon a site at the principal crossroads of the Eastside’s commercial district at Broadway & Fillmore Avenue. This location was a short streetcar ride from the primary financial district Downtown to the West and the lucrative Stock Yard District to the South. The land at the corner was owned by Joseph & David H. Coplon, who owned a wallpaper and paint store on Broadway. It would be the Coplons who would build the new building for the Union Stock Yards Bank.
In later years, it was said that the change of location of the Union Stock Yards Bank from William to Broadway and Fillmore Avenue was instrumental in bring about the remarkable growth and development of the City’s second largest business district.
The Bank’s Board of Directors and the Coplons choose architect Robert North (1883-1968), one of Western New York’s most prolific designers of ecclesiastic architecture, to build their “cathedral of commerce.” In 1910, North would also by commissioned by the Coplons to build an adjacent retail and office building to complete the development of their corner of Broadway.
North set out to design a two story, Neo-Classical inspired commercial block that featured a steel frame and brick masonry walls with a white terra cotta veneer. The building would have a rectangular plan with a single entrance bay fronting Broadway. The north façade featured a classical door entry, with entablature and pediment, two full-height engaged columns and two pilasters with Ionic capitals. The east elevation would be punctuated by eight, full-height pilasters with the same capital details as the façade. Other details included a wide frieze with rosettes, a dentil course and an articulated parapet that echoed the verticality of the pilasters and columns. At the time of its completion, the building became the largest and most elaborate bank structure on the Eastside.
Although not part of the original design, a large bronze clock was attached to the northeast corner of the building in the early 1920s and became a Broadway Fillmore neighborhood landmark. It remains a notable fixture of the Historic Polonia District.
By 1917, the Union Stock Yards Bank had over five million dollars in deposits and was becoming a prime candidate for a merger. In 1919, The Union Stock Yards Bank combined with the Liberty Bank with the Broadway Fillmore building becoming the first branch of the corporation.
Liberty Bank was originally founded as the German-American Bank of Buffalo in 1882. The name was changed in 1918 amid public opposition to anything 'German' during World War I. In fact, the bank was a wholly American-owned institution and had nothing to do with Germany or the war. Liberty Bank would become Liberty National Bank in 1982 and change names to Norstar in 1985 and the Fleet Bank in 1992. Bank of America would be the last tenant of the building until it closed banking operations at the site in 2010.
During an intensive inventory of structures prepared by architect Clinton Brown, he notes that the Union Stock Yards Bank building is significant as an excellent example of a neo-classical designed bank building. The building is currently eligible for listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
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