Lou's Lockport
Archive Of Memories
Join a sentimental senior for a weekly walk around town.
We'll scan the streets and stores...make stops for coffee and chat.
Relay today's "word on the street" and…
Recall yesterdays over on Memory Lane.
One of Over Hundreds of Pages of News and Features
At Lockport, New York's Home Page On The World Wide Web
www.Lockport-NY.com
To peak into my scrapbook of old Lockport Photos,
Go to: Lou's Views
My most recent commentary is at: Lou's Lockport Main Page
Lou's Latest Lines Are First, Age As You Scroll Down
Bar Hopping...One Last Time
June 4, 1999
A note about McGlynn's sparked memories. Over on
the Lou's Views page I remarked about a
picture of East Main Street back in the 1940's. Included in the picture was
an old watering hole favorite of mine, McGlynns'. The wife of the late Tom
Haelnle Jr. wrote me and her comments brought back some memories:
Tom Haenle Jr. was the son of Tom Haenle Sr., who with Frank and
Harold McGlynn, his brother-in-laws, operated McGlynns for several years. Tom Jr.'s
grandfather, James McGlynn, was the original owner and the McGlynn family lived over
McGlynns before moving to 251 East Ave. I have heard many stories about McGlynns
including how many political discussions were held in those
smoke-filled rooms. James McGlynn was a city alderman and Tom Sr. was a county
legislator.
I wasn't in politics but I do recall McGlynn's as hosting many political
pow-wows in which the editor(s) of the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal were
often involved. It was sort of exciting for a young guy like myself at the time to
go in there and "associate" with some of "the big boys."
I also really wasn't much of a drinker. Two beers was my limit at
McGlynn's and just about any other place in town and if I were "bar-hopping" it
would be no more than one drink in a place. Favorites besides McGlynn's were Drakes,
Wagner's Tavern, and The Diamond. My all-time favorite, however, was
the bar and lounge at the old Park Hotel. There I would switch to mixed drinks.
Although the clientele and format was different I felt right at home. I was
very sad to see The Park Hotel close up. Especially enjoyable was
dinner at The Park after a late afternoon round of cocktails and conversation in
the lounge. When not drinking, the place I went to pick up "the latest" was Plaster's
News on Locust Street, where the Locust and Walnut parking lot is today. Plaster's
was where all the "downtown senators" would meet throughout the day. Back
in the 40's and 50's I managed to get to visit just about every bar in Lockport (outside
of Market Street in Lowertown) except one.
The Niagara Hotel was (and
still is) an "institution" I never had the "guts" to try. Up
until this past weekend. Life is winding down for me and I feel I've missed part of
Lockport by never having been at the famous (infamous) watering hole at the corner of
North Transit and Niagara Streets. The Lockport Home Page had a sort of
holiday outing for "staff" over the Memorial Day weekend and talk got around to McGlynns'
and the Niagara Hotel. When I mentioned that I had read too many police
reports to ever go in there by myself and that I didn't know any of the patrons there, the
Lockport Page crew suggested we all go down together. And we did. I
can now write in my journal and report to you that, after all these years, I now realize
that...I didn't miss anything. The place does indeed live up to the image I have
carried of it for all these years. We only had one drink at The Niagara so
we wound up over at The Pot Of Gold for one more to wrap up my night of "bar
hopping."
Jay's is gone. The long-time camera shop on
Lockport's Main Street has quietly closed up its operation and vacated. So sad.
I've spent a fair amount of time in Jay's Photo (along with Jays Drugs
and Jay's Soda Shop) over the years. I admit to spending more money back in
my photo heyday at LeValley's Photo on Locust and in the Triangle Building. Of
course, LeValley's folded about the time of urban renewal if I remember
correctly. The last camera I bought at Jay's was about 1991 and is the 35mm
Minolta I use today as my main camera. Getting less use are two old Polaroid's, and
two old Kodak 35mm models. All bought right here in Lockport. The days now of
Wal-Mart, the Electronic Super-Stores, and mail order discount houses probably put the
hand writing on the wall for the likes of Jays some time ago. Such a specialty store
really can't make it outside of the big cities today without many sacrifices.
Photography is going through a revolution today with the popular arrival of digital
techniques. The resulting shake-out will probably be as bloody as that experienced
in the printing business for the past decade or more.
Always, a "time of change. " Richard
Hooker, an English theologian who lived in the 16th century produced a quote which is a
favorite with me. "Change is not made without inconvenience, even from the
worse to better."
April 4, 1999
Walking West Main Street. Saturday, (4/3) was a
delightful day in Lockport. Sunshine and temperatures in the 70's put many of us in
the Spring "fix-up and cleaning" mood. I had a few simple hardware needs
for home repairs and all morning long as I tinkered about the property I was looking
forward to Noon and a trip downtown. First for lunch, then to Grimble's Hardware
on West Main. The south side of West Main is an enjoyable one block stroll.
There's that wonderful old Upson Coal Company building (now a law office) anchoring the
west side of The Big Bridge. Next a nice art and frame shop and then my lunch
destination, Chet's Dog House. Further on down, the building that used to
house Ed's Hobby Shop (before last fall's fire) and then Grimble's.
Since the fire, the block doesn't look quite as nice but Grimble's escaped
damage. I would leave the best till last; first a stop into Chet's to join
a pre-arranged late-Saturday morning meeting of "the boys from the North Side."
Little support for the Balkan adventure in Lockport. The
"boys" had saved one seat for me and the meeting was already in progress when I
strolled through the door at Chet's. Topic was the latest news and views on
the U.S.-led NATO action against the Serbs in what remains of Yugoslavia. The boys
at the table were all WW-2 vets but there was no support here for the U.S. action.
They knew better. They had been there, done that. Well, none had actually
served in the Balkans but they knew fully what to expect. Tom had been up against
the Japanese in China and the South Pacific. He could tell Mr. Clinton a thing or
two about war and "ethnic cleansing." Don and Hank had been on the beaches of
Europe for the D-Day invasions. They believe war is a last resort when every other
effort has failed and then only when our nation's security is at stake. Our nation's
security was at stake, of course, all agreed, in WW-2. It isn't,
all agreed, now in Bosnia or Kosovo. I am really, just an "observer" in
this group. I was too young for WW-2 and my military service is all non-combat.
These men are my heroes. My friends get a bit upset when someone suggests they are
"cold" toward the "humanitarian considerations" in the Balkans.
On top of having been through the hell of war as participants, they have all been through
the pages of history as students. The question left unanswered at the table Saturday
was, "Haven't we learned from Vietnam?" (Of course, Clinton "sat that
lesson out," didn't he?)
Like a kid in a candy store. I
only had two items to get at Grimble's but I tried to stretch out the shopping as
long as possible. Of course, they had exactly what I needed and plenty more of what
I wanted. Their slogan is true enough, "Grimble's Got It." Shopping
Grimble's is a trip down Memory Lane. It is an old-fashioned hardware store but so
much more. There's the first class informed service. Good selection
and some assurance that products in this story are quality---not just "priced
right." Then there's the Lockport and American memorabilia from the the past
seventy years. It's nice to know there's some retailer who doesn't feel the need to
justify occupancy of every inch of space on "turnover and profit." I
understand the Lockport Page may do a feature on this Lockport downtown landmark
in the future. Lockportians of course know about Grimble's. Some who have
moved away, however, may wonder if they have stayed. They have!
On Left: Bob Grimble, founder, about 1905-1910 in his Army
Private's uniform.
Grimble's Hardware Today...Not Much Changed From Yesterday
In Downtown Lockport
March 16, 1999
There is much interest nowadays among many folks to
"trace their roots." Building family trees is a popular undertaking.
Computers and the Internet have been a big help. For me, the "need to
know" of my Irish ancestors has never been strong enough to invest the time in
investigation. However, last summer, with a feeling that my time to do so was
running out, I decided to take an initial step back to my "roots"---and those of
many other Lockportians. I joined some other folks from this area and we
..."went back" to Ireland.
It was my first visit and I shan't bore you with a full
report. However, I'd like to share a bit of what I found out about those first Irish
who came to Lockport and built the locks and the canal here. Since their activity
in Lockport is already well documented in historical documents (at the Niagara
County Historical Society and elsewhere) I'm going to try and relate only about when those
early Lockportians left their native land, and made to journey to America. At the
time the canal was being built, many were dispatched almost immediately to the Niagara
Frontier and Lockport where jobs were waiting.
Lockport's original settlers were generally of American
birth and mostly from the eastern part of New York State. However, with the canal
construction, in 1821 to 1825 about 1200 Irishmen came to the Lockport area. Why
Irish? Because they were very used to the hard work that stone excavation requires.
When you've toured Ireland you quickly realize that the island is, indeed, covered
with green but often underneath that thin coat of vegetation, lies rock. The Irish
knew how to deal with rock. When the canal building was finished most of the Irish
stayed in Lockport. Moreover, they encouraged their relatives back on the old sod to
emigrate.
Thus, when the Great Famine hit Ireland in 1845 to 1848
(because of the total failure of the potato crop) many Irish families had
"connections" with America and with Lockport. One of the hardest hit areas
in Ireland was the southern county of Cork. I spent several days in County Cork
visiting areas where ancestors of many Lockportians departed Ireland. Specifically,
the main departure point was the harbor town of Cobh (known as Queenstown at the time the Titanic
made its last stop before heading out to sea). Many Lockportians can trace their
line through Cobh (pronounced "cove").
The journey to America for the Irish was yet another
hardship to endure. After relatives here had sent them money for passage they
usually only had enough for "steerage" or third class. Quarters in the
ship bottoms were packed, unsanitary, and subject to extremes in temperature depending on
the season. There were thousands, perhaps millions of tearful departures from Cobh
as family left behind in Ireland realized they would probably never see the emigrants
again. The Irish classic, Danny Boy, recounts this departure and
emigration. Many of these tearful stories and hardships are detailed today in an
excellent exhibition, right at the harbor. For decades, Cobh (Queenstown) was known
as "the Gateway to the New World." Between 1848 and 1950 almost six
million people emigrated from Ireland to the United States, more than a third of them
departed from Cobh.
If my health holds out for a couple more years I hope to go
back to Ireland and to Cobh. There is so much there...which was the start...of so
much here. I would bring with me the Lockport directories and other resources useful
in such probes into personal histories.
Now, on this St. Patrick's Day a few additional
observations about my time in Ireland:
Impressions:
Rock covered with only modest soil in most areas, moderate temperatures, humidity
and frequent rain. That combination makes everything so green and is responsible for
the designation "The Emerald Isle." I did not see "corned beef and
cabbage" on Irish restaurant menus. That I understand is an Irish-American
custom which began in New York City. What was offered were lots of potato
preparations, stew, lamb (expensive even with the huge sheep population) and, of course, Guinness.
The Irish national beer must be an "acquired taste" and I don't much care for it
here and thought it might be "different" over there. I couldn't detect the
difference. However, I did acquire a favor for the other Irish standby, Harp.
The best meal of the day regardless of where you ate or were, it seemed, was the
traditional Irish breakfast. Outstanding! And not duplicated in Lockport---even on
St. Patrick's Day.
(Left) A member of our group,
John, looks at the monument to the Irish emigrants at Cobh harbor. This is a
"must see" area for any Lockportian traveling to Ireland.
"If you're lucky enough
to be Irish...
...You're lucky enough!"
We're Winter Weary, Already
January 12, 1999
Snow is filling up Lockport streets. The
Lockport streets crews have done a pretty good job since winter arrived here, right on
schedule. Especially since New Year's it has been difficult with new snow every
day. That, combined with temperatures that remain below freezing results in
continued accumulation. Now, as plows go through, the snow no longer
"piles" higher along the curb but starts to extend out in the street fortified
by various amounts that have turned to ice. Downtown, of course, extra steps are
taken to remove snow by truck so that street width remains about normal. However, on
the city residential streets, motorists are finding it slow going and tight. After
last year's mild winter, some profess amazement. But we're used to it. So far, snow
accumulations since December 23rd are not much above normal. However, in the last
week we have certainly gotten more than the normal.
Danger overhead. There has been so much snow
in the past ten days or so, without any melting period, that snow is building up on roofs
with a serious ice base. The weight is starting to have an effect. I remember
years ago, more like back in the 40's and 50's, going up on ladders to brush or shovel
snow off the roof of a porch and a garage. These roofs were not as steep as the rest
on the house and thus accumulation was greater and pressure more. Then, as the
temperature neared freezing or above and melting began, the weight forced melting water
through the roof shingles into attics, walls, and living areas. Most folks only have
to learn that lesson once. However, it has been so cold the past several days, few
have had the courage to venture out and up to clear roofs. We are at the point now
where even without the melting problem, there begins the danger of roof collapse on some
structures.
Menu for weariness. Combine large snow
accumulations (gradually turning dirty and black), salt (to track into your car and home)
long spells of sub-freezing temperatures, lack of traction driving, poorly cleared parking
areas, and untouched walkways. That's a menu for winter weather weariness here on
the Niagara Frontier. If the sun fails to shine on a given day, combined with the
aforementioned factors, it puts many folks in a sour winter funk.
Banking progress. A good friend of mine
visited back in Lockport over the holidays. He had grown up here. Part of
growing up when we were both kids was putting money in our student savings accounts at the
old Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank. Tuesday, I recall, was "bank day"
at John E. Pound. My friend had made those weekly deposits as a child and continued
on carrying a respectable bank balance as a young adult and into middle age. Now, as
a senior, he doesn't get back to Lockport more than a few times a year. Wanting to
sort of consolidate things in his life for simplicity a few years ago, he closed his
banking account with what had evolved into Lockport Savings Bank. Just before
leaving town this visit, he went down to the "main office" as he had probably
done hundreds of times before. Only this time they didn't know him, didn't greet
him, and in particular, didn't---wouldn't---cash his check drawn on accounts of the State
of New York and a major insurance company. No amount of ID would satisfy the bankers
at the 1999 version of the bank we grew up with. You see, he wasn't in the computer,
he didn't have a number with the bank. He no longer had an account. It was
sad, but no surprise to many of us. My friend wasn't greatly inconvienced but he
was...hurt. Like being rejected by a life-long friend he told me. When he got
back home he telephoned saying he had stopped at a bank en route, showed his ID, and was
paid the proceeds of the checks without a fee. He had never been in the bank before.
As we get older it seems these kind of little slights tend to annoy us more and
more.
May 18, 1998
Lockport's radio station, and several of its former
employees, are honored this week at the Buffalo Broadcast Pioneers Dinner. The current
occupant of 1340 on the AM dial in Lockport traces its lineage back to WUSJ and thus lays
claim to this being its 50th year of radio broadcasting. I don't "quite"
remember it that way. However, be it fifty or just 49 years later, the event is an excuse
for me to tell another one of my stories.
Although I vividly recall the start-up of WUSJ, I don't
recall exactly when WUSJ became the present WLVL. Sometime in the early 1970's. The
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, which had built the station, sold it to an
out-of-town chain and they changed the call letters from the initials of the newspaper to
letters, which were to stand for "We Love Lockport." In any case, at that time,
I and many others were no longer listening to the local station. TV was taking up more of
our time at night and the big Buffalo radio stations were putting a good signal into
Lockport and providing more polished radio programming. Instead of WUSJ/WLVL, we were
listening to WBEN (of course), WKBW, WGR, WEBR, and even the likes of Buffalo's small
signal squirt stations WBNY and WNIA on the AM dial. The FM dial was growing audience at
an explosive rate with all kinds of interesting and enjoyable music stations from Buffalo
and Canada. After all this took its share of the Lockport audience, there weren't many
left to listen to little 1340. But I'm getting ahead of the story.
Back in the late forties Lockport was enjoying the post-war
boom. Business was good for the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, owned by the
Corson family at the time. Young Peter Corson was back from the war and the family needed
to put him to work. Being named Assistant Publisher just wasn't exciting enough for Peter
who reportedly nagged his father to build a radio station and install him to run it. Peter
got his way. In early 1947 the newspaper applied for an FM broadcast license to operate
out of the paper's then 138 Main Street location with a tower on the roof of the building.
When the Federal Communications Commission actually granted
the license they assigned the call letters WKWC but the newspaper filed to change the call
sign to WUSJ and the location was changed to the present one out at 320 Michigan Street.
WUSJ actually went on the air, as a FM radio station at 99.3 MHz on October 30, 1948. The
station had a small party and reception in the afternoon that date. In the next several
weeks, almost 7000 people toured the radio station. Soon thereafter Tom Jolls, still in
Lockport schools, did his first radio gig on WUSJ as a "student news reporter."
He was later to win a full-time job with the station before going on to Buffalo radio and
television.
There was a lot of excitement in town about the new radio
station. Of course, the newspaper had stories every night about every aspect of the
operation. The daily broadcast schedule was always in the paper. It was unfortunate,
however, that not many people had FM radios. Thus WUSJ didn't have many listeners. Peter
Corson recognized this (in private) even before the station signed on. He also knew that
Buffalo's WEBR was moving to 970 on the AM dial leaving its 1340 frequency up for grabs.
Peter and the Union-Sun & Journal quickly filed for this AM opening. Three
other groups wanted the frequency so a comparative hearing was set by the FCC to determine
who would get the allocation. Because of Lockport's location, which was further from
sources of co-channel and adjacent channel interference than the other applicants (Niagara
Falls and Buffalo companies) it was the immediate favorite. Corson was so sure he would
get the AM license that when he was building the tower for the FM station in the summer of
1948, he had it so constructed so that it would work on AM too.
WUSJ (AM) went on the air at 1340 "Kilocycles"
(as they referred to the dial position back then) in May of 1949. I'd have to look up the
exact date. I didn't get an invite to this opening but I sure gave the station a lot of
listening. WUSJ and WUSJ-FM went on to produce real community programming. Live music plus
that recorded on record. Real local news from "the editorial rooms of the Union-Sun
& Journal and the WUSJ News Bureau." Live broadcast of church services and
other community events. They didn't make much money, but the newspaper didn't seem to
care. Peter was happy and the paper had eliminated a potential source of competition by
nailing down Lockport's only broadcast licenses. These were the golden days of Lockport
radio well through the 50's. Eventually I guess the Corson's got tired of paying the
electric bill for little-listened to WUSJ-FM. Reports have Peter remarking something to
the effect, "FM broadcasting will never amount to anything." In 1958, the
newspaper turned in its license for the FM station.
Here are some of the people I remember from the early days
of WUSJ: Announcers Tom Jolls…Tony Allen…Carl Tucker…Ray
Ward…Dick & Jeannie Spaulding (who lived in my neighborhood)…Rick
Azar…Carl Raymond…Roy VanLuven… Station Manager, Joe Pinna…Performers:
Cy Roberts and The Troubadours…Dorothy Cochran (soloist and assistant to the station
program director)…Mary Ruppert…The Stewards of Harmony (Barbershop
Quartet)…The Jumping Jacks…The Swingtones…Patti Dugan (vocalist)…News:
Wallace Soderholm…Technical: Dick Ruston…Tony Farina…Floyd Ziehl.
A couple more stories about Lockport radio remain to be
told. The saga of WMAK, Lockport's first radio station, I will save for another day. The current WLVL, I understand,
will be featured here on the Lockport web later this summer. Look for them both.
Don't just take Lou's word for it.
Check over 50 sources of Lockport information!
Click over to our website
Detailed Directory of Destinations
For Lockportians Anywhere In The World...
It's The Road Home