The Union Meeting House

Oldest Surviving Church Structure in Buffalo

Oh, the tales this Church could tell.  It was the centerpiece of Black Rock in 1827 on land that was donated by General Peter Porter.  Members of this church included Peter's wife Letitia Breckenridge Porter (Breckenridge St), The Allen family (Allentown) and Grover Cleveland.

For its first three years it was shared by Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Methodists.  It then became home to the First Presbyterian Church of Black Rock.  After Black Rock was merged with the City of Buffalo the church changed its name to the Breckenridge Street Presbyterian.  In 1888, the congregation moved to a new church on West Avenue and West Ferry Streets.  The West Avenue Presbyterian Church is still active today.   The double entry doors provided a separate entrance for men and women.

	It took me two trips to find this church.  The first time I mistook it for a vacant warehouse.  The building is now vacant and owned by Rich Products.  Indeed its last working years were as a plumbing supply warehouse for Stritt and Priebe.
At first I avoided taking pictures of the bars on the windows, thinking that they were added to protect its contents from vandals.  However, I later learned that the bars were added when the Church was converted into a detention center for "illegal" Chinese aliens, who were caught crossing the border from Canada into the US.  The church was later used as a detention home for wayward children.

	Do cracks in the foundation signal the end to this piece of Buffalo's history?

(c)2002 by Joe Hayden Hamburg, New York