Niagara History Center

In the late 19th and mid 20th centuries, two different Jewish congregations called Lockport their home. The Rodef Shalom Congregation appears in the Lockport City Directories from 1878 to 1888 (the spelling varies from year to year). It was founded by Abram Walker, Henry Goodman Sr., Henry Goodman Jr. and Isaac Hecht. No location given as to where the congregation met but it was most likely in private homes. There was no rabbi but laymen led the congregation in prayers and ceremonies. The leaders were all businessmen in the city who operated grocery and dry goods stores or hotels. Henry Goodman, Jr. later became a partner in the famous New York City clothing store, Bergdorf-Goodman. By the late 1880s, several of the members left Lockport and the congregation disbanded.

Almost fifty years later, another Jewish congregation was established in Lockport. In 1937, a number of people of the Jewish faith began holding prayer services in a room above Max Intrator’s men’s clothing store at 25 West Main Street (now the Redmen Club). After meeting for three years in these cramped quarters, the congregation held a Campaign Banquet to raise funds to purchase a building suitable for use as a temple. In 1940, the congregation purchased a home at 115 Genesee Street and dedicated it as Temple Beth David. Rabbis and members of other temples all over Western New York took part in the dedication as did Lockport Mayor Edward H. Gailor and Rev. Paul Morrison of Emmanuel Methodist Church. The membership remained steady throughout the 1940s and early 1950s but began to decline by the end of that decade due to deaths and people moving out of the area. Although the temple continued weekly and holy day services through the 1970s, by the early 1980s, there were few members and it was only used on special occasions. On January 12, 1984, the building containing the temple and two apartments was destroyed by a fire. Fortunately, many of the items associated with the temple were saved but the structure was a total loss. The temple did not reopen as many of the former members were now attending services in synagogues in Buffalo and Amherst.

Photo from newspaper article about the fire.

In 1847, the first thought of a library in Lockport began when the Union School system unified local schools and allowed their small, individual libraries to be combined.

The library grew under the supervision of a newly founded school board, and the public was given complete access to the library for free in 1892.

However, the library was put in the Union High School in Lockport, which didn’t have great conditions for the thousands of visits from customers checking out and returning books.

During the Great Depression, books were a hot commodity, as they were free entertainment. The makeshift library in Lockport received even more visits, and the need for a library detached from the Union School felt necessary.

Thanks to generous donations, Lockport was able to build a library in 1937.
The magnificent new library was made out of marble and featured granite steps to the entrance. The quote “Books are like an open door to set the spirit free” was inscribed on the building. The quote comes from a 1927 poem by Edith Kathleen Jones.

In 1993, the library received a three-floor modern addition, which includes the main entrance today as well as a meeting room for the public and a children’s floor. The library is still in Lockport today at 23 East Avenue.

The Niagara History Center will be closed from July 3rd to July 5th to celebrate Independence Day! The Erie Canal Discovery Center will remain open this holiday weekend. We hope you have a wonderful weekend, and we will see you on July 6th!