Brian Higgins, Mayor Brown, Tim Tielman of theCampain for a Greater Buffalo, Mary Ellen Ashe of Preservation Buffalo Niagara, and others will unveil two plaques recognizing the listing of the Cobblestone District and 49 Illinois Street (Buffalo Ironworks) on the National Register of Historic Places tomorrow. The event at 49 Illinois Street begins at 10 am.
Text of the two plaques:
The Cobblestone Historic District
The Cobblestone Historic District survives as evidence of Buffalo’s industrial history and the city’s position as the grain handling hub of the Great Lakes. The district is bounded by Illinois, Perry and Columbia Streets and South Park Avenue and also includes the berth of the world’s oldest working fireboat, the Edward M. Cotter, adjacent to the Michigan Avenue Lift Bridge.
Some of the remaining buildings in the district are directly tied Buffalo’s importance as an industrial and product manufacturing center before, during and after the American Civil War. The proximity of the Cobblestone District to the Erie and Hamburg Canals, the Buffalo River and the Buffalo Harbor allowed manufacturers, metal working shops and maritime suppliers to grow and prosper in the district into the late twentieth century. The successors to some of these businesses exist in the Cobblestone District to this day.
In 2014, the National Parks Service placed the Cobblestone District on the National Register of Historic Places.
49 Illinois Street
The Queen City Engineering Building at 49 Illinois Street was built in 1902 by brothers, Albert and August Goerlitz, who retained architect, Louis J. Eckel, to design what eventually became a two-story, brick factory. With its flat roof and rectangular box footprint, the structure is a good example of transitional factory construction typical to Buffalo in the early 1900s.
The building is directly tied to the Cobblestone District’s metal working past. From 1902 until 1967, it housed the Goerlitz brothers’ two companies: Queen City Engineering and Phoenix Hardware Co. These two firms produced and supplied drilling equipment and other capital hardware goods for various local industries.
In 2013, the building was restored and is currently the home of Buffalo Ironworks – a bar, restaurant and music hall.
In 2014, 49 Illinois was listed by the National Parks Service on the National Register of Historic Places.