UPDATE 6: While Common Council President Darius G Pridgen pledged his support for the nomination and the preservation of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor, the application was tabled due to issues with the notices sent to involved property owners. Looking forward we expect the application to be approved at the Legislation Committee's next meeting on November 4th, and then forwarded to the Common Council for a full vote. WE STILL NEED YOUR SUPPORT. Fill out the form below thanking the Committee for setting it for public hearing and to ask Council Member Feroleto and Council President Pridgen for their support on this item. 

But you don't have to stop there. You can submit your support directly to the Chair of the Legislation Committee, Council Member Feroleto (jferoleto@city-buffalo.com) and ask for them to be read into the record at the public hearing OR request the opportunity to attend the Zoom meeting to speak you support directly

UPDATE 5: On September 22, 2020, the Legislative Committee scheduled this landmark nomination for public hearing on Tuesday, October 20, 2020! WE STILL NEED YOUR SUPPORT. Fill out the form below thanking the Committee for setting it for public hearing and to ask Council Member Feroleto and Council President Pridgen for their support on this item. 

UPDATE 4: CALL TO ACTION!  We need your help in getting the Legislative Committee to set this landmark nomination for public hearing. Fill out the form below to send an email to Council Member Feroleto (Chair of the Legislation Committee) and Council President Pridgen voicing your support of the expansion of the Michigan Sycamore Historic District so that more of this important corridor is protected with landmark status.  

UDPATE 3: On September 8, 2020, the Legislative Committee again tabled the nomination without setting it for public hearing.

UPDATE 2: On July 28, 2020, the Legislative Committee tabled the nomination without setting it for public hearing.

UPDATE 1: On Thursday July 9, 2020, the Preservation Board approved the nomination, recommending it to the Common Council for landmark status. 

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The Michigan Sycamore Historic District was originally established in May 2017 with the landmarking of 68 & 72 Sycamore Street and in July 2019, the district was expanded to include 82 Sycamore and 608 Michigan Street. The creation of this historic district is a strong statement that we as a community see these buildings as an important part of our historic built environment and contribute to the rich historical and cultural significance of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor.

In our continued effort to protect more of this incredibly historic corridor, Preservation Buffalo Niagara has submitted a landmark application to expand the district to include the properties on the southeast corner of Michigan & Sycamore. Wedged into this tiny corner of Buffalo is the early history of the City writ large: buildings ranging from pre-civil war to the 1920s; buildings built and occupied by German immigrants, including a stone cutter, a tailor, and a blacksmith; and one building built as a home and business for Buffalo's Market Clerk (a Common Council position at the time) by Louise Bethune's famed Bethune, Bethune, & Fuchs firm that would then go on to be occupied by "the most important Greek in Western New York" and a founder of the Buffalo Association of the Blind. Each of these buildings also operated as boarding houses at some point in their history, and two even had brief stints as houses of ill-repute. The history of these buildings, the history of this corridor tells the story of Buffalo as it grew from a sleepy canal town to a major industrial power-house, but also the impact that racism and redlining would go on to have in our community.