Fred Ledor House
19
Mason Street, Buffalo, NY 14213
| Built: |
C.1889 |
| Status: |
Contributing
member in the Upper
Black Rock Local Historic District |
| The frame residence located at 19
Mason Street is noted on the 1889
Sanborn map and the first resident documented by the city directories
was Fred Ledor, a maltster who lived in the house in 1889. The residents in the house did not tend to stay long. In 1900 Sylvester Meyers, a maltster, Robert McComb, a scooper and Philip Hontz a maltster and sidewalk finisher lived in the house. The residents were working class with laborers, carpenters, motor drivers and plasterers listed among inhabitants over the years. The two story side gable building is three bays wide with center entrance. The residence has been altered with replacement siding and windows, however it is a rare surviving example of the domestic architecture that was located on both sides of Mason Street before the block became the home of Sterling Engine in the early twentieth century. - Upper Black Rock Historic Preservation District. Reprinted on Meet the Upper Black Rock Historic Preservation District on Buffalo Rising, May 26, 2015 (online June 2017) |
| As noted on the 1889 Sanborn
Fire Insurance Map the historic district reflected the growth of the
area. 19 Mason Street, which appears on the 1872 Hopkins Map of
Buffalo, was among a number of frame residences that occupied the alley
just south of Niagara Streets. The residents were working class with
laborers, carpenters, motor drivers and plasterers listed among
inhabitants over the years. In 1907 the block became home of the Sterling Engine Company, leaving 19 Mason Street as one of the few surviving example of domestic architecture on the street. - Upper Black Rock Historic District, p. 4 |
2017 photos  Right: Breckenridge Street Church  |
2018 photos  "Black Rock Mural," by Wilson "Steve" Stephens, painted next to his house at 19 Mason St.  Musician and artist Wilson "Steve" Stephens (detail below:)   Five details below:  Gen. Peter Porter pointing to 19 Mason ... Porter owned most of Black Rock (he moved to Niagara Falls after Buffalo, instead of Black Rock, was named as the terminus of the Erie Canal)  19 Mason St.  Niagara Falls ... The Porter family had extensive land holdings in Niagara Falls, NY, also  Breckenridge Street Church and two escaped slaves ... History is clear that nearby Broderick Park was an important stop on the Underground Railroad; it is probable that the Church was also a stop  Unity/Squaw Island was probably part of the Underground Railroad ... Note artistic license in painting the path to the island |