The American Hotel
Main Street between Eagle and Court
First American Hotel |
Second American Hotel |
Adam, Meldrum & Anderson's department store |
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St. Andrew's Society Fourth Anniversary Banquet, American Hotel |
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The first American Hotel was built in 1836 by Benjamin Rathbun. It burned in on March 10, 1850. This became known as the American Block.
The property was owned principally by the Michael family from the 1850's until 1964.
After the fire, the second American Hotel was erected on the same site. Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech from its balcony in 1861 when he stopped in Buffalo on his way to his inauguration. He worshipped at the First Unitarian Church.
It bears noting that Abraham Lincoln himself made three significant visits to Buffalo.
- The first was in 1857 when he and his family visited Buffalo and Niagara Falls on their way to Washington, DC from their home in Springfield, Illinois during Lincolnís first campaign for the U.S. Senate, prior to the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
- The second was in March 1861 enroute to his Presidential inauguration; during this visit, a well-attended reception to greet the new President was held in Buffaloís American Hotel (the site of which is marked with a historical plaque within Main Place Mall).
- The last Lincoln visit to Buffalo was in April 1865 when his funeral train stopped here on its way back to Springfield. Thousands of Buffalo citizens took the sad opportunity to pay their last respects.
This second American Hotel burned on January 25, 1865.
Adam, Meldrum & Anderson's department store was the main tenant in the building erected on the site in 1866. The building was occupied by the company until 1960 when AM&A's moved across the street into the J.N. Adams department store building.
In the middle 1960's, the AM&A's building was razed and replaced by the Main Place Mall.
Not to be confused with the American Hotel on Ferry and Niagara Streets in Buffalo (PHOTO).