I stumbled across these images on FaceBook of St. John's Church in Buffalo's Black Rock neighborhood at 85 Amherst Street. Two of the images show cornerstones depicting the date of the church congregation's founding and of the date the church building was constructed. I wrote a few days ago here about a fundraiser for the church to be held today starting at 6:30pm. I encourage you to attend this event and spend freely with these stones in mind. These stones say everything about why it is so important to save our irreplaceable historic heritage. In the case of this building, we not only have the physical presence of a beautiful historic building, but also a direct lineage of the culture and people of this church congregation going back to Buffalo's canal era in this underrated and extremely historic part of the city... and these stones memorialize that connection with ancient text and craft.
When I first saw these stones I could not help but feel a connection with the long gone people who labored to build this building so long ago. Their lives were so different than mine but here I could run my fingers across the carved letters and appreciate them probably in much the same way that the stone carver did when he finished his work more than120 years ago. That carver sent these stones into the future to us like a time machine bringing a message of their lives. Could he have been thinking of the person in our time like me who would gaze upon his work?
These stones in the language of the immigrants who built it, and who attended this place of worship for so many decades, makes this a unique place in the world. It is a marker for this place in space and time and cannot ever be replace if it is lost. We need to do everything we can to save buildings like this which are still viable, as well as the others which have been abused to the point of collapse. We have to do this because their beauty enriches our environment but also because they have been sent to us from the past from people who could never imagine what the world of our time would be like. Once we remove these buildings, imagination of their time will be all we have left of our past.
St Johns was built on land donated by the owner of my house in 1850 (Jacob Smith 1818-1871). The Jacob Smith House and Tavern originally occupied a 3/4 acre parcel that included the present site of the church. St Johns served the largely German community that had settled in Lower Black Rock or Black Rock Damn as it was also called. The village was centered around St Johns(established 1847)and St Francis (established 1849). Both churches operated a school at the site, St Johns is long gone (the school site is now the side yard) but the St Francis School still stands as part of the Religious Arts Center.
The bell tower of St Johns predates the the rest of the building, it was re-used from an earlier version of the church. When we were kids it was quite the thrill to be designated as a 'bell ringer' on Sunday morning. Pulling the ropes on the heavy bells resulted in the ability to ride up several feet on the rope as the bell gained momentum. The other memory of kids going to St Johns was the annual collection of horse chesnuts. Chesnut trees lined the streets in the area and each fall we would fill our pockets before going into church. A few of the old trees still survive in the area and are well over 120 years old.
St Johns represents continuity and endurance, the church has survived multiple fires, neighborhood change, and loss of membership yet still survives. Hope to see this great little church continue to serve the community long into the future.
Are there any pictures of the Church tower with the old building? What happened to the old building, was it demolished or just enlarged for other reasons?
Not to my knowledge, I believe the original church built in 1851 was wood frame. There were at least two enlargements resulting in the present building size. They demolished the rear section but kept the tower and rebuilt around it.
You've written "Black Rock Damn" a couple of times. Do your folks know you use such language, young man?!
Seriously, I'm just wondering if you actually mean "Black Rock Dam" ;-)
I did mean dam, must be a sign of some underlying issue I have failed to resolve. ;)
The village was called "the dam" due to the guard lock and dam constructed in 1825 to control water level in the Erie Canal. The dam created a difference in water level that was exploited for waterpower. Lower Black Rock soon became a center of grain milling and was once the largest producer in the eastern United States.
Damn interesting!
This also means the Black Rock is "The Best Neighborhood in Buffalo by a Dam Site" ;-D