All Roads Once Led to Buffalo.
Without someone to keep the memory alive, think how easily it might be all but forgotten that, at the dawn of the 20th century when the automobile was in its infancy, Buffalo was a powerful player in that surging industry. Between 1901 and 1938, for example, we produced some 85,000 Pierce-Arrow luxury vehicles. That included not only cars for every U.S. President from Roosevelt to Roosevelt as well as Princes and Shahs but more than 14,000 combat zone vehicles for the American military during the first World War… many of which can still be found in museums and barns across Europe. It’s no wonder that more than 75 later, the name Pierce-Arrow still retains a world-class cachet.
At its peak, a drive down Main Street from Fillmore to the waterfront would’ve taken you past a bustling amalgam of thriving businesses all catering to the city’s substantial automotive clientele, drawn to Buffalo from throughout the northeastern U.S. and Canada. As home to dozens of auto market businesses, Western New York was a hot commodity.
Trico made the first windshield wipers here, which became standard equipment on virtually every vehicle by the 1920s. The first American-made Dunlop tire rolled off that company’s Tonawanda production line in 1923. Buffalo Wire Wheels were a must-have for the owners of the finest luxury cars, as were Fedders Radiators and Houdaille shock absorbers. And then there was the legendary Thomas Flyer.
Talk about making history. With Buffalonian George Schuster Sr. at the wheel, that Buffalo-made vehicle bested competitors from around the world to win the Great New York to Paris Auto Race of 1908, a grueling 22,000-mile competition that spanned more than three continents over 169 days.
Like the centennial of the Pierce-Arrow automobile that highlighted Sandoro’s museum opening in 2001, the Thomas Flyer victory and the approaching 100th anniversary of the Pierce-Arrow plant are kind of proud Buffalo accomplishments that call for celebration. And that’s exactly why he has even more ambitious plans warming up in his garage… events he’s confident will generate both excitement and tourism for Buffalo and return it to its rightful place of prominence in the transportation pantheon.
Buffalonians… Start Your Engines.
Sandoro has always believed that Western New York should have a transportation museum befitting its ample contributions to the field. And for all he has already accomplished in that regard, he’s far from finished. Like the automotive pioneers he seeks to honor, he has a larger vision… one that’s on the verge of being fulfilled on a grand scale.
When the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum hosts the planned Pierce-Arrow factory centennial July 10 through 15, 2007, Sandoro says it won’t be the same facility at Michigan and Seneca that you can visit today. Once work gets underway, hopefully by this Spring, it will be well on its way to becoming the world-class transportation celebration venue Buffalo deserves.
Sandoro says that even at its currently considerable capacity, the museum can only showcase a small portion of its vast collection. In addition to the dozens of cars and trucks he has personally acquired — ranging from Model A’s, Pierce-Arrows and Stutz Bearcats to vintage fire trucks, “muscle” cars and even the first motorized golf carts — museum supporters’ donations continue to expand its fascinating assortment of vehicles and transportation memorabilia.
But just as early 20th century Buffalo met the needs of the new automobile industry, Buffalo’s Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum is rising to meet this challenge as well, with an expansion of remarkable scale. Fueled by a $3 million grant from New York State supplemented by additional community and foundation funding over the next two years the existing museum is scheduled to grow to more than three times its present size, adding not only more exhibit space and a 150-seat theater but some other unique and historic features.
Getting It Wright at Last.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the expansion project involves a very familiar name that you might not immediately associate with things automotive. internationally-respected architect Frank Lloyd Wright is highly esteemed locally for having designed both the University at Buffalo’s Darwin D. Martin House on Jewett Parkway and Graycliff, the Martin family’s equally impressive lakefront Summer estate in Derby.
What you might not have known is that back in the 1920s, Wright had also designed a filling station that was intended to be built in Buffalo at the corner of Michigan and Cherry but never was. It was yet another local architectural gem that might’ve been lost to us forever but which, thanks to the enthusiasm and initiative of Jim Sandoro, will soon live again.
Built to the designer’s original specifications, the Frank Lloyd Wright Filling Station, accompanied by a nearly-6,000 sq. ft. lube station, will be a prominent feature of the expanded Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum. In its honor, adjacent Carroll Street has already been officially renamed “Frank Lloyd Wright Way.”
Sandoro believes that the project will perfectly compliment both Buffalo’s proud automotive past and the area’s desire to enhance its appeal as a travel destination. “Our location places us right at the gateway to Buffalo’s waterfront,” he notes, positioning the expanded complex to potentially attract 50,000 to 100,000 visitors a year to an area that, he points out, has so much more to offer that simply has gone undiscovered. With the arrival of new lures like the planned Bass Pro super store just up the street, he believes the time is ripe to cast a bigger net and reel in more tourist traffic.
The Keepers of the Flame.
“I think our future for Buffalo is celebrating our past,” he contends, emphasizing “Not living in it, but celebrating it.” He adds that it offers us the opportunity to enhance our area’s prospects for tomorrow while assuming our rightful responsibility for preserving and protecting prized possessions from yesterday. And not just the historic objects like classic cars and vintage buildings, but memories, as well.
One of the most unique services the museum offers Western New York is the way it has effectively fashioned itself into a memory bank for the Pierce-Arrow era. Sandoro says it maintains a growing database of information about the company’s activities and the lives of the people who worked there. He notes that the community is welcomed and encouraged to contact him to inquire about relatives and ancestors who were associated with the company and to contribute new information to the shared recollection of that important chapter in our history.
Seen through Sandoro’s eyes, all the vintage vehicles, and the stories of the people who owned and drove them, don’t really belong to us. History belongs to history. “We’re just caretakers,” he believes, looking after things for the generations still coming down the road. “That’s why we have to protect it and save it properly and tell the story now.” Do anything less, he says, and we risk losing something even more irreplaceable. Our knowledge of who we were. Our understanding of who we are. And our appreciation of who we may yet become.