Michigan Street Baptist Church - Table of Contents

2003 photos - Michigan Street Baptist Church
511 Michigan Avenue (between Broadway and William), Buffalo, N.Y.

Founded:

28 May, 1837

Building erected:

1845-1849
See also:
Highlights of Buffalo History, 1849

Builder

Samuel H. Davis


Click on illustrations for larger size -- and additional information

Left: J. Edward Nash House ... Michigan Street Baptist Church ... Colored Musicians Club

Left: Jesse Nash House ... Michigan Street Baptist Church ... Building saved from demolition in 2002

Nineteenth Century photo




Compound arch

Dentils above rounded window


Site of an Underground Railroad Station


J. Edward Nash House


Note two historic markers. Left: Mary Talbert, Underground Railroad Station

Mary Talbert

Mary Talbert marker

 

Excerpt from
Deidre Williams, "NAACP Turns 100 Today,"
published in The Buffalo News, February 12, 2009, B1

In 1905, 32 prominent African-American men gathered for a reception at the home of William and Mary B. Talbert members of Michigan Street Baptist Church - once a stop on the Underground Railroad. The men - who had financial backing from William Talbert - wanted equal rights for black men.And they wanted it immediately.

'We are men. We want to betreated as men. And we shall win," scholar and activist W. E. B. DuBois was quoted as saying. little did the Talberts know that the reception they hosted in their home would give birth to one of the country's leading civil rights organizations.

The following day, the group convened officially for the first time as the Niagara Movement in the Fort Erie (Ont.) Hotel, according to Bishop William Henderson, historian and tour guide for Michigan StreetBaptist Church.

Four years later, the group would form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which celebrates its centennial today.

Other possible underground railroad sites in Western New York:

Dr. Harry Fosdick Home, Buffalo
First Shiloh Baptist Church, Buffalo
Methodist Episcopal Church, Buffalo
Morris-Butler House, Buffalo (1837-1927)
Durham Memorial AME Zion Church
Clinton Hall
Eagle House, Williamsville
First Presbyterian Church, Lewiston, NY
Asa Warren house (c. 1820) Eden, NY
Obadiah Baker House, Orchard Park, NY
Presbyterian Church, Lockport
Union Meeting House, Collins Center, Erie County
Moss House (Lockport YWCA)
Hull-Peterson House, Lancaster
Griffins Mills Presbyterian Church, East Aurora
Seldon Ely Farm, Cheektowaga
Tryonís Folly, Lewiston, Niagara County
Martha Root House, Pekin

- from a research paper by Amy Sobierajski, Dept. of Anthropology, Syracuse University




Photos and their arrangement © 2003 Chuck LaChiusa
| ...Home Page ...| ..Buffalo Architecture Index...| ..Buffalo History Index... .|....E-Mail ...|
..

web site consulting by ingenious, inc.