City of Lewiston history

In 1809 Michael Little built a large wooden building with saw, grist, and fulling mills next to the falls.

The British remained in control of Fort Niagara and the area until the end of the War of 1812.

In early December of 1813, General McClure, the American General, ordered that the occupied town of Newark, then the capital of Upper Canada (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) and Fort George be burned.

However it was 1815 before these lots were available for sale.

The first bridge was built in 1823.

Before 1825 and the opening of the Erie Canal, Lewiston was called the Gateway to the West and had more population than the City of Buffalo. It was home to the finest hotel in the United States west of Albany, which still stands today and is known as the Frontier House which was built in 1824-5 by Joshua Fairbanks, Benjamin Barton and son, Samuel.

Before 1825 and the opening of the Erie Canal, Lewiston was called the Gateway to the West and had more population than the City of Buffalo.

The town grew to 1,549 inhabitants by 1830.

Bates and Lathrop Cooke were part of the Lewiston Railroad Company, which connected with the Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad in 1835.

In 1836 local entrepreneurs, primarily the Little family, organized a company to build dams, canals and mills, but they lacked the capital to achieve their goals.

As late as the 1840's what is now Lisbon Street was undeveloped, but the community soon changed.

A fire company was started in 1849.

A premier hotel, the DeWitt, was built about 1854.

Niagara University, founded in 1856, is one of the largest private colleges in Western New York also calls Lewiston home.

Lewiston's first mayor, Jacob Barker Ham, took office in 1863.

After fire destroyed several stores on Lisbon Street, leading citizens decided to construct "the best opera house east of Boston." The Music Hall was built in 1877 at 69 Lisbon Street.

The first parochial school was established in 1882.

His son Alonzo Marston Garcelon was mayor in 1883 and served twenty years on the education board.

The Niagara River is the west border of the village seen in this 1890’s view.

The original Central Maine General Hospital was established in 1891 with thirty beds in two houses on Main Street.

The first teachers were Sisters of Charity until replaced by the Ladies of Sion in 1892.

The original building was built in 1896 and owned by E. P. Doris, who moved from Farmington, Washington to open Cash Hardware.

The Lewiston City Library was founded in 1901 by the women of the Tsceminicum Club, who wrote to Andrew Carnegie requesting funding to build a public library for the citizens of Lewiston.

Up until the purchase of the building by the library, it was the oldest business operating from the same location in the City of Lewiston. It was purchased by Robert “Bob” Erb, a former employee of Cash Hardware, in 1910 and expanded upon to house other businesses such as the Lewiston Tribune.

The Vevirit Lumber Company was a family business opened in 1921 on South Eighth Street.

Finally, corrupt practices provided the impetus to adopt a new charter in 1939, consisting of a mayor, council, a powerful Board of Finance, and several other commissions.

St Dominic's High School was founded in 1941 in the clubhouse of L'Association St Dominique.

The Geiger Brothers, publishers of The Farmer's Almanac, brought their printing business to Lewiston in 1955.

The city moved to a more professional system with the adoption in 1979 of a new charter that established a city administrator and abolished most boards and commissions.

After opening a second store up in the Orchards in 1996, the downtown location became Cornerstone Interiors, under the same ownership, and still operated as Erb Hardware Headquarters.

With the need for a larger space, the Lewiston City Library Foundation and the Lewiston City Council began raising funds in 2007 for a new library.