When Urban Renewal ended in Lockport NY in 1974, it left many empty lots and unfulfilled promises. Where once a busy shopping district and residential area existed, now contained large spaces between new businesses and virtually no housing for low income residents. In this slide show, you will see what Main Street looked like in Lockport before Urban Renewal and how those same places appeared in 2023. While viewing the photos, do you think the residents and businesses owners of Lockport today consider Urban Renewal a success or a failure? By comparing the before and after photos, what do you think were the positive and what were the negative aspects of Urban Renewal?  

Looking south on Market Street toward Main Street with the five-story, 1929 Bewley Building on the right. This was built to replace the 1881 Hodge Opera House, destroyed in a fire in 1928. The other buildings date from the 19th century. These structures contained stores, businesses, professional offices and residences in 1947.  

A view of the same location in 2023 with the now nearly empty Bewley Building. Some stores and businesses still operate on the ground floor but most of the offices are vacant. The two 19th century buildings were taken down during Urban Renewal and replaced with a parking lot for the Bewley Building. 

The north side of Main Street between Market and Pine Streets in 1947. Main Street was the primary shopping district in Lockport from the mid-19th century to the 1960s. Most of these buildings were constructed in the later part of that century. Ground floors housed stores while upper floors had businesses/offices or residences.

The north side of Main Street between Market and Pine Street in 2023. The 19th century buildings taken down for Urban Renewal in the 1960s were replaced with the Urban Towers low income apartments in 1978. This housing unit was recently updated and modernized.

West Main Street looking east in Lockport in 1947. This section of West Main Street contained several businesses, including the J.J. Frazer building at the corner. Some of the buildings at the east end of the block were located on or very near Lockport’s “Big Bridge.”

Looking east on West Main Street in Lockport in 2023. The J. J. Frazer building is still standing, as are several other structures from the previous photo, along with some newer construction. It is uncertain as to why the Urban Renewal Agency did not take this block as well. 

South side of Main Street between Elm and Locust Streets in 1947 was dominated by the Farmers & Mechanics Bank Building, constructed in 1905.

The Farmers & Mechanics Bank Building, vacant for decades, still dominates the downtown Lockport landscape in 2023. 

The Niagara County National Bank constructed this stone building in 1919. It changed names several times before closing in 1998.

The stone bank building dating from 1919 survived Urban Renewal but the adjacent structures did not. It is now used as a training center for Niagara-Orleans BOCES. 

South side of Main Street looking east in 1947. The building with the parapets is the 1855 Ringueberg Hall (now called the Masonic Building). Other structures are from the mid-to-late 19 century.

South side of Main Street, Lockport NY, 2023. The 1855 Masonic Building dominates the intersection of Main and Cottage Streets. It is one of the few 19th century buildings that escaped destruction caused by Urban Renewal.

North side of Main Street in 1947 showing many viable businesses operating out of 19th century buildings. In the distance, the large granite edifice is the former Lockport Exchange Bank built in 1920.  

North side of Main Street between Cottage and Pine Streets in 2023. The Lockview mini-plaza, obsured by the trees, was built to replace some of the stores that were lost to Urban Renewal. Today it houses small businesses and offices. The former Lockport Exchange Bank in the distance is now the Ulrich Development Corporation.  

North side of Main Street between Market and Pine Streets in 1947. Several shops, particularly clothing stores, did a thriving business in these 19th century buildings while the upper floors housed offices and apartments. 

North side of Main Street between Market and Pine Streets in 2023. A parking lot has replaced a parking ramp that was built in the 1970s following Urban Renewal. A mural painted on the side of one of the few 19th century buildings that was spared depicts the Flight of Five Erie Canal locks that gave the city its name.

The Lox Plaza Hotel began life as the Judson House in the late 1850s after the Great Lockport Fire of 1854 destroyed nearly everything in the canal district. After going through many owners and names, it was torn down in 1966 to make way for the new Lockport Municipal Building.

The Lockport Municipal Building opened in 1974 after vacating a Civil War-era  building a few blocks away that was spared from Urban Renewal. The Brutalist architecture is still distained by local residents.

Standards for Before and After: The Effects of Post-Urban Renewal on Lockport, NY

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework