The highly anticipated, nationally televised documentary, “Elbert Hubbard: An American Original,” airs tonight, on PBS.

Elbert Hubbard, the former Larkin Co. executive, marketing guru, and founder of the Roycroft Arts & Crafts Movement, was the originator of the direct-to-consumer “Factory to Family Idea” that helped transform the Larkin Co. into one of the country’s largest mail order firms and the Hydraulics into one of its premier Machine Age industrial precincts. From PBS: Read the rest of this entry »

The history of the Hydraulics, Buffalo’s earliest manufacturing district, is about to get some national attention. Yesterday the New York State Historic Preservation Office recommended two applications, including the individual listing of the Kamman Building and a Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF) on the Hydraulics neighborhood, for nomination by the National Parks Service for the National Register of Historic Places.

With the recent passage of New York State’s Enhanced Historic Tax Credit Program, providing tax credits of up to 40% of the costs of rehabilitating heritage structures, the event is a watershed moment in the ongoing development and economic revitalization of the Hydraulics.

The Kamman Building, 755-757 Seneca, is now well on its way to listing on the National Register of Historic Places, making it eligible for historic tax credits being sought by Chaintreuil | Jensen | Stark to transform the structure into apartments and office space to the tune of $1 million. The Hydraulics MPDF (check it out here), prepared by Jennifer Walkowski of the Read the rest of this entry »