In 1958, the foot of Main Street was a tattered but still evident example of the fabric of individual enterprise at the Buffalo waterfront. Here, in a photograph taken that year by the Department of Urban Renewal, the southernmost block of Main and Washington streets is seen from the Skyway. Nearly a dozen pre-Civil War buildings remain standing.

Along Main Street, from South Park Avenue to Perry Street, is Louis Troyan’s liquor store, Phillip Montante’s warehouse, Thomas Hanratty’s restaurant, Cavens Restaraurant, W. A. Case & Son Mfg. Co., and the Francis Hotel. A billboard advertising the W. A. Case & Son Mfg. Co. is prominently visible in the foreground. The firm, established by Whitney Asa Case in 1853, made a specialty of heavy copper smithing for steamboats and locomotives. By 1910, it was the largest supplier of copper engineers’ and plumbers’ supplies in the United States, and was still in operation when this photograph was taken. The whole of the block, in addition to the block to the east, has been occupied by First Niagara Center since its opening in 1996.