Frontier House

About this property

The Frontier House is a historic landmark in Lewiston, New York. In the early 1800s, it was known as the finest hotel in the United States west of Albany and housed several Niagara County businessmen and honored guests. The building has been on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Niagara County, New York since 1974. In addition to being a hotel, it has served as a private home, fine dining restaurant, museum, and McDonald's restaurant. The Frontier House, built in 1824, is situated at 460 Center Street, Lewiston, New York, of Niagara County and was hailed as the best hotel west of Albany. Prominent business men of Lewiston, Benjamin and Samuel Barton along with Joshua Fairbanks headed the building of the tavern. The Frontier House was constructed of stone from the Bay of Quinte at the Northeastern end of Lake Ontario. 18 men worked 18 months in laying up the solid stone 30-inch walls. Fifteen fireplaces would keep visitors warm. Everyone in town could see the smoke billowing from the chimneys on the east and west side of the building. It was an imposing structure that fulfilled Benjamin Barton's expectations and was ready to house Gov. Dewitt Clinton and other state officials who came to Lewiston after the official opening of the Erie Canal in Lockport. When completed, the structure stood four stories tall. Its rectangular shape, double parallel chimneys, oval windows, full-width porch and hipped roof is characterized as the Federal style of architecture. Benjamin Barton's office was on the first floor with a large ballroom on the second floor. The third floor included fourteen bedrooms with fireplaces and the fourth floor was used for meetings, famously for free masons. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic places on July 8, 1974. Dewitt Clinton, President William McKinley, Samuel Clemens, Charles Dickens, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John L. Sullivan and Jenny Lind were all honored guests of the Frontier House. In the 1800s ten coach trains arrived and departed from the Frontier House hotel daily carrying these among other influential people. The hotel was maintained by its descendants and later turned into a private home. George Rector purchased the inn and added the Frontier House Restaurant. Daughters of Rector inherited the hotel in the 1930s. In the economic boom of the 1960s area factories in Niagara Falls were welcoming newcomers at a rate of 11,000. The Frontier House rented its rooms to sleep three for each eight-hour shift because of the growing demand for housing. In June 1964, Mr. and Mrs. James Russell of Buffalo renovated the hotel into a museum and restaurant. Dining rooms, the Lafayette Ballroom was named on the second floor, a Victorian parlor and Early American bedroom styles were presented on the third floor and the fourth was private quarters. In September 1973, the manager and chef of Frontier House were rescued in a fire. One dining room was destroyed along with widespread water damage. Two years later the historic hotel of Lewiston's future was handed to William McDonald, who restored the interior and leased it to the McDonald's food chain. McDonald's closed in 2004, and the structure has been vacant ever since. It was acquired by the village of Lewiston in July 2013.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Niagara County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Niagara County.

More historic places in New York

Browse all historic places in New York.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

New York history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.