May is designated as Preservation Month and in recognition of this the Village of Lancaster’s 175th Anniversary Committee and Preservation Buffalo Niagara hosted the Broadway Historic District Walking tour on Saturday, May 18th. In 2015 properties along both sides of Broadway from Central Avenue to the village’s eastern boundary were listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places in recognition of the varied architecture along the street. The varying styles exemplified are Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Greek Revival, Italianate, Tudor Revival, Spanish Revival and Art Deco to name a few.
Our tour guide, Brandon Kennedy, Lead Preservationist and Architectural Historian, from Preservation Buffalo Niagara led us on a stroll along Broadway, we learned that the earliest buildings in the district are the Carpenter-Draper House (c. 1830 or earlier) and the Lancaster Presbyterian Church (1832) and the last building to be built in the district is the Lancaster Municipal Building (1940). An excellent example of Queen Anne architecture is the Clark-Lester House (1891), now the Sassafras Bed & Breakfast.  An accomplished resident of this home was Olive Peckham Lester. She grew up in the house and continued to live there until shortly before her death in 1996. Ms. Lester taught psychology at the University of Buffalo and was its first woman department chair. In fact, she was one of the first women in the U.S. to head a psychology department.
The Village of Lancaster has been active in the preservation movement for decades. The Historic Preservation Commission was founded in 1986 to preserve the architectural integrity of our community by designating a local historic district. They were also instrumental in having the Broadway District and Central Avenue District listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Thank you to Brandon Kennedy and Preservation Buffalo Niagara for an enjoyable and educational stroll down Broadway. For more information about preservation  contact Preservation Buffalo Niagara: https://preservationbuffaloniagara.org/  or the Village of Lancaster’s Historic Preservation Commission: https://www.villageoflancasterhpc.com/.
Carpenter-Draper House
