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What's Happening at the LCC?
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A piece of history is returning to the Larkin Center. The above photo gives you a hint. Now keep an eye out for our historic display in the 700 Exchange Street lobby.
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Thank you for the fantastic showing at our recent blood drive with Unyts. 20 total presenting donors, 6 first time donors saved a potential 57 lives in WNY!
Four donors saved lives and won FREE PARKING. Nicole Carriere, Matthew Dunford, Maureen Finn and Priscilla White are the lucky winners. Please email
[email protected] to arrange your parking.
Get ready for the next Unyts blood drive on Wednesday, December 7th!
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Missing a button from your shirt, need to take an inch out of your pants (after your impressive results from the Larkin Fitness center)? Sewing Technology Uniform Co., located on the first floor of the Larkin Center, makes it easy. Just drop off simple alterations such as hemming and button repair in the morning and pick up that afternoon. Things like zipper repair, letting out or taking in pants/skirts will take a bit more time, but still have the conveinience of drop off and pick up right at work.
Sewing Technology Uniform
691 Seneca Street
716.845.5130
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Welcome to the Larkin Center
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InVue Digital has just taken occupancy in our incubator. The 6th floor has become the LCC epicenter for young, energetic and growing companies.
InVue Digital is a forward-thinking digital marketing strategy group focused on delivering a blend of analytical and creative marketing techniques that drive meaningful results for their clients.
At InVue, they specialize in search engine marketing and optimization, display advertising, social media marketing, and website design and development.
They work with businesses down the street, across the state and around the county.
Rick Mariano, President of InVue Digital, explains their move to the Larkin Center.
We ended up at the Larkin Center due to rapid client growth, it was time for us to find our own space. And where else would we rather be than the Larkin District? It was an easy choice.
We have a team of digital marketing experts hanging out in 653E. Feel free to stop by and talk digital marketing with us! Bring some questions; I'm sure we can help.
716.464.0106
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Eckl's lives: Opening date set for landmark
Orchard Park restaurant
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Dale Eckl Jr. will be carving beef once again as Eckl's reopens under new ownership.
John Hickey, Buffalo News
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Eckl's Restaurant, famous for its roast beef, will reopen
November 1st under new ownership. The new owners; Ted Smith and Jim Cornell, managing partner of the Larkin Center of Commerce.
Naturally our first thought... is Eckl's at the Larkin Center a possibility? Jim quickly smiled and said, "only time will tell!"
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Not much is expected to change except for a facelift and possible addition of an outdoor seating area. Eckl's will reopen and continue to operate with the same menu and much of the same staff as when it closed in 2015.
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Rendering of the revamped exterior, with brand new patio.
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Ted and Jim see this as more than just a financial investment; it is an opportunity to save a historical asset and make a meaningful contribution to the community. They have received a stream of fan mail from Eckl's regulars in which all are expressing excitement for the reopening of the venerable institution.
A postcard received from a couple in West Seneca said, "Thank you to you and your partners for bringing back a sorely missed treasure and staple to our family and many others in WNY." The elated 'once a week' Eckl's patron continued, " I have not had a beef on weck since they closed last September. My husband will swim in the lobster bisque. Our mouths are already on high alert. We look forward to a return to our favorite 'go to' eatery anywhere."
Click Here to read the full coverage documented by Andrew Galarneau of Gusto.
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Sharon Osgood shares the rise and fall of the Larkin Soap Company.
John D. Larkin, born in 1845 in Buffalo, first became involved in the making of soap at the age of 16. He had lost his father when he was 7. His mother struggled to provide for her six children, but life was very difficult for the family. John attended Public School 10, but at the age of 12 had to drop out to get a job to help support the family. At age 16, in 1861, John was hired by Justus Weller to work in his soap factory. Nine years later Weller sold the factory here and moved to Chicago to open a new factory, taking John with him. By 1871 John had become a partner.
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Henry Hoag house in Orchard Park, where Larkin farmed in the 1860s. Buffalo Spree
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While in Chicago, John met the Hubbard family, who had moved there from Buffalo as well. In 1874 he married Hannah Frances Hubbard. The next year he sold his interest in the Weller Company to move himself and Hannah Frances back to Buffalo, where he established a factory at 199 Chicago Street. There the company, named the John D. Larkin Company, began making Sweet Home Soap, which was a laundry soap.
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Be Jeweled Jewelry Sale
October 5 - 701 Seneca Street Lobby
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Second Saturday
October 8 - 2nd Floor Conference Room
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Small Enterprise Alliance of WNY
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Gentlemen Prefer Divas
October 26 - North Park Theater
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Tour de Vine
October 27 - 500 Seneca Street Atrium
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Larkin Soap Company's Birth and Death
John D. Larkin, born in 1845 in Buffalo, first became involved in the making of soap at the age of 16. He had lost his father when he was 7. His mother struggled to provide for her six children, but life was very difficult for the family. John attended Public School 10, but at the age of 12 had to drop out to get a job to help support the family. At age 16, in 1861, John was hired by Justus Weller to work in his soap factory. Nine years later Weller sold the factory here and moved to Chicago to open a new factory, taking John with him. By 1871 John had become a partner.
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Henry Hoag house in Orchard Park, where John D. Larkin farmed in the 1860s.
Buffalo Spree
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While in Chicago, John met the Hubbard family, who had moved there from Buffalo as well. In 1874 he married Hannah Frances Hubbard. The next year he sold his interest in the Weller Company to move himself and Hannah Frances back to Buffalo, where he established a factory at 199 Chicago Street. There the company, named the John D. Larkin Company, began making Sweet Home Soap, which was a laundry soap.
John marketed the soap through the services of peddlers who pushed their handcarts through the streets, selling to merchants and residents. The soap was good quality and inexpensive, so became very popular.
Soon Hannah's talented brother, Elbert Hubbard, moved to Buffalo to work for John as a salesman. His creativity led to attractive and persuasive advertising materials. New products were also added, so by 1876 a larger factory was required. John had a three story plant built at 663 Seneca Street. Hubbard became a partner and the company was renamed J.D. Larkin and Company.
Hubbard came up with the idea of including in the packaging of products a premium - a chromo picture - that buyers could collect and enjoy. Sales grew. More product lines were developed. In 1883 toilet soaps began to be produced, some including a bath towel as a premium. Soon the company was encouraging
buyers to save product wrappers which could be accumulated and which could be redeemed for an ever growing list of premiums.
In the early 1880's Hubbard also began to convert the sales process to mail order rather than peddlers.
In 1877 at the age of 12, Darwin Martin joined his brother, Frank, in New York City to sell Larkin products with him. He was a hard working, well behaved lad. When John Larkin learned about him, he brought Darwin, at age 13, to work as a messenger in the factory. Darwin excelled at all that he was asked to do. Having no friends or family in Buffalo, his whole life was work. He soon graduated to position of bookkeeper and learned all about the company's business. Around 1881 he developed an index method of keeping record of mail orders, transferring 96,000 names from huge ledgers to the index. In 1885, he changed the system to a file drawer with individual cards for each customer, like a library card catalog.
Hubbard, ever looking for creative ways to increase business, came up with an idea to sell "combination boxes" that held a variety of products and a premium if buyers got six new buyers of a combination box. The strategy was hugely successful.
When Hubbard resigned from the company and cashed out his stock, Darwin Martin purchased it and assumed Hubbard's title of Secretary of the company.
After Martin experienced a severe nervous collapse in 1897 and took eight weeks off from work, Larkin, realizing that more help was needed to run the company, hired William Heath, a Chicago attorney, who was married to Mary, a sister of Elbert Hubbard and John Larkin's wife, Hannah Frances.
Over the next few years as business grew, so did the physical plant. Buildings were added on to existing buildings till, by 1912, the company occupied three million square feet.
In 1902 Darwin Martin and his brother, William, drove to Chicago where they met Frank Lloyd Wright and ideas were germinated to have Wright design
an office-administration building for the company. The design was completed in 1904 and construction completed in 1906, becoming one of Wright's most important architectural designs.
The Larkin Company buildings drew visitors from all over the world. Regular tours were given. In 1908 about 50,000 people went on tours. Even the King and Queen of Belgium visited.
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Subsidiary companies were developed, like Buffalo Pottery in 1901, to make premiums rather than buy from others. Retail outlets were opened to sell Larkin products. A Larkin Bakery supplied markets and chain stores. A Larkin Gas Station opened at Seneca and Van Rensselaer Streets. The company survived the Panic of 1893, the years of World War I and the recession of 1921-22. On May 1, 1925, a Fifty Golden Years celebration was held. All seemed to be going well. But the Great Depression beginning in 1929 was to bring the company down. It paid its shareholders the last dividend in 1931. In desperation, the company was divided into separate entities. For instance, Larkin Warehouse, Inc. took over the R, S and T buildings (now the LCo. Building at 726 Exchange Street). The Larkin Store Corp. handled mail order and store sales. Larkin Products, Inc. handled what little manufacturing was still being done. In 1943 the U.S. government used its condemnation powers to acquire what is now the Larkin Center of Commence, as well as the powerhouse, to be used by the Armed Services. The Larkin Administration Building, long neglected and vandalized, was torn down by the City in 1950.
Larkin Store Corp. regained its name of Larkin Co. Inc., and tried to revive business, selling products made by the Larkin Products, Inc. The latter company closed in the mid 1950's. Larkin Store Corp. shipped its last order in January, 1962. In 1967 the Larkin Warehouse was sold to Graphic Controls, its largest tenant.
But in the end, the Larkin Soap Co. and its progeny, paid all their creditors, avoiding bankruptcy.
~ From the Desk of Sharon Osgood
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