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Roycroft Wall

Driving around East Aurora is quite an adventure lately! There is construction just about every way you turn, but the construction I'm excited about is the Roycroft wall resurrection. Here are some pictures of the wall in various states of dismantling and repair. Stay tuned for the final look!

Before:

During:

Almost Done:

 
Stop by the Roycroft Campus to see the most recent stages of the Roycroft wall restoration. It will be completed very soon, see history in the making at 31 Grove St in East Aurora, NY! 

 -Amanda

Scenic Season at the Roycroft Campus

Summer's almost gone. I can feel the heat winding down, the school year beginning. I know that this is the time to begin thinking that the beautiful weather is a gift. Things are changing and I look back and take stock on what I haven't gotten to do...yet.

This is the season to see the Roycroft Campus. This is the time to grab hold of those opportunities. Make it a weekend and visit in conjunction with one of the great fall festivals going on in the area or check our calendar for events and classes going on at the Roycroft Campus. Late summer and early fall are absolutely gorgeous in Western New York, come see what we have to offer. Call 716-655-0261 for more information or to arrange a tour and get out an enjoy the season! 

-Amanda

East Aurora reunion weekend

A couple weekends ago in East Aurora was reunion weekend. Graduated classes have their reunions the same weekend every year. I did not graduate from East Aurora High but I have been told that the Fireman's field party is not to be missed.

As folks come back to East Aurora from far and wide, many are pleasantly surprised to see the wonderful Roycroft Campus thriving. I had the pleasure of giving a tour to the class of 1964. When they attended school (back then the high school was across the street from the Campus), the Roycroft Campus was not anything special. Revitalizing the Campus was not even a mature thought yet.  Many of the alumni were amazed at all the history that was nearby for those 4 years.

One visitors said the only thing they were taught in school about the Roycroft Campus was "When you tell someone you are from East Aurora they will say - oh home of Elbert Hubbard and the Roycrofters".

I am thrilled to say that is still true. Plan a visit, see the campus. Learn history you did not know - or um...forgot you knew.

Julie

Cazenovia Creek then and now

Elbert Hubbard loved the out-of-doors. He is known to have taken the employees  of the Roycroft Campus on many hikes in the woods. Not much has been written if he liked the water or if he canoed or boated. We do know there was a well-known boating and canoe launch not far from the Roycroft Campus.

 

It was called Creekside Park (later called Donner's Grove). Roycroft visitors and locals rented canoes and went on boat rides in the Cazenovia Creek.

There is no longer a park in this exact area but you can still canoe or kayak the creek. Here is a photo of my son and I launching into the Cazenovia Creek just like Roycroft visitors and workers may have done 100 years ago. (Ok maybe not in plastic kayaks but you get the idea)

 

Julie (in the yellow/black kayak)

Knox and Hubbard

Just on the outskirts of East Aurora is Knox Farm State Park.

The New York State Park was formed in 2000 from the estate of the Knox Family. It is 633 arces  including a working farm with horses, llamas and sheep. Seymour Knox was a wealthy businessman and a contemporary of Elbert Hubbard.

The plaque below the photos says:

Elbert Hubbard and Seymour Knox (the only known photograph of these two men together) No information is known of of the two men's acquaintance other than they shared a love of horses and art.

In 1895 Elbert Hubbard established the arts and crafts community of Roycrofters in East Aurora.

On May 7, 1915 Elbert Hubbard perishes when a German submarine sank the British luxury liner, the Lusitania. Nine days later, Seymour Knox died of illness.

It is a lovely park and a "must see" when you visit East Aurora. After you visit the Roycroft Campus , of course ;)

Julie

Roycroft Wall and Detours

If you have traveled in and around our lovely village of East Aurora lately, you know our main roads are under reconstruction. Lots of detours. Lots of traffic. But lots of business owners would love to see you.

It is still a wonderful place to visit and shop...just bring your patience.

One section of Main Street that is being worked on is in front of the Roycroft Campus. They needed to take down that section of the Roycroft wall but don't despair it will be put back together and be as beautiful as ever.

Here is that the Main Street Roycroft wall section now:

 

Come visit us in East Aurora and be sure to visit the Roycroft Campus. We can even give you detour directions at no charge!  The Copper Shop Gallery is open 10 -5 daily.   

Julie

See the Roycroft Display in the New Burchfield-Penney Museum

    I recently attended an opening at the new Burchfield Penney Museum at the Buffalo State College Campus. You may remember this name attached to a much smaller, older museum. Not any more! The new museum is large and spacious. With sleek, crowd friendly, rooms and plenty of gallery space, it's worth the trip! The Burchfield Penney is located right across from the Albright Knox Art Museum and near the History and Science Museums. Plan a trip up to the Elmwood Avenue district and enjoy a day in Buffalo, NY.

    Not only does this delightful gallery hold many national contemporay art pieces, it also contains a great selection of Western New York art. We all know what came out of Western New York- the Roycroft! Right in the middle of the gallery sits some great examples of Roycroft furniture and copper. One more reason to make this museum a destination in your near future.

     Don't forget that East Aurora and the Roycroft Campus are only 30 minutes away from the museum! Stop by the Copper Shop Gallery at 31 South Gove St. in the village of East Aurora, NY to see more Roycroft memorabilia or just to say hi if you visit the area.

-Amanda

East Aurora in 1899, as reported in the New York Times

    I am assisting with training docents for the RCC and a question was posed: what was East Aurora like at the end of the nineteenth century when Elbert began building his Roycroft Campus? I thought our readers might be curious as well, so I am quoting a New York Times Saturday Review article dated December 9, 1899, written by one Col. Richard J. Hinton:

   “East Aurora, seventeen miles from Buffalo, has no pretensions and few charms. It is near enough to a great city to feel its smut, perhaps; it is far off, lonely, and simple enough to give rest as a residence spot to bourgeois Buffalonians who have pleasant homes therein. It has the usual accompaniments of an American country town of 1,700 inhabitants and a rugged farm country round about. Its roads are wide and well lined with trees. It has a public school building that won my approval, set, as it was, broad, simple, and unpretentious, roomy, only two stories high, and with well-defined lines, against the misty, gray-blue sky - in ample space of emerald verdure and shadowing trees. The village had another attraction to me besides the Roycroft shop and its “Abbott”, (Elbert) for it contains the famous Hamblin Horse Farm, the place where the finest trotters and pacers have been and are being bred. It was a delight to visit this.”

    Hinton goes on to say that 109 persons were employed in the Roycroft shop at this time - up from only a dozen less than two years prior. 50 of this 109 were women, and an additional 50 persons were working outside the shops; building new structures, laying pavements or on the farm.

    For a 21st century NYT review of the Roycroft and East Aurora go to http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/travel/escapes/23aurora.html?ref=todayspaper.

Sue

Buffalo's architectural gems

As you probably know, The Roycroft campus is located in East Aurora, NY, a suburb of Buffalo, NY. In fact before Elbert Hubbard started the Roycroft, he commuted by train to the Larkin Soap Company in Buffalo, NY.

What you might not know is a recent article in the Sunday November 16th New York Times stated:

"Buffalo is home to some of the greatest American architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with major architects like Henry Hobson Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright building marvels here."

If you would like to read the NY Times article, read it here.

The Buffalo News then added to the conversation with this article.

The Roycroft campus is proud to contribute to Buffalo area's heritage. Won't you come for a visit?

Julie

1909 Map of East Aurora- What do you recognize?

 

I recently came across a large 1909 map of East Aurora, NY filed amongst piles of ephemera at a local flea market. Before I framed it, I spent a few rainy evening hours poring over the names on the plots of land. Hand scrawled surnames and colored icons cover the lightly weathered paper. Cazenovia Creek snakes aimlessly through the town. Even the circle on Main Street (which is getting a face lift next year) is still only a triangular intersection.

It was most fascinating to see the Roycroft's footprints across the town. You can see where the Roycroft Inn is and the adjacent Campus. Note where Emerson Hall is and, of course, Hamlin Park. What I don't know much about is the Roycroft Stables on Oakwood.

Do you remember any of these old plots? Maybe you live on one today. Take a look for yourself! If you've never been to the little town of East Aurora, why not create your own memories of it this year?

-Amanda