Photos: Old Lumen Bearing Co. & Potts Furniture Complex About to Come Down

[nggallery id=184](click on images for full view)

A few months ago, I posted a piece called “Demolishing Polonia: It is only a matter of time” about the Lumen Bearing Co. complex on Sycamore and Lathrop.  Well, its time has come to be demolished.

As the photos illustrate, everything is in place for the demo to begin.

It is sad.  With a little TLC, the place could have survived time and the wrecking ball.  But after years of neglect, it will go the way like a lot places in the neighborhood.


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5 thoughts on “Photos: Old Lumen Bearing Co. & Potts Furniture Complex About to Come Down

  1. Do we know what is going to become of that site? I know that a demoliton company was interested in it a few months ago and wondered if he is the one that got the property.

  2. Chris, thank you so much for those pictures of Lumen Bearing Co. & Potts Furniture. I lived right across the street from 1951 til 1982. I remember it being a very busy foundry and the owners were very nice people. Then when Potts came in (who also was a nice guy) kept the building up and especially at Christmas, each of the showroom windows would have these beautiful Christmas trees which we all enjoyed.

  3. This is so ironic in that today I received a 1952 edition of the Lumen Bearing Co. “Engineer’s Handbook” (on-line buy). In the front is a beautiful image of the factory from 60+ years ago. I write short articles about WNY Mfg. History for the “Flywheel News” so I got the book with a future article in mind (in maybe 2-4 years). At that time I might’ve driven by the plant for a NOW picture, but I guess that would likely be a shot of a housing development or medical-office campus or empty field or whatever.

    The Lumen Factory demo will be another Buffalo manufacturing complex turned into rubble. It’s such a shame that converting or restoring beautiful old factories is too costly due to the asbestos & lead-paint abatement, just for starters. Add to that the likelihood of lead-fume residue everywhere, including the soil in the surrounding area, and any cleanup would be a nightmare prior to a restoration or reuse of the old factory.

    As the comic-strip character Pogo once said (I hope this is correct): “we has met the enemy and they is us.”

    If anyone has a good published history of the Lumen company, I’d be interested in a link herein. Thank you in advance!

    1. Hi Brian:
      …saw a post of yours regarding the Lumen bearing Co. that I saw when I was looking into it. FYI – I have some very fascinating info on the company. ….. 1900-1910 era, photographs, graphic monthly newsletters and my prize is their hand painted trade sign. I’d be happy to show the stuff to you if you are interested.

  4. Another example of the degrading death of what was once a proud & shining neighborhood, occupied then-by those that took pride in where & how they lived. Virtually all I knew…my friends & their parents, worked hard, played hard, lived exemplary lives, gave nor asked-no quarter, & took the initiative in maintaining their homes, (many several decades old even back then), knowing that their neighborhoods was a reflection of themselves & how they lived. Those people I grew up with, allowed me to retain the memories of how it was back then, & have, as the businesses, buildings, & homes-as they themselves, have passed into time. They left to the heirs of our east-side, an already established neighborhood…in less than last a lifetime, the results speak for themselves. Old neighborhoods don’t simply die, they are a direct result of what inhabitants put into them. Dear Buffalo, I miss what you once were..thanks for the memories & a great childhood.

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