The Buffalo Presidential Center’s mission is to encourage the study, exploration, interpretation, and public awareness of Western New York’s contributions to both the presidency and national affairs.

    “We want to promote the fact that Buffalo’s presidential history is incredibly significant,” said Bren Price, a longtime trustee. “It’s something to be proud of, but most people don’t know much about it.”

    James Monroe was the first sitting president to visit the Black Rock area during a tour of what was then the Northwest in 1817. He stayed at the “Buffalo Hotel” at the corner of Main and Swan streets. John Quincy Adams toured Buffalo after his presidency, attending church with Millard Fillmore at 110 Franklin Street. Theodore Roosevelt visited 19 times; Franklin Roosevelt came 14 times. Since 2000, George W. Bush has been here three times. There are many more examples of presidents in Western New York.

    “Virtually every president has been here since Grover Cleveland,” Price said, citing Niagara Falls and the Chautauqua Institution as regional visits.

    The Buffalo Presidential Center was begun nearly 50 years ago.

    “We began talking about this way, way back, in the 1970s,” said the late Joan Bozer, a former county legislator who helped found the organization with a noted Buffalo lawyer, the late Maryann Saccomando Freedman. “We realized that two Buffalo lawyers who rose to be president were getting short shrift in their hometown. We wanted to show that niche on a national level.”

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    As part of our evolution, in 2015, the Buffalo Presidential Center acquired a collection of presidential books and memorabilia from Elwin Richardson’s family. Richardson, of Syracuse, was a longtime collector. Knowing the collection would be difficult to sell when Richardson passed away, his family donated it to us. The ensuing years have been spent cataloging, storing, and displaying the materials.

    In 2021, the Buffalo Presidential Center finally found a home on the second floor of the Downtown Library. The museum is open to the public every Saturday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. There is no charge to visit, but donations are accepted.

    We are active in programming historic and cultural events, and have a Speaker’s Bureau that features historians who travel throughout the community to share our passion for presidents and local history. We welcome volunteers and donations.