Buffalo Canoe Club

Since the founding of Buffalo, the broad expanses of the Niagara, the upper reaches of its tributaries, and the sandy beaches of Ontario’s shores, have beckoned the lovers of the great outdoors. A small group of canoeists who cruised these waters organized in 1882 the Buffalo Canoe Club.The transformation from an unimpressive shack at the foot of Hamilton Street, Buffalo, New York, to the present modern yacht club at its unsurpassed location on the beautiful shores of Abino Bay, represents more than one hundred years of outstanding planning and loyal labor by those within our Club. It has always been our good fortune to have on our rolls more than a fair share of Buffalo’s leaders.Our present site on Abino Bay was acquired in 1891, and on February 15, 1892, Williams Lansing, Henry L. Campbell, George Kelley, Emory Dunstan and Frank D. Wood incorporated the Buffalo Canoe Club as a New York Corporation. These men were the guiding spirits in the formative period of the Club, and to them the Club owes it undying gratitude.The growth of the Club was rapid, and during the next ten years it was necessary to enlarge and improve the property of the Club several times to accommodate the large number of enthusiastic canoers and sailors who for the most part arrived for the weekend via Webb Haun’s horse drawn bus. In 1907 a violent storm swept away the old boathouse and flagpole. Sir Henry Pellatt of Toronto presented the Club with the present beautiful flagpole in appreciation of the hospitality that had been shown him.In 1909 the replacement outer boathouse was built. The wonderful birch bark war canoe that hung from the boathouse rafters was probably the finest piece of birch bark canoe making to be found in the world. It was built by the Quebec Indians to take Edward VII of England and his bride through the Lachine Rapids when he visited Quebec as the Prince of Wales.Old Lansing House, acquired in 1908, served as winter quarters for over twenty years. So enthusiastic were the members of the day before the automobile that many a party walked out from Fort Erie to spend the weekend, and it was routine practice for the members to walk from the Crystal Beach boat or the Grand Trunk Railroad to the Club. The Lansing House was destroyed by fire in 1929 and was replaced by the present Lansing Lodge. In 1930 the east wing was added to the present main club building.