The wrecking ball arrived at St. Patrick's in 1982. Chris Hawley has the story at the Hydraulics Press with some stunning pics. Chris writes:
The erasure of the ecclesiastical monument, built in 1891 as the permanent house of worship for the parish founded at the site in 1853, was an act of vandalism against the public memory of the Hydraulics as Buffalo's first Irish neighborhood - later, a largely German and Polish neighborhood.
St. Patrick's Demolition
The memory of weddings, funerals, baptisms, many of the principal defining moments of the lives of the neighborhood's Catholic residents, disappeared as quickly as the rubble of the church's Medina sandstone walls could be carried away to the landfill.
Chris has additional St. Patrick's demolition pics in his flickr stream - St. Patrick's demolition slide show. Buffalo Rising posted this yesterday about the St. Patrick's demolition.
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Oh, just like the buildings after an earthquake.
Let's see what they put there now...possibly another vacant lot?
I'll stick to your blog instead, Dave. Those people commenting on BRO are just plain nasty!
Check out this betrayal of Buffalo's East Side exemplified by "Preservation" Buffalo Niagara:
http://www.preservationbuffaloniagara.org/page/deconstructing-and-moving-st-gerards-church/