Media Advisory: Severe weather will limit gravesite portion of Millard Fillmore’s commemoration ceremony on Jan. 5

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Because of the severe weather forecast for Friday, Jan. 5, the gravesite commemoration celebrating the 218th anniversary of the birth of Millard Fillmore, the University at Buffalo’s first chancellor and 13th president of the United States, scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. in Forest Lawn Cemetery, will be shortened to a brief wreath presentation ceremony outdoors, featuring representatives from the White House, Fillmore legacy organizations and Forest Lawn.

Afterward, participants will travel to the Wendt Center for the remainder of the ceremony, including the welcome, invocation, legacy organization comments and a presentation by Carole Emberton, UB professor of history, on “Coming to Terms with Millard Fillmore and the Fugitive Slave Act,” which will explain how the act affected African-Americans living in Western New York, including a number of fugitives living in the city at the time.

Participants are being encouraged to meet at the Margaret L. Wendt Archival and Research Center in Forest Lawn Cemetery at 9:45 a.m. before being transported via trolley at 9:50 a.m.to the Millard Fillmore gravesite, located in section F on this map, for a photo op of the presentation of wreaths.

More details about the ceremony are available here: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2018/01/003.html.

This year’s commemoration marks the 53rd consecutive year UB has organized the event, a tradition that dates back to 1937.  From 1937 until 1964, the anniversary ceremonies were organized by Charles Templeton, a UB alumnus who worked with the city of Buffalo and the Buffalo Board of Education to program the annual events.