University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

A new Home for UB Law School

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Published: October 21, 2009

The UB Law School, established in 1887 as the Law Department of Niagara University, was originally located in the Niagara Medical School building on Ellicott Street in downtown Buffalo. After separating from Niagara University in 1891, the Law School became affiliated with the University of Buffalo, occupying space in different downtown buildings during the decades that followed.

In 1917, the Law School moved into a converted three-story residence at 77 West Eagle St. By 1948, the school had outgrown this facility, prompting administrators to make plans for a new building. After debating whether the Law School should remain downtown or move to the UB campus, the University Council voted to tear down the West Eagle Street structure and replace it with a more modern facility in the same location.

The limestone-and-granite structure seen in this photograph welcomed its first law students in September 1949. The new building included a third-floor library that held nearly 32,000 volumes and featured 20-foot-high ceilings. The second floor housed faculty offices and the headquarters of the Erie County Bar Association. Classrooms and administrative offices occupied the first floor, while the basement provided space for a student lounge and locker rooms.

The new West Eagle Street building was formally dedicated on Oct. 21, 1949, during a ceremony that drew university officials, local attorneys and alumni. John Lord O’Brian, an 1898 graduate of the Law School and one of its most distinguished alumni, delivered the principal address. O’Brian praised the new building as “a monument to a long line of people who worked through half a century to bring this school to where it is today.”

The UB Law School remained at West Eagle Street until 1973, when it moved to the newly constructed John Lord O’Brian Hall on the North Campus.

Click here (http://law.lib.buffalo.edu/collections/archives/law-school-archives.asp) for additional information on the history of the UB Law School, or visit the Law School Archives in the Charles B. Sears Law Library in O’Brian Hall.

—Kathleen Quinlivan, University Libraries