The Tool Library, Past, Present, and Future . . .
In celebration of 15 years of sharing and community, in gratitude for 4 years in our forever home at 2626 Main Street, and in anticipation of our staged renovations of that welcome shelter over the next several years, The Tool Library is offering a small series of reflections on our neighborhood and our building.
Part Two: The present . . .
- 1895: The land on which the Tool Library sits, together with much of the surrounding Central Park neighborhood, was owned by Lewis Jackson Bennett (1833-1925), founder of the Buffalo Cement Company, whose nearby limestone quarry provided the materials for many of Buffalo’s buildings.
- 1900: 2626 Main Street was originally a suburban branch of one of Buffalo’s thriving downtown banks (Goldome Bank opened in 1901) at a developing commercial node on the Belt Line Railroad and the burgeoning Parkside neighborhood. Signs of this early history in the building include the walk-in Mosley Safe on the first floor and the later-installed drive-up bank window. (Mosley safes, built in Hamilton, Ohio, were famous for their strength and precision manufacturing. Several survived the atomic bomb at Hiroshima!) See also the ice box at the back of the rather luxurious wood-panelled second floor apartment, and the period decals of various service functions–cook. maid, and butler–that can still be found in those back rooms.
- 1960s on: In 1963 the Parkside Community Association was founded to combat red-lining, and in 1987 the neighborhood (excluding the Vernon Triangle area) received official Historic District designation. By the mid-1980s 2626 Main Street had passed to the Costantino family, where it underwent a series of retail transformations, including a Subway restaurant, a cell phone shop, and a real estate office.
- 2011: The University Heights Tool Library was founded in a Main Street storefront, with just a handful of tools on the wall, thanks to a seed grant from then-Buffalo councilwoman Bonnie Russell. It soon moved to 5 West Northrup and began a process of exponential growth further fueled by the COVID pandemic and the popularity of DIY projects.
- 2018: The University Heights Tool Library, renamed The Tool Library, was formally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit.
- 2023: After 3+ years of searching, The Tool Library found its new home as a rental at 2626 Main Street, more than tripling the organization’s available space. Over 40 volunteers joined us on Moving Day to help transport 4,000+ tools to this new location in under 4 hours!
- 2024: On September 19, 2024, after a lightening Capital Campaign fueled by several major grants and hundreds of individual donations, The Tool Library officially purchased 2626 Main Street.
- 2026: On to the future, and plans for our staged renovation!
For more about The Parkside Association, see its website at https://parksidebuffalo.org/Neighborhood Issues of the Parkside News since 1979 have been digitized at the UB Archives: https://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2026/03/preserving-parkside.html.
