Lockport dates to 1865, and 2 of its places are on the National Register
Most of Lockport was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Its Register listings are the Cold Springs Cemetery and the Nathan Comstock Jr. House. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1860.
Lockport dates its founding to 1865 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1860.
First census: 10,871 in 18602020 census: 20,563161 years
How did Lockport get its name?
Lockport’s name derives from a set of locks (Lock Numbers 34 and 35) in the Erie Canal within the city that were built to allow canal barges to traverse the sixty-foot (18 m) natural drop of the Niagara Escarpment.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hickory Corners
1830–1899
Rapids
1848–1902
Raymond
1888–1901
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Carlisle GardensHickory CornersHighland ParkNottingham EstatesRapidsRapids Mobile Home ParkRaymondRidgelea HeightsSouth LockportSuburban Acres Mobile Home ParkThe Woodlands Mobile Home ParkVillage Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Graf AirportairportLee AirportairportNiagara County Childrens Health CamplocaleSchool Number 1schoolSchool Number 12schoolSchool Number 13schoolSchool Number 14schoolSchool Number 2schoolSchool Number 3schoolSchool Number 4schoolSchool Number 5schoolSchool Number 6schoolSchool Number 7schoolSchool Number 8schoolSchool Number 9school
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lockport
Cold SpringGerman ReformedPomeroyQueen of HeavenShaefferStahlerTrinity Evangelical Lutheran
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Lockport’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lockport’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The indigenous Seneca people know the site of Lockport as Jodö:sho:t, literally 'springs there'.
The New York State Legislature authorized the Erie Canal's construction in April 1816. The route proposed by surveyors was to traverse an area in central Niagara County, New York, which was then free of European settlers. At the time, the nearest settlers were in nearby Cold Springs, New York. Following the announcement, land speculators began to buy large plots along and near the proposed route of the canal. By December 1820, when the exact location of the step locks had been determined, the area that would become Lockport was owned by only fifteen men, many of whom were Quakers.
Passages that mention Lockport, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Souvenir history of Niagara County, New York1902 · page 144Read the page →
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the West Transit (our Transit street), and including the eastern portion of the present Town of Lockport. When Niagara County was erected, in 1808, the part of the County north of Tonawanda Creek was constituted one town — Cambria — which included the present Town of Lockport.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Niagara county, N. Y., with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, private residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents1878 · page 265Read the page →
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I HE town of Lockport, although comparatively early settled and most numerously populated, was among the last to be organized in the county. It was not until February 2nd, 1824, that a special act was passed in the Legislature " to erect the town of Lockport," and for this purpose the eastern part of Cambria and the western portion of Royalton, including an area of
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Souvenir history of Niagara County, New York1902 · page 184Read the page →
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With the changes in the ownership and operation of the line to Buffalo and the line to Lockport new depot facilities were demanded, and this led to the construction of a depot at the corner of Falls and Second Street, the line from Lockport building the wing extending to the north, and the Buffalo line building a wing that extended east, but which has since been changed. The company that built the railroad to Lewiston was incorporated September 9, 1852,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Niagara county, N. Y., with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, private residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents1878 · page 172Read the page →
Read the text
The opening of the railroad from Lockport to Niagara Falls, rude and imperfect as it was, did much toward giving an impetus to the business of Lockport and served to encourage further works of the kind. The construction of the Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad cast this primitive line into the shade, and afforded much greater facilities for intercourse and commerce. It was so far completed in the summer of 1852 that on the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Lockport, 1830 to 1957
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1905
