Remembering the Palace of Light

By Brandon Stickney

Special to the Express

It was the second-most requested site to see in Niagara Falls, New York, where millions of tourists walk annually. And "they" tore it down in 1976.

Henry Perky had built the Shredded Wheat administration building, "a palace of light," in the city, which represented the very rare quality in American businessmen of caring about the people who worked for and with him. Perky gave employees many cultural perks as well as work breaks, coffee, and breakfast, each morning, so the stories go.

And he gave them the light. Which seems to have dimmed.

It would have been smart of the city's fathers to save the Shredded Wheat administration building, apparently, since it was a popular tourist attraction. Now, no longer there.

A plaque will be put up at the former location to say "it was here." Not much of a consolation for those who wish to see the real deal.

So, how many other historically significant buildings and houses in the tourist city of Niagara Falls USA are in danger of being demolished? How many should be saved through preservation? The question today went unanswered by a couple local preservationists, polled by this journalist.

One asserted that the community or public should decide or have a say in what should be kept or what may go. She said a group should be formed to comment on the matter. Isn't there already a group of preservationists taking comments from the public and speaking out on such matters? The one group this reporter asked in the first place?

Yes. There is, but the claim is that another such group is needed. What? Why?

The irony.