191213 Artist Enterprise 1
James Neiss/staff photographer
Niagara Falls, NY - Inside the TReC Quaker Training Room, Artist David Jones uses a canvas to restore the hidden part of an old Quaker advertisement that was once on the outside of the building at 610 Niagara Street and then partially painted over.
The Story…..
The story surrounding of the TReC Quaker Training Room, featuring the Quaker man, an advertisement painted on the side of the former 610 Niagara Street, has had an interesting twist.
The bottom left hand side of the advertisement has part of a name. We assumed it was the name of the company which was the creator of the advertisement. But all we had to go on was “Thos. Cusa__________ Buffalo.” However, that annoying yellow box painted over the advertisement is covering part of the name.
Research revealed that it said Thos. Cusack Co. Buffalo. We also learned that Thomas Cusack was a pioneer and entrepreneur in the outdoor advertising industry.
The story of Thomas Cusack is interesting enough. He first came to the United States from Ireland as a three year old boy fleeing the Irish potato famine in 1861. Soon after arriving in New York City, both of his parents died. A few years later his only brother also died in a drowning accident. From this difficult beginning, Cusack rose to a position of wealth and power in a classic American rags-to-riches manner.
After the deaths of his parents, his mother from an illness contracted on the journey and his father in an accident, Cusack was sent to Chicago be raised by a relative who was a boat pilot on Lake Michigan. In Chicago he received his education and learned how to paint, a skill that ultimately made him a very wealthy man.
As a young man Cusack worked as a sign painter and at age 17 opened his own sign and carriage painting shop. Cusack discovered early in his career that he could transform the bare, dead walls of buildings into colorful and enticing signs. And, he could make money, lots of money, too. He grew the company into America’s largest billboard advertising company, the Thomas Cusack Company.
At the height of his success, Cusack had 100 branch offices and over 100,000 ad locations on building walls, rooftops, and roadside billboards.
He also served on the Chicago Board of Education, was on the staff of Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, and served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives for Illinois 4th District in 1898.
After his term in Congress, Cusack decided to return his primarily attention to his outdoor advertising business, which had grown considerably in size to annual revenue of over $20 million.
When he retired in 1924, he sold his business for 24 million dollars about $400,000,000 in 2019 dollars.
Thomas Cusack died on November 19, 1926 at the age of 68.
But back to the Quaker ad. While the records of Cusack’s accomplishments remain, sadly, most of his company’s work has faded away. This is due to the fact that they were outdoors and subjected to 100 or more years of weather.
However, the advertisement on 610 Niagara Street was covered up around 1910 with the construction of 612 Niagara Street.
The advertisement was long forgotten until renovation work started in 2018, and the advertisement was revealed.
However, at some point before it was covered, a yellow square was painted over a portion of the ad. Historic preservation rules required that no changes be made to what was found.
The solution was recreating what was covered by the yellow paint on canvas, and hanging the canvas next to the wall.
Patrick J. Whalen
Director
Niagara Global Tourism Institute
operators of TReC
Please note our new address:
616 Niagara Street
Niagara Falls, NY 14303
United States of America
Mobile: 1.716.481.8051
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us". Jerry Garcia
