The History Center of Niagara County (a.k.a. the Niagara County Historical Society) would be a much different place today if not for the generosity of Dr. Samuel Outwater. In his will, Dr. Outwater bequeathed his home at 215 Niagara Street and a commercial property on Main Street to the this organization. His home became the location for the permanent collection and administrative offices for the Historical Society. The Outwater carriage house was converted to exhibit space, the Washington Hunt Law Office was moved to the property from Market Street and other buildings were built or acquired over the next fifty years. The commercial property was sold in the 1960s and the revenue was used to purchase the Col. William Bond House on Ontario Street. In 1920 Dr. Outwater purchased, and then donated to the City of Lockport, the land that is now Outwater Park. He did this as a memorial to his first wife, Louella Scott Outwater, who had many times admired the view from that location on the escarpment. The City of Lockport later purchased more land and expanded the park. The Outwater name is familiar to many in Lockport but few know very much about the man who was its benefactor.

Samuel Outwater was born on the family farm on the Lake Road in Wilson, NY in 1857. He was the son of Tunis and Mary Elizabeth Cudebach Outwater, the fifth of seven children. At the age of nine his family moved to Lockport where he attended the local schools. In 1876 he entered the Medical School of what is now the University of Buffalo. He also studied at New York University. He returned to Buffalo and set-up a practice specializing in the ear and eye. In 1899 he married Louella Scott whose family owned the house at 215 Niagara Street. While still young both began experiencing health problems and started to winter in California and summer in Lockport. They had no children. Louella passed away in 1917 and Dr. Outwater remarried in 1925. He continued to split his time between the two coasts. In 1942, his sister-in-law, Nina Outwater, fell through an open elevator shaft at the Lox Plaza Hotel and was killed. Her funeral was held at the Outwater’s home on Niagara Street. Dr. Outwater himself passed away in 1953 at nearly 95 years old. His name lives on at the main building of the History Center and at the park at the top of the escarpment.

Ann Marie Linnabery
Erie Canal Discover Center
24 Church St.
Lockport NY 14094
716.439.0431
CanalDiscovery@aol.com
www.NiagaraHistory.org