| Notes |
- Niagara Gazette - 12/31/1938
NOV. 9-Frederick Brooks. 80, of
502 87th street, native resident of
LaSalle section and former president
of old Village of LaSalle.
dies.
ALSO
Niagara Gazette - 11/9/1938
Frederick Brooks, one of the best
known residents of the LaSalle area
died at his home. 502 Eighty-seventh,
street, at 8:30 a.m. today fol-
lowing a long illness. Mr. Brooks
was 80 years old.
A native of LaSalle and the son
of pioneer residents, the late George
and Mary Ann Cross Brooks, Mr,
Brooks was during the days of the;
old Village of LaSalle its leading
contractor, the leader of its government
and its most prominent
Republican. He served as president
of the Village for 17 years' his terms
spanning the period from about
1900 to about 1920. For a time he
was also chief of police and chief of
the LaSalle fire department, when
the two Jobs were combined with
the village presidency, after the
start of the old LaSalle Hose company
No. 1.
Mr. Brooks was the leader in the
movement to erect a Village Hall,
pushing the proposal through by a
narrow margin against strong opposition.
The hall then erected is
the present LaSalle postoffice
building. He was also most of his
life a vigorous proponent of the
five-cent fare issue, standing firmly
in the belief that the street car fare
from LaSalle to Niagara Falls
should be only five cents.
Mr. Brooks was born in his old
family home which stood in the
vicinity of what is now Sixtieth
street and Frontier avenue. He became
a contractor and builder and
in the village's early days was the
constructor of mast of its houses.
He also ran, for a time, the first
waiting room and ticket office serving
the old International Railway
company's River road street car line
to Buffalo.
His first governmental position,
before LaSalle became a village,
wjs a* Town of Niagara highway
commissioner. After the creation
of the village he was elected as its
president. Through his efforts, the
original franchise between the village
and the International Railway
cempany was secured, assuring a
five-cent fare between the Falls and
the village for commuters. He resisted
all attempts to change this
franchise which continued until
after the village had been absorbed
by the city.
For the past three or four years
Mr. Brooks has suffered from a
continuous decline in his health so
that his death was expected. He
had retired from the contracting
business about 20 years ago.
Surviving him are his wife. Mrs.
Ann Sophia Brooks: a daughter.
Mrs. Serena Agnes Tussing.wlfe of
John Tossing; two sisters. Mrs.
Elizabeth Flynn and Mrs. Ethel
Morrison, all of this city, and one
brother. Frank Knott, of Bemus
Point. N. Y.
Funeral services will be held private
from the family home at 3:30
p.m. Friday with the Rev. Elton
Schwlnger officiating. Burial will
be in Riverdale cemetery. The body
may be viewed at the home by
friends until 3 p.m. Friday, members
of the family said.
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1858 - 1938 (~ 80 years)