Back then, it was the site of the home of William and Mary B. Talbert. 

Some of the nation's leading black activists gathered at the Talberts' home at least once, before convening in July 1905 to form the Niagara Movement during a historic three-day conference in Fort Erie, Ont. 

Demanding equal rights and opportunities, the Niagara Movement lay the foundation for the civil rights movement of the 20th century and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which was created several years later. 

"I really wanted people to remember what the Niagara Movement was," said Lillian S. Williams, chairwoman of the African- 
American studies department at the University at Buffalo. 

Williams, who organized Saturday morning's centennial celebration, said she wants people not only to remember the history of the Niagara Movement, but also to keep alive its spirit. 

"I would hope that each person who attended this (Saturday) would become an ambassador for social justice," Williams said. 

Local leaders attended the event, next to the historic Michigan Street Baptist Church. 

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History will hold its annual convention in Buffalo this fall to help commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Niagara Movement, said Sheila Flemming-Hunter, the association's president. 

Mayor Anthony M. Masiello brought good news to Saturday's gathering: Monday, the city plans to announce funding to help give the historic Michigan Avenue corridor a face-lift. 

Actors in period garb portrayed those involved in the Niagara Movement. 

As Mary B. Talbert, Mary Craig, founder of the Alafia Theater, reflected on the 100-year anniversary of the Niagara Movement. 

"It bothers me a little you still have the same struggles," she told the crowd. "It warms my heart you are still willing to fight." 

Under a more than $1 million program unveiled Monday by city officials, the block containing the historic brick Michigan Street Baptist Church, the Jesse Nash House and the site of the former Mary Talbert Home will be transformed into a parklike setting. 

The blueprint shows a curving pathway commemorating the Underground Railroad extending from the church back to the Nash House on Nash Street, gaslights along the curbs, sidewalks containing bronze markers and plenty of new trees. 

Work will start in August. Officials hope much of it can be finished in time for October's 90th convention of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which will bring 800 delegates to town. 

Mayor Anthony M. Masiello and his strategic planning chief, Timothy E. Wanamaker, said state funds and federal community development block grant dollars will pay for the project. 

The improvements will finally illuminate "a significant cultural and spiritual venue," Masiello said. 

For all of the location's local and national significance, the current streetscape is a bleak one. The historic red brick church sits beside an overgrown vacant lot, amid drab commercial buildings and asphalt parking lots. Except for a blue sidewalk marker, there are no signs welcoming visitors and few trees to shade them.

Masiello spoke from a portable podium on the vacant lot where, 100 years earlier to the day, civil rights leader Talbert convened a meeting in her home that led to the Niagara Movement - forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 

In the push to establish a network of Western New York heritage tourism destinations, the Michigan Avenue preservation has sometimes been relegated to the back of the bus. 

The slowness to grasp its historical significance has been matched by a paucity of public and private investment. But that is changing, Wanamaker said. 

"This is going to be a showcase," he said of the Michigan Heritage Corridor, which also will embrace the Colored Musicians Club and the site of the former Little Harlem nightclub. 

The city also plans to shape up Broderick Park at the foot of West Ferry Street, an important gateway to freedom in Canada for former slaves fleeing the South. 

"It shows we really are investing in culture and tourism," Wanamaker said. 

The plan will help "fulfill the promise of equality for every citizen of Buffalo and Western New York," said Lillian S. Williams of the University at Buffalo School of African American Studies. 

"I guarantee you, this is going to attract thousands and thousands of visitors and scholars," added former Common Council President George K. Arthur, who is overseeing the Nash House restoration. "This neighborhood is going to return to its heyday."