Alva Gluck (1824-1886)
Hotelier, of Western New York
He was born in Wheatfield, Niagara County, New York. ln 1846, he came to Niagara Falls and worked in the family of the late Peter B. Porter, where he met Miss Margaret Fraser, to whom he was married in 1851. They soon went to hotel-keeping, first as proprietors of the Western Hotel, and two years later as owners of the Franklin House. From 1860, he leased the American House, but it burned down in 1863 bringing him close to bankruptcy. He took a job as Manager of the Niagara and Clifton Houses, and finally bought the Spencer House, which he opened in 1867, and which he made into one of the leading hotels at the Falls. When it burned down after his death, his heirs erected the Gluck Building (pictured). He was also at one time one of the proprietors of the International Hotel, and for many years he was one of the best known and most popular landlords in Western New York. He was Vice-President of the Cataract Bank, Director in the Street Railroad and Water Works Companies, and a man highly respected.
