Immaculate Heart of Mary Orphanage was a place I heard about pretty often from acquaintances  in the last past year. I heard this was quite a foreboding place as 6 buildings sat on 11 acres. Orphanages are scary places not just for kids but even as an adult. Just sitting down imagining how a sad child would look out the window wondering why he has no mother or father. 

This orphanage was part of the church and I believe it was built roughly 100 years ago based on the research I did about a priest who worked with the children in 1904 here. The orphanage was over sought by Nuns. You can only imagine years ago how the children were treated probably very strictly such as locked rooms at night, hands hit with a ruler, and of course the pushing of religious values.

 The Orphanage has been abandoned for years and before 1993 the local police used this as a training ground and kids used it as a place for splat ball wars. At that time the property was very overgrown may maple trees, long driveways leading to the buildings, high bushes etc. In 1993 the orphanage burned down as flames engulfed the roofs and nothing was left to stand. The only remnant standing is one single small building which we investigated.  I was very saddened to hear about this but as you know all good haunted places either are vandalized, demolished or burn down. The grounds today look alot different their is a fence covering the grounds, an empty basketball court, no buildings standing but the one, and all the tall ancient trees have almost been cut down that lined the roads. Now all that remains is a wide open field in the center with a building standing and a few trees. 

Rumor has it that the land is going to be used for a shopping plaza, restaurants, and for business. But we all know that no matter how hard you try to cover up such an old place whether it is building on top of it, ignoring what this place was will never change things. The ghost of the past will haunt the grounds, the trees, the property that will be built on its grounds. 

I was fortunate enough to get to go inside at least one of the buildings and walk the green grounds but what ails me is the fact that I will never get to see what the rest of the Orphanage looked like. What I noticed about the remaining building is that it has lost its orphanage features. When you enter inside there is stacks of road signs just as detour, I-90, Road Work Ahead, then in another room there is 100s of bullet holes in the wall, and then a chalk board with Die written on it. 

Some of the old things that do exist however are the old wooden plank floors, the fancy tiled ceilings, an old desk, an oak bathroom with soap that no longer exist in this time, and a beautiful staircase with oak all around. So yes this place you can only imagine was a place of not only beauty but I am sure just looking at it installed some sort of fear into the locals. Do the spirits of the past roam its dark grounds at night? Do the children ghost still remain here that is the question?

Copyright By

Rick-AngelOfThyNight

Updates:

A Cheektowaga development team has plans for the former Immaculate Heart of Mary Orphanage on William Street. 

Dreamco Development Corp., owners of the 11-acre parcel, want to convert about 5.8 acres into a mixed-use operation including a strip plaza and two restaurant operations. 

"When the orphanage burned down, it really changed the scope of the land," said Rosanne Lettieri, Dreamco president. 

Plans call for a 200-seat Italian restaurant and a 500-person banquet facility, both of which Lettieri will run. The restaurant is approximately 7,960 square feet while the banquet hall is about 11,400 square feet. 

Also on tap is a 18,000-square-foot plaza that will tentatively be anchored by a bank branch, an adult day-care center and maybe some medical offices. "We are bouncing around a lot of ideas," Lettieri said. But before ground can be broken, various municipal approvals are needed. Given that there appears to be at least some neighborhood opposition, nothing should be taken for granted. "We looked at a number of different options, none of which were feasible," Lettieri said. She added that she would like to start the restaurant work by late summer or early fall with a targeted spring opening. The banquet facility probably won't be built until sometime next year and the plaza will be dependent on the leasing activity. 

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I recently recently received a letter from a member stating that underneath the orphanage was a series of tunnels. She said that the tunnels use to lead to the house where the nuns once lived near by across the road. She also told me she heard of stories of kids drowning their when she was a kid. But she did not know if their was a pool at one time here or they were bathtub drownings. I was told the building was a popular place for Satanism rituals with animal sacrifices. That is about all I have for now on it. She told me it was burned in the 90s by fellow classmates kind of odd indeed!