The Sabbath School Movement in Buffalo and Erie County was one of several local enterprises that took form in the 1840's as a means of serving young men flocking into the rapidly growing city, and doing it in a way that was unhampered by religious divisions, the Young Men's Christian Union, predecessor of today's Y.M.C.A was organized in 1852. The Erie County Sabbath School Association was formally organized on December 3, 1857 at a meeting held in the Washington Street Baptist Church, Buffalo .

In 1863, at a convention in Troy, NY, J.E. Gilbert felt the movement of a spirit that lifted them above their denominational separations. They felt their focus should be more directed to the teaching of children. They established religious schools in many local towns within Erie County, NY.