I’ve been really busy doing research and have several really interesting posts planned, but I only have time for a quick entry today.
Symphony Circle was originally named The Circle. The Circle was built in 1868, over the former Black Rock Cemetery. A mansion was built in the 1890s on 3.5 acres adjacent to The Circle by Truman Avery. The family offered their property in 1938 for the new music hall. Also, in 1939, the center island we removed from The Circle because it was believed to be an impediment to traffic. Because of the association with Kleinhans Music Hall and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Circle was renamed Symphony Circle in 1958.
In 1992, a committee was formed to look at options for restoring the center island to the circle. By 2002, Symphony Circle was restored to as close to the Frederick Law Olmsted original plans.
Source: Kleinhans Community Association (http://kleinhansca.org/index.html)
Discovering Buffalo, One Street at a Time 
[…] After her parents died, Lavinia Mitchell no longer wanted the Avery mansion on The Circle, and offered the 4 acres of land to the Buffalo committee that was working to build a new music hall. Money had been left in the wills of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kleinhans to create a Buffalo Foundation to be used to build a new music hall. Several locations were looked at for the music hall, including Humboldt Park near the science museum and Delaware Park near the Rose Garden. Architect E. B. Green had even designed plans for an addition to the science museum that would function as a music hall. Residents near Delaware Park opposed the Rose Garden site because they did not want to use park lands for this purpose. The Buffalo Foundation upheld that public parks should be preserved for its natural beauty for recreation and not further encroached upon by public buildings. This stance followed the lead of State Parks Commissioner, Robert Moses, who had also resisted numerous proposals to erect additional buildings in Central Park in New York City. The Buffalo City Planning Board also took a stance to oppose further use of parks for such buildings. The land at The Circle was offered for $50,000 by Lavinia Mitchell, less than half of it’s assessed value. The site offered the spaciousness and beauty of a park location, while allowing for parking but also was bordered by magnificent elm trees, and direct access into the park system via the circle and parkways. It also was on both east-west and north-south bus lines, and had easy access to tourist traffic from the Peace Bridge. The property was officially sold on July 19, 1938 after a large public hearing, at which the public were overwhelmingly in support of the location. The mansion was demolished in 1938 and Kleinhans Music Hall was built. The Circle was renamed Symphony Circle. […]