Numbered Streets in Buffalo
One thing many people don’t understand is Buffalo’s numbered streets. Sure, we don’t have a perfect numbered grid like New York City, but our radial street pattern and unique street names are important to the City of Buffalo’s identity. (Also, it gives me a reason to blog).
While Buffalo does have some numbered streets, the numbered streets seem not to make any sense at all. They are scattered throughout the west side of Buffalo in a seemingly random fashion. We have the following numbered streets:
- 4th
- 7th
- 10th
- 14th
- 15th
- 16th
- 17th
- 18th
- 19th
Why do they start with number 4? Why do they skip numbers? Why don’t they make any sense?
Black Rock (click to enlarge)
One thing that I knew about this area of the City is that it had seen a lot of changes. The land was originally part of the Upper Village of Black Rock, which was originally owned by New York State. Black Rock was a separate village that was annexed by the City of Buffalo when it was incorporated in 1832. The Erie Canal cut through Black Rock in 1825 on its way to Buffalo. When the canal heyday ended, the canal bed was converted to a railroad corridor, and which eventually gave way to the Thruway (I-190). The configuration of streets in this area also changed several times due to the Peace Bridge configuration.
In my quest to learn more about the numbered streets, I decided to take a look at some historic maps of Buffalo from the 1830s. I realized that other streets used to have numbers!
- Lakeview Avenue was 5th Street
- Busti Avenue was 6th Street
- Columbus Street was an extension of 7th Street
- Niagara Street runs along where 8th Street should be
- Prospect Avenue was 9th Street
- Fargo Avenue was 10th Street
- West Avenue was 11th Street
- Plymouth Avenue was 12th Street
- Normal Avenue was 13th Street
Here’s a map showing the locations of these street. The current name of the street is shown in parentheses.
As the map shows, once you add back the streets formerly numbered, the historic street grid of Black Rock begins to make sense. Additionally, I found an 1834 Erie Canal survey and learned that 2nd and 3rd Street used to run on either side of the canal. These streets are buried under the Thruway now. Additionally, running along the waterfront in this area was Main Street. It was a common practice back then for Main Street to represent 1st Street and street numbers would start with 2nd.
So, these numbered streets which remain, essentially they’re remnants of streets that haven’t been renamed yet. Maybe we should change that. Who would you like to see a street named after?
Discovering Buffalo, One Street at a Time 
One idea would be to name the streets after all the mayors. Another would be for more of the other pioneers to which contributed to Buffalo’s fame as the Queen City.
Does anyone have any info on fillmore and 4th or fillmore and 1st that is where am grandparents lived and had a barber shop.
[…] After the Revolutionary War, there were boundary disputes between New York and Massachusetts. An agreement signed in Hartford, Connecticut in 1786 deeded the land once occupied by the Haudenosaunee to New York State, but Massachusetts maintained that they had a right to the area west of Seneca Lake once the Native American title was extinguished, except for a one-mile strip, which New York State reserved for itself. The strip ran one mile inland along the Niagara River, from Buffalo to Stedman’s Farm (also known as Fort Schlosser, near where the water intakes are currently located along the Niagara Scenic Parkway/Robert Moses Parkway in Niagara Falls). Despite the State’s reservation of the parcel, the Seneca maintained that they retained the title to the Mile Strip, which was affirmed in the 1794 Pickering Treaty. Massachusetts sold the rights to the surveyed portion of the land to Robert Morris in 1791. Keeping a portion of the land for his own purposes, Robert Morris sold the rest of the land (which the exception of Grand Island and the Mile Strip) to the Holland Land Company, the company which Joseph Ellicott was the land agent. You can read more about Joseph Ellicott and the Holland Land Company by clicking these links for Part One, Part Two and Part Three. In 1798, Seth Pease surveyed the Mile Line for the Holland Land Company. In 1802, the Seneca claim to the Mile Strip was extinguished by a treaty signed in Albany. There had been little settlement in the area by the Seneca, only two Seneca families lived there year-round. The treaty was initiated because the government wanted to construct a fort at Black Rock (also known as Upper Black Rock). In 1803, the Deputy State Surveyor, Joseph Annin began to survey the Mile Strip into lots. Fort Niagara was given 716 acres which were set aside for the Federal government. The Stedman’s Farm/Fort Schlosser farm lot was set aside at 680 acres. The Jones and Parrish tracts, which were each 640 acres, were also set aside and were given to Mr. Jones and Mr. Parrish who had been Haudenosaunee captives during the war. The Jones and Parrish lots were near the Scajaquada Creek. A total of 111 lots were laid out within the remainder of the Mile Strip, the majority of which were 160 acres in size, but due to the curve of the river, many were slightly larger. One square mile was set aside at the southern end for the Village of Black Rock. For more on the laying out of Black Rock, you can read about Peter Porter, the streets named after states, and the numbered streets. […]
Great article! Thank you for sharing your knowledge of yesteryear in Black Rock. Around the 1930’s, give or take, my Great Aunt Victoria Glegota, had a bakery called Black Rock Bakery. Do you know where I could find any information about their bakery?
Thanks Dawn! I believe Black Rock Bakery was located at 35 Reservation Street. I dont really have any other info about the bakery off hand, but I can let you know if I find any!
[…] A petition was distributed and signed by the majority of the taxpayers on the street. There were originally many street named after numbers in this area. Thirteenth was one of the streets in the area that hadn’t yet been changed: Six […]
[…] Porter laid out the original settlement of Black Rock, with the streets named after states and numbers. When Mr. Jones purchased the property, there was nothing but fields to the west of their home. […]