Discovering Buffalo, One Street at a Time

Archive for 2014

Start a Bunch of Buffalo’s Institutions, Get a Street Named After You

Posted in East Side, tagged Bishop John Timon, Bishop Timon, Buffalo, Irish, John Timon, Nardin Academy, Niagara University, Providence Lunatic Asylum, Sister's Hospital, Sisters of Charity, St. Bonaventure, St. Joseph's Cathedral, St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute, St. Louis Church, St. Mary's School for the Deaf, St. Patrick's Church, St. Vincent's Orphanage, Vincentian on August 24, 2014| 7 Comments »

Timon Street

Timon Street is located on the East Side of Buffalo, running between High Street and Northhampton Street, parallel to Jefferson and the Kensington Expressway. It’s one of my favorite streets in Buffalo, with its bricks and beautiful sycamore trees. The street is named after Bishop John Timon, the first Bishop of Buffalo.

Timon Street

John Timon was born in Conevago, Pennsylvania in February 1797, a child of immigrant Irish parents. His family moved to the frontier town of St. Louis Missouri, where his father opened a dry goods store. John was an astute businessman, and the store had great success after he took over from his father. John Timon was said to be polite and handsome. He was described as a social lion and “an object of interest for all anxious mothers with marriageable daughters”. One biographer commented that many though the store business became successful due to women coming to see John. The financial panic of 1823 hit the store to the point of financial ruin. Around this time, John had been engaged to young woman, who became sick and passed away. He saw these two things as the ordeal of suffering in the realms of which vain men find themselves: fortune and the heart, and decided to enter the priesthood. In 1823, he entered into the order of the Vincentians and was ordained in 1825.

He first served as a missionary. He later spoke of the rough conditions as a missionary that the harder his labors, the more he felt pushed to spread the light of the gospel. He served all people in the locations he visited, not only the white settlers, but the Native Americans and the slaves. He journeyed hundreds of miles through unsettled countryside on horseback for 20 years. He ministered in missions in Texas, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi and Louisiana, at a time when developments were far and few in-between in the west.

In 1847, Father Timon was nominated by Rome as Bishop of the newly created Western New York diocese. The Diocese was first established to include 20 counties in Western New York. Bishop Timon’s arrival in Buffalo was fought with opposition from the trustees of St. Louis Church, which was at the time the largest Catholic Church in the Country. St. Louis was a French and German parish, and Bishop Timon remembered his humble beginnings and had a strong affinity for the poor Irish settlers and lived with those who were more in need. He moved from St. Louis Church to an apartment near St. Patrick’s Church (formerly located at Ellicott and Broadway) to better tend to the Irish. The Catholic Church in Buffalo had a strong divide between the German, French and Irish Catholics before Bishop Timon arrived, and it grew stronger following his arrival. After putting up with the opposition at St. Louis Church for years, in 1857, Bishop Timon excommunicated the men and closed the church for a year.

At the time, the majority of Buffalo’s Institutions were protestant. Bishop Timon worked to meet the needs for the Catholic immigrants who were in need of services ranging from orphanages, hospitals, schools, etc. After trying to work with some of the Protestant institutions to provide Catholic needs, as many of the residents of the facilities were Catholic, Bishop Timon realized he would need to create his own institutions. He brought the Sister of Charity to come to Buffalo from Baltimore to help him.

Sister’s Hospital, 1870
source

In 1848, the Sisters of Charity opened the first hospital in Buffalo. While it was run by the Sisters, it was open to all residents, regardless of religious denomination. The hospital got its start in a house at the corner of Pearl and Virginia Streets. The hospital had several locations, including Main and Delavan, and is currently located at the corner of Main and Humboldt Parkway. This hospital is today known as Sisters Hospital. The hospital was run for 166 years by the Sisters of Charity and more than 850 Sisters have served at the hospital during that time. The Sisters had a presence in the hospital until June of this year, but the Sisters have passed their legacy on to the lay people who run the hospital.

Bishop Timon was considered to have an extra kind heart. He was known to give his coat to beggars he’d pass on the street. A cholera epidemic in 1849 inspired him to established St. Vincent’s Infant Asylum, located at Ellicott street and Broadway adjacent to St. Patrick’s Church. The Asylum was created to receive children whose parents died, and was known to carry the children to the Asylum himself. Cholera epidemics occurred again in 1851, 1852 and 1854. The disease was rampant among the Irish along the waterfront. Since the disease spread through contaminated water, both parents would ingest the water so if they passed away, the children would be left parent-less. The needs for the orphanage grew, and along with it, young widowed mothers also needed relief.

Providence Lunatic Asylum, Corner of Main and Humboldt Park, 1880
source

Bishop Timon established the House of the Good Shepherd, the first Catholic institution in the country to care for unmarried mothers and help them make a fresh start in life. The organization received, nourished, clothed, and lodged these women until better situations were found for them. The house accepted any girls, regardless of religion and allowed them to stay as long as they needed. Bishop Timon sent one of his Sisters to visit the poorhouse Erie County had built in the north part of Buffalo. She was shocked by the conditions for the insane. Inmates were shackled to the walls and tied to furniture. During the opening of the Providence Lunatic Asylum in 1860, Bishop Timon made a statement that the inmates were to be treated with humanity and not mastered by brute force. This statement was revolutionary at the time.

St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Franklin Street

Bishop Timon worked tirelessly to build a cathedral in Buffalo. He saw in the 1840s that Buffalo was going to be a great city and felt that a great city needed an impressive cathedral. The Catholic cathedral was originally to be located on Washington Street near Tupper where St. Michael’s church is currently located. The opportunity then came for the Catholic diocese to purchase the Webster Garden Estate, located in the heart of downtown Buffalo, part of the “loveliest district with a beautiful park and rolling terraces stretching down to the shores of Lake Erie”. Bishop Timon invited Patrick Keeley, an architect from New York city to design the cathedral. Many of the laborers were Irish catholic immigrants who were too poor to donate to the cathedral, so they would donate their labor. They’d often work all day as a laborer at their day job and then come work on the church. The Cathedral was dedicated in 1855. (Note: a “new cathedral” was built at Delaware and Utica in 1912, but the construction was faulty – designed for Rome temperatures and not Buffalo winters, so the building had to be demolished in 1977, at which time St. Joseph’s became once again the cathedral in Buffalo).

Among other things, Bishop Timon also helped establish Nardin Academy, St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, Niagara Seminary (now Niagara University), St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute, St. Bonaventure, and several orphanages and schools.

Bishop Timon was a man of great scholarship. He learned Spanish in a matter of a few weeks, just prior to a trip to Mexico. He spoke several other languages as well, to be able to converse with the Pope and other European monarchs and the needy immigrants arriving in the City. Bishop Timon’s friendship with the King of Bavaria convinced the King to donate a generous contribution to build St. Joseph’s Cathedral, along with donations from others in Europe and Mexico.

Plaque at St. Joseph’s remembering John Timon

Bishop Timon died in 1867 at the age of 70 of erysipelas, contracted from administrating religious sacraments in hospitals. An estimated 100,000 people came to view his body, lining the streets of Buffalo to view his casket. He is entombed in the crypt in the Cathedral that he built.

Read about other streets by clicking the street index.

Sources:

“Memorials to Early Clerics In Street and Square Here”. Buffalo Courier Express. November 23, 1941.
Bohen, Timothy. Against the Grain: The History of Buffalo’s First Ward. Bohane Books: 2012.
Deuther, Charles George. The Life and Times of the Right Reverend John Timon. Published by the Author: 1870.
Tokasz, Jay. “Daughters of Charity to Leave Sisters Hospital for Other Ministries”. Buffalo News. June 7, 2014.

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Which is your favorite street named after a state?

Posted in Black Rock, tagged Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Black Rock, Buffalo, California, Carolina, City of Buffalo, Colorado, Connecticut, Dakota, DC, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hampshire, History, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Jersey, Joseph Ellicott, Kentucky, Lemuel Forester, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mile Strip, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New York, New York State, New York State Archives, New York State Reservation, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Peter Porter, Rhode Island, South Black Rock, street names, Streets, Streets named after states, surveyor, Tennessee, Texas, Upper Black Rock, Vermont, Village of Black Rock, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, York on August 11, 2014| 6 Comments »

Often a group of streets will be named after a theme. This is often seen when a developer may name a bunch of streets after his family members or friends. Many people know that Washington, DC has streets named after all 50 states to form the City’s grid (crossed by alphabetic and numbered streets). The City of Buffalo has streets named after 32 of the 50 states. Many of these state street names originated in one of Buffalo’s original street grids.

Map of Village of Black Rock, 1816
Source: New York State Archives

Many of the streets named after streets are located in what was the original development of the Village of Black Rock. The Black Rock streets were originally laid out two years before Joseph Ellicott came to Buffalo! New York State purchased a one mile strip of land along the Niagara River known as the New York State Reservation in 1802. The State laid out the streets of the Village of Black Rock. For 20 years, Black Rock would serve as Buffalo’s rival. In 1825, Buffalo won its fight to be the terminus of the Erie Canal, became a booming city, and annexed the Village of Black Rock in 1854.

State named streets in Black Rock include Georgia, Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Jersey, York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Hampshire. All of the original 13 colonies are represented by these streets, other than Delaware, which was originally located where Hudson Street is today. When Buffalo and Black Rock merged, duplicate street names were changed to prevent confusion. These streets all lay parallel to each other in what is now the West Side of the City of Buffalo, but was originally known as the South Village of Black Rock or Upper Black Rock. When originally laid out, these streets formed a grid with numbered streets. The streets were laid out by Lemuel Forester, a Surveyor for New York State. You can read about the numbered streets in Buffalo by clicking here. These streets form what was known as Upper Black Rock. Peter Porter was an important person in the early days of Black Rock.

It is important to note that it is difficult to differentiate between states such as North and South Carolina or Virginia and West Virginia, as the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) are used in street naming conventions. Early maps of Black Rock show Jersey, York and Hampshire as New Jersey, New York and New Hampshire, but as time elapsed, the convention to name streets “New” to differentiate between different alignments of a street which changed over time, of which the alignment’s name may be “New _____ Street” or “Old ______ Street”.

Streets in Buffalo Named After States (click to view larger image)

The City also has streets named after the following states:

Alabama
Arkansas
California
Colorado
North and South Dakota (as Dakota Street)
Delaware
Florida
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Montana
Nevada
Ohio
Oregon
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Washington
Wisconsin
Wyoming

There are several streets named after states that used to be located in Buffalo. These streets names have been removed for various reasons:

Portion of 1900 Sanborn Map depicting locations of Idaho and Arizona Streets.

Idaho Street and Arizona Streets– were located in North Buffalo off Military Road, north of Sayre Street. The Buffalo Foundry was located here, and industrial facilities eventually absorbed the streets.

1951 Sanborn Map showing the former location of Indiana Street

Indiana Street was located near the foot of Main Street. The street was eliminated when Crossroads Arena (aka Marine Midland, aka HSBC, aka First Niagara Center) was built. The street is currently buried under First Niagara Center.

1925 Sanborn Map Showing Alaska Alley

Alaska Alley – was closed on February 24, 1960. This was a small alley off of Chippewa near Genesee and Washington. The block where Alaska and Seward Alleys were located is now parking for the Electric Tower building.

Iowa – used to be the part of LaSalle Avenue from Bailey to Eggert (near Minnesota Avenue). However, they changed the name when they wanted to rename Perry Street to Iowa Street. They then decided that Perry was too important to change the name of the street. At this time, they also tried to change the name of Fulton Street to Oklahoma, but also decided that Fulton was too important of a person to change the name of the street.

In 1901, the City wanted to rename Indian Church, Hudson or South Division Street to Missouri. Residents complained because it sounded like “Misery” to them, and they did not want to live on “Misery Street”.

There is no Maine Street, because it would be confusing because it sounds like Main Street.

I was unable to find evidence of streets in Buffalo named after the following five states:

Kansas
Nebraska
New Mexico
Utah
Hawaii

Buffalo Ex-Pats living in the Washington, DC area will be happy to know that Columbia Street, in the Cobblestone District near the arena, is named after the District of Columbia.

To answer the “which street named after a state is your favorite?” question – mine is York Street. My dad moved to Buffalo (from Central New York….and after time spent in the Navy) in 1978 and his first apartment here was on York Street. My parents lived there when the first got married. This is where my branch of the Keppel family started in Buffalo. 🙂

To read about other streets, click the Street Index.

Sources:

“Many Changes Made in Names of Streets Here” Courier Express, August 26, 1928
“New Names for Streets” Buffalo Express Oct 7, 1901
“Council Closes Alaska Alley” Buffalo Courier Express, February 24, 1960.

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Help Make the First Lawnmower, Get a Street Named After You

Posted in East Side, tagged Buffalo, buffalo history, Buffalo New York, Erie County Fair, Fremont Place Armory, General Howard, horse farming, Howard Iron Works, Howard Street, Ketchum Mowing Machine, Major General Rufus Lombard Howard, Richardson Olmsted Complex, Rufus Lombard Howard, Trinity Episcopal, William Ketchum on August 4, 2014| 3 Comments »

Howard Street is a street located in the Babcock neighborhood of the East Side between Jefferson Street and New Babcock Street, running parallel to Clinton and William Streets. The street is named for Major General Rufus Lombard Howard, the man who put the world’s first successful mowing machine on the market.

Rufus Lombard Howard was born in Litchfield, Herkimer County, on October 30th, 1818. He attended schools there until he was 15. He then became a clerk in the Country Store in Schuyler. From 1836-1837, he served as Assistant Postmaster at Frankfort. He came to Buffalo in 1839 as a clerk to H.C. Atwater, grocers and ship-chandlers.

During the Cholera Epidemic in Buffalo, Mr. Howard went to stay Batavia. While in Batavia, he met William Ketchum. Mr. Ketchum had invented a machine. Mr. Howard made suggestions to him, and together they perfected the mower in 1851. Mr. Howard invested the capital necessary to produce the Ketchum Machine. The machine was manufactured at the Howard Iron Works at 281 Chicago Street. Howard Iron Works was known as one of the largest and best known general machinery and foundry works of its time. By 1859, nearly 20,000 of the mowing machines had been sold. Howard Iron Works was bought by J.D. Cousins and Sons in 1904, which became J.D. Cousins in 1967. The company is still in business today, more than 160 years later, on Tifft Street!

The Stansead Journal reported that the Ketchum Mowing Machines costs in June of 1860 were as follows:

One-horse mowing machine , 31/2 foot barr, weight 450 lobs, $75 (2,083 in 2014 dollars)
Light two hours do 4 feet bar, weight 475 lobs, $85
Heavy two-horse do 4 feet bar, weight 630 lbs, $90
Heavy two-horse do 4 feet 8 in bar, weight 650 lobs, $96

Ketchum Mowing Machine

In 1851, Mr. Howard also became connected with the 8th Division, National Guard of the State of New York (NGSNY) as aide-de-camp, with the rank of Major. He was made an inspector and promoted to the rank of Colonel. In 1865, he was selected to by the Governor as General. During this time, the 65th and 74th regiments were housed together in the State Arsenal, which was crammed. He appropriated money to purchase a lot and build an armory, the Fremont Place Armory (Fremont Place was part of what is now known as Elmwood Avenue). The Armory was replaced by the Armory located on Connecticut Street in 1894 due to a growing size. The Fremont Place Armory was located approximately where the Family Dollar is now located at Elmwood Avenue and Virgina Street.

General Howard accompanied Governor Hoffman and his staff in laying the corner-stone of the State Asylum for the Insane at Buffalo (now known as the Richardson-Olmsted Complex). He also was part of the unveiling of the statue of General Bidwell. General Howard retired in 1878. During his military command, many distinguished guests were entertained at his residences, including three Governors of New York – Fenton, Hoffman and Dix.

General Howard’s interests also included agriculture, which he considered his favorite recreational activity. He purchased 200 acres in the 13th Ward of Buffalo, which was known as Sander’s Farm. At the time, this part of the city was wilderness. To clear this land for agricultural purposes, he hired over 200 unemployed men, of which there were many due to the panic of 1857. The farm was located on Tifft Street, across the railroad tracks from George Tifft’s operations. General Howard also purchased 350 acres near the lake shore in the Town of Hamburg, between Big Tree Road and Howard Road, where he built his country home, known as Meadow Farm. Meadow Farm was the first to have Jersey cattle in Western New York. He served on the board of the Erie County Fair Association, and exhibited from his farm at the fair.

In 1891, General Howard decided to discontinue horse breeding, as the land on his farm in South Buffalo had become too valuable. In March of that year, General Howard sold his stock of horses, bringing in good prices, including a reported $15,000 for one horse! The farm was developed by railroads to serve the Donna Hanna Furnace Company and Republic Steel.

Ascension Window at Trinity Episcopal

General Howard married Maria Field in 1842. Five of the Howard’s six children died in childhood. The sixth child, Gibson Field Howard, died in his early 30s. This encouraged General Howard toward the betterment of youth, and his contributions to the Young Men’s Association, of which he was the first president. General Howard served on the building committee of Trinity Episcopal Church, helping build things for the church through Howard Iron Works. General Howard and his wife donated one of the stained glass windows in honor of one of their daughters. When not at their farms, General and Mrs. Howard lived at 247 Delaware Avenue. He died on June 28, 1896 and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

So, this summer, when you’re mowing your lawn, think of Rufus L. Howard and the Ketchum Mowing Machine. (And Ketchum Street was not named after the machine…but we’ll get to that another day!)

To learn about other streets, check out the Street Index.

Sources:

“Howard Street Named for Militia Officer, Developer of Mower”Courier Express June 4, 1939, sec 6, p 2
Manufacturing Interests of the City of Buffalo. Second Edition. Published by C.F.S. Thomas. Buffalo, 1866.
Contemporary American Biography: Biographical Sketches of Representative Men of the Day. Atlantic Publishing and Engraving: New York, 1895.
National Cooper’s Journal. February 1911, page 16.
Vintage Machinery: Howard Iron Works, Buffalo NY. http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=3423
‘Wilkie Collins at Home”. Wallace’s Monthly. Volume XV, No. 7. September 1889.

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Become Editor of Successful German Newspaper, Get a Street Named After You

Posted in East Side, tagged 186 Edward Street, Buffalo, Buffalo Volksfreund, Frank Rohr, German-American, History, Mathias Rohr, Newspaper, Rohr, Rohr Street, Volksfreund, Volksfreund German Newspaper on July 9, 2014| 4 Comments »

Rohr Street is a street in the Martin Luther King, Jr., Park neighborhood on the East Side of Buffalo. The street runs between Walden Avenue and Northampton Street, a few blocks from the park.

Rohr Street is named for Mathias Rohr, president of the Volksfreund German Newspaper. Mr. Rohr was editor of the Volksfreund for 14 years. Although he wrote his editorials for the paper in his native German, Rohr was 100% proud to be an American.

Mr. Rohr was born in Germany in 1840. At the age of 16, he became a teacher in his village of Zemmer. During his school days, Mr. Rohr had heard of a man from his village who had gone to America as a poor teacher and returned to Germany as a rich man. Mr. Rohr longed for the freedom in America, so he dedicated himself to learn the English language. At the time, studies outside of the traditional curriculum were forbidden at his school. He also studied French and German literature, which was helpful in his later job as a journalist. At the age of 28, he came to America. A representative of the Central Zeitung, a German newspaper in Buffalo, met him at the dock and offered him a position as editor. Two years later, he joined the editorial staff of the Buffalo Volksfreund. Starting in 1883, he also served as a representative for the New York Life Insurance Company of Germania. In 1904 he became president of the Buffalo Volksfreund. Under his leadership, the Buffalo Volksfreund became one of the most important German-American newspapers in the country. In 1913, he sold his interest in the paper.

Ad for the Buffalo Volksfreund from 1891.
The daily newspaper cost 25 cents every 2 weeks, or $6 per year if prepaid. For this price, the paper would be mailed to readers in the local area in both the United States and Canada. The weekly version could be sent to Europe or other regions for $2.60 per year. The Volksfreund offices were at 14-16 Broadway.

He was a member of the first board of the Buffalo Public library and was an original subscriber to the former Buffalo Orchestra and a contributor to the original music hall. He was considered a gifted writer and in addition to his journalistic writing, he wrote numerous poems, essays and novellas that were published in newspapers and periodicals. He published a book of poems in German written about Niagara Falls “On Niagara” in 1900 (which can be read here in German). He also published a book titled Oreola, the Pearl of the Iroquois and Other Stories of Indian Life. He served as President of the Broadway Brewing & Malting Company.

Mr. Rohr married Miss Sophie C. Reichert in 1869. The couple had 11 children. Mr. Rohr owned property on Rohr Street, but he never lived there. His home was at 186 Edward Street, near Virginia. The house on Edward Street is still standing. Mr. Rohr was also an active member of the Catholic Church. In 1874, he was selected as a delegate of the Catholic Union of Buffalo to Rome and Lourdes. He was also a member of Orpheus, the German Literary Society, and the Knights of Columbus.

Mr. Rohr passed away in 1920 and is buried in the United German and French Cemetery in Cheektowaga.

Mr. Rohr’s son Frank was the founder and president of the Broadway Businessmen’s Association. This group was the organization that abolished the fenced park that was once Lafayette Square. Under their leadership, Broadway cut through the Square to Main Street. Since the Holland Land Company had deeded the Lafayette Square property to the City on condition that it be maintained as a park, surrounded by a fence, when traffic congestion had dictated that the road cut through the park, public condemnation notices had to be published in the newspapers of the Netherlands to be read by any surviving persons interested in the Holland Land Company. Mr. Frank Rohr also worked with the association to bring the Broadway Auditorium to open.

Sources:

“Rohr Street Memorial of Volksfreund Editor” Courier Express Feb 19, 1939, sec 5
White, Truman C, ed. Our County and its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York. The Boston History Company: 1898.
The History of the Germans in Buffalo and Erie County. Published by Reinecke & Zesch. Buffalo, NY: 1898.
Mueller, Jacob. Buffalo and Its German Community. German American Historical Society: 1911-12.

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Divorce Your Wife and Leave Your Kids, Then Name Some Streets After Them

Posted in East Side, tagged Bailey-Kensington Neighborhood, Bickford Ave, Bickford Family, Bickford Grave, Buffalo, Davidson Ave, Edith Ave, Gail Ave, General Bickford, Godfrey Street, Harold C. Bickford, Hastings Ave, History, Janet Street, Kay Street, Leonard Street, Martha Ave, Mary Davidson, Millicent Ave, Phyllis Ave, Streets on June 17, 2014| 5 Comments »

Often, streets are named after a developer’s family. This is the case for a bunch of streets in the Kensington-Bailey neighborhood on the East Side of Buffalo. In particular, the streets between Bailey Avenue and Eggert Road, north of the Kensington Expressway are mostly named after the Bickford Family’s first and middle names:

Streets in the Kensington-Bailey neighborhood named by Bickford

The following streets were named for Bickford and his family:

Alice Ave
Bickford Ave
Davidson Ave
Hastings Ave
Phyllis Ave
Martha Ave
Gail Ave
Millicent Ave
Edith Ave
Godfrey St
Leonard St
Kay St
Janet St

General Bickford and Mary Davidson Wedding, 1904

Harold C. Bickford was born and raised in Toronto. He married Mary Davidson in 1904. Mary and Harold had seven children – Mary, Edward, Phyllis, Beatrice, Millicent, Harold and Faith. General Bickford served in three major conflicts for the British Army – the Boer War of South Africa (1899-1902), World War I (1914-1918) and the Russian Civil War (1918-1920). He was stationed in England, South Africa, India and France. Several of his children were born were born overseas.

General Bickford returned from the war, moved to Buffalo and divorced his wife. He left her with a nanny and seven children. Mary died of appendicitis in 1935. It was reported that the children had a difficult relationship with their father, which may be why he named the streets after them.

General Bickford Grave

General Bickford died in 1956 and is buried in St. James cemetery in Toronto.

To learn about other streets, check out the Street Index.

Sources:

“Few Streets Named By City Government” Courier Express 2,26, 1954. Scrapbook vol 1, pg 153
https://sites.google.com/site/genhcbickford/ (online June 2014)

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Build a Retail Empire, Get a Street Named After You

Posted in East Side, tagged Buffalo, buffalo retail history, john g. sattler, princess ave, sattler avenue, sattler's, sattlers department store, Schiller Park on May 28, 2014| 2 Comments »

Sattler Avenue is a short, block-long street in the Schiller Park neighborhood on the East Side of Buffalo. Sattler Ave runs for a block and a half off of Doat Street, where it dead-ends in Schiller Park. The street was originally called “Princess Ave” when it was first laid out. The street is named after John G. Sattler, of Sattler’s Department Store fame.

Mr. Sattler’s father, George Sattler, had come to the County from Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany. John Sattler was born in East Aurora, but moved to Buffalo during his early childhood. He attended local public schools and Bryant & Stratton business school.

John G. Sattler Shoe Store, 998 Broadway
source

At age 15, John G. Sattler got a job at Eckhardt’s department store on Broadway. His wage was $3/week. His first solo business venture was a one-man shoe store, located only a few feet from what became Sattler’s best-known establishment. John’s mother owned the building; the family lived upstairs so he could work all hours of the day. The store opened in March 1889. He hung a bell at the front door, and they would run downstairs to assist customers and all times. he took pride in customer service and would study the behavior of his customers. If they came in and did not purchase anything, he would ask them why. If their answer was “you don’t have what I am looking for”, he would go out of his way to order it for them. Mr. Sattler purchased properties adjacent to his store as the business grew. The business continued to grow and later include clothing. The original address of the shoe store was 992 Broadway. In 1900, a larger, modern building was built, with the address of 998 Broadway.

In 1926, the store was reorganized to become Sattler’s Department Store. At Sattler’s Department Store’s peak, the store employed 800 people. Mr. Sattler claimed to know them all by name. Once the store was established in the 1920s, Mr. Sattler allowed his son-in-law, Charles Hann, Jr. to take over the day to day operations.

Mr. Sattler then began to work in real estate. Mr. Sattler’s first real estate development was on Sattler Avenue, where he had once owned a summer country home. He saw that the city was beginning to develop towards that direction, so he built houses. The street was formally dedicated as Sattler Avenue in 1904. Mr. Sattler also developed the Kenilworth subdivision in Tonawanda in 1908 following the closure of Kenilworth Park race track.

Entranceway at Main and Westfield Road, part of Sattler's Holllywood Subdivision in Snyder

Entranceway at Main Street and Westfield Road, part of Sattler’s Hollywood Subdivision in Snyder

Mr. Sattler’s real estate holdings spread throughout the city – stores, homes and businesses in every section of the City. He also owned and developed properties Tonawanda and Amherst. He owned the Lautz Estate, east of the Village of Williamsville and the Hollywood subdivision, which included Westfield and Ivyhurst Roads in Snyder, and the Tennyson Terrace near transit Road. He built a house for himself at Main Street and Ivyhurst Road in 1919. While many developers of the time in the suburbs were catering to the rich, Sattler built houses for the working class, who desired modest homes. Mr. Sattler is responsible for the entranceways on Main Street at Ivyhurst Road and Westfield Road, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sattler Theater on Broadway

In 1914, Mr. Sattler opened Sattler Theater at 516 Broadway. Mr. Sattler felt there should be a theater on the East Side of Buffalo; however, the theater was considered to be a failure since it was too far away from the theater district and shopping opportunities. It was sold in the 1920s and became Basil’s Broadway Theater. The theater was then home to a series of religious groups- Muhammad’s Mosque, God’s Holy Temple and Joy Temple. In 1996, the last of the groups left the building and the building was abandoned.

Mr. Sattler considered Business School a valuable resource and would select promising young men from his employees and send them to business school on scholarship. Mr. Sattler had two daughters, Doris Sattler and Mrs. Charles Hahn, Junior. Mr. Sattler moved to Ivyhurst Drive in Eggertsville, where he owned seven acres of lawns and gardens. In 1939, he had three canaries and a number of chickens. He became fond of the chickens, and raised them as pets rather than food, and stopped eating chicken completely.

Sattler Mausoleum

Mr. Sattler witness a great change in Buffalo during his lifetime. He is quoted as saying: “I remember when Broadway was a cobblestone street with plant sidewalks on each side of it. Fillmore Avenue was then a parkway, lined with beautiful trees, and on Gibson Street, just off Broadway, there was a swimming hole.” Mr. Sattler died in 1941 and is buried in a mausoleum in Forest Lawn. Sattler’s Department Store remained in business for nearly 100 years, spreading across the WNY Region.

The store continued to grow after Mr. Sattler stepped down and gave the business to his son-in-law. In 1927, Sattler’s hired a buyer for women’s wear, then added men’s boys’ furniture, appliances, housewares and a food market. As more departments were added, they hired an advertising and promotions manager. During the 1940s, Sattler’s was at it’s peak. They had promotional schemes that were considered outlandish at the time. They’d give away cars, they hired high wire walkers. The store would purchase good from a bankrupt sore or a fire sale and pass along name-brand products at extreme discounts for its customers. The store was located outside of the downtown area, so there weren’t theaters, restaurants or hotels to draw shoppers. Sattler’s depended on clever advertising to draw in crowds. In May 1949, they used more than $60,000,000 worth of aviation equipment for an airshow. They won an award that year as the National Retail Dry Goods Association’s winner for best coordinated campaign.

Sattler’s Toyland Ad, Christmas 1954
Source

The store continued to expand the store at 998 Broadway into the 1950s. In 1954, the company leased the former Jahraus-Braun store at 1021 Broadway to turn it into the Sattler’s Home Annex store. They later added an appliance store at 3610 Main Street in University Plaza. In 1957, Sattler’s opened another appliance store in Hamburg and a trade-in store at 1025 Broadway. In 1961, the appliance stores were consolidated into the Annex Store. In 1962, a new store was built at the new Boulevard Mall in Amherst, and one in Rochester, New York. The Rochester store was only open one year. In 1963, Sattler’s Drugs opened four free-standing stores and added a pharmacy inside each Sattler’s store.

Sattler’s celebrated its 74th anniversary with a motorcade from City Hall to 998 Broadway and a ribbon cutting ceremony with company officials and Mayor Chester Kowal. In 1965, the company opened a warehouse, home furnishings and food store in a former plant at 1803 Elmwood and Hertel Avenue in North Buffalo – calling it Sattler’s Wonderful World of Foods and Home Furnishings City USA. The store was called ” a giant step forward in space age selling, bold and imaginative merchandising”.

In 1969, Sattler’s opened a new store in the new Seneca Mall in West Seneca. Both the Boulevard Mall and Seneca Mall locations were considered to be more upscale than the other stores, different than what the average Sattler’s customers expected. In 1972, the Thruway Plaza store closed, mainly due to its proximity to the Seneca Mall location. In 1973, Sattler’s moved downtown when Kobacker’s closed in teh Main Place Mall. In 1979, the store returned to Cheektowaga into the converted Thruway Plaza, which was now the Thruway Mall., opening a “specialized fashion store”.

Sattlers at the Boulevard Mall Source

The 998 Broadway location filed a going out of business sale in March 1981. In January 1982, the Thruway, Seneca and Main Place Mall Stores closed as part of bankruptcy proceedings. The last remaining store was at the Boulevard Mall, which closed by December 1982. The 998 Broadway building was demolished in 1989. A K-Mart was built on the site, but that also closed shortly thereafter.

For more on Buffalo’s retail history, be sure to check out Mike Rizzo’s book: Nine Nine Eight: The Glory Days of Buffalo Shopping.

To read about other street names, check out the Street Index.

Sources:

“Sattler Avenue Bears Name of Merchant” Courier Express Mar 26, 1939, sec 5 p 4

Rizzo, Michael. Nine Nine Eight: The Glory Days of Buffalo Shopping. Lulu Enterprises: Morrisville, North Carolina, 2007.

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Survive Two Failed Farms, Name Some Streets After Your Family

Posted in East Side, tagged Buffalo, Doll Avenue, Doll's Park, Emerson Vocational, Fay Street, Joseph Doll, May Street, NY, Polish National Ball Fields, Saint Joseph, St. Joseph Street, St. Joseph Streets, Walden Avenue, West Shore on May 5, 2014| 4 Comments »

Fay, May and St. Joseph Streets are three streets in the Emerson Neighborhood on the East Side of Buffalo. The three streets run between Walden Avenue and the New York Central Railroad tracks (with May Street reaching north to Hazel Place). The streets were named after Joseph, May and Fay, members of the Doll family.

Joseph Doll owned a farm that included the land that became Saint Joseph, Fay and May Streets. He opened the streets and built the houses on them. The first street, he developed to run from West Shore to Genesee Street. He originally named it Doll Avenue. The family name is pronounced “dole” as opposed to a child’s doll. Doll Avenue was often confused with Dole Street, so Joseph was asked to change its name. So, he named it May Street after his daughter. He named the other streets after his granddaughter Fay and his patron Saint Joseph.

Joseph Doll was born on a farm at Main and Huron Streets in 1839. His parents bought the land when they came from Baden, Germany in the early 1830s. They came across the Atlantic on a ship that took 72 days. The final portion of the journey came via the Erie Canal, which was at the time still under construction, so their voyage was partly via canal boat, partly via stagecoach and partly via foot, carrying their baby daughter (Joseph’s sister) at the time. Their original farm was unsuccessful as there was yellow sand for soil. They purchased another farm at what is now the corner of Niagara and Connecticut Streets. That farm was also a failure. They then bought a 43-acre farm at Bailey and Walden, extending to the present New York Central Tracks and halfway to Broadway. They ran a general store and saloon out of their farmhouse, which stood at 535 Walden Avenue, near what today is the intersection of St. Joseph Ave and Walden Avenue.

Joseph Doll took over the store as he got older. Joseph also ran the farm, raising wheat, barley, cattle, oats, apples, pears, pigs, plums and cherries. In 1882, West Shore Railroad bought seven acres from the Doll farm. After the railroad was built along the southern edge of the farm, the Wagner Palace Car shops and other factories came into the area. Joseph Doll decided to subdivide the property and build houses. In addition to the streets named for his daughter and granddaughter, and his patron saint. He also named St. Louis Avenue for St. Louis Roman Catholic Church (for which he was a founder).

1917 view of the Former Doll Farm after the railroad was built and the streets were subdivided and developed. Note “Doll’s Park”, the future location of Emerson Vocational School (now School 97, Harvey Austin School)

He died in 1909 and is buried in Doll family plot the United German and French Cemetery in Cheektowaga.

Read about other Buffalo Street’s by checking out the Street Index.

Source: “Three Streets Remind of Landowner” Courier Express Jan 22, 1939. Found in Buffalo Streets Scrapbook, Vol 2 p 166

UPDATE: April 29, 2016: One of the best parts of writing this blog is getting information from you, my readers. I recently received an email from a member of the Doll family. Michael Schuessler’s Great Grandmother, Louisa (Doll) Williams, was one of Joseph Doll’s younger sisters. Mr. Schuessler has been generous enough to send in this great photograph of the family at Mr. Doll’s store! He also provided a copy of Mr. Doll’s obituary. Thanks for sharing a part of your family history!

1909 Joseph Doll obit

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Canal District Part 3 – Marine Drive – Public Housing and Canalside

Posted in Downtown/Harbor, tagged Buffalo, Buffalo Canal District, Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo Naval Park, Canal District, canalside, Dante Place, Dante Place Project, Dante Place Projects, development, Erie Basin Marina, erie canal, Erie Canal Harbor, History, Little Italy, Marine Drive, Marine Drive Apartments, tenements on April 17, 2014| 8 Comments »

Marine Drive depicted in red. Canal District depicted in blue.

This post is the third and final park in a series on the history of Buffalo’s Canal District. Click here to read Part One, about the early days of the Canal – the Canal Street era. Click here to read Part Two – the Dante Place era. Today’s post is about the Marine Drive era of the Canal District. Marine Drive replaced Dante Place during the 1950s. Marine Drive stretches from Main Street to Erie Street and forms a loop, intersecting upon itself after circling around the Marine Drive Apartments. If you zoom in far enough on online maps, you’ll see that a small part of Marine Drive still holds its claim as “Dante Place”, at least according to google!

Little sliver of Dante Place (top center part of picture) still shows up in Google!

A little sliver of Dante Place (top center part of the picture) still shows up in Google!

Plans were developed to build “Fairhaven Village”, a private development for 1,078 middle-income families. After a building explosion in 1936 and the 1936 State Law allows cities the right to condemn and remove “unsafe and unsanitary” buildings, buildings began to be demolished. Approximately 500 families moved out of the neighborhood in the summer of 1937. It was to be one of the first slum clearance rehabilitation projects in the Country. Early plans for Fairhaven Village in 1938 called for accommodations for 962 families with a total of 2,942 rooms. The apartments were to include a 500 car garage to be built below grade of the apartments. The apartments were to average $17.50 a room, including hot and cold water, gas, electricity and refrigeration. It was going to be the first project of its kind to be privately owned, managed and financed. At the time, there was a rental shortage in Buffalo, and reports estimated that there were close to 7,000 families living doubled (or tripled) up in apartments meant for one family. However, the effects of the Great Depression and later wartime restrictions limited the construction funds to build the development.

Evans Street Demolition 1950s. Note City Hall in the rear background of the photo.

After WWII, the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority began plans for low-income housing in the Dante Place district, despite local opposition. In 1948, 90 families were displaced by the State for construction of new housing, which began in 1950. The Dante Place Projects were completed in 1952, residents moved in during September of that year. The seven 12-story buildings were the first permanent state-aided housing in the City of Buffalo and consisted of 616 units. Each building contains a mix of one, two, three, and four bedroom apartments.

Photo from the Courier Express – 1950 during demolition for construction of the Dante Place Project

When the Dante Place Project was in its planning stages, Howard Kelly of the Municipal Housing Authority stated: “We hope that this will be the first step of a waterfront beautification program which will continue right through to Porter Ave”.

Ad for bathtubs installed in Dante Place Project

Dante Place Project tenants protesting their eviction. Source: Artvoice

By 1960, many of the tenants of Dante Place Project were those displaced from condemned substandard housing on a the Lower East Side of Buffalo, a historically black section of the City. The Dante Place projects had become again considered to be a slum area. The BMHA was losing money due to unfilled apartments. The BMHA responded by moving low-rent residents back to the Douglass Towers and the Ellicott and Talbert Mall. This was the first attempt in the country to convert public low-cost housing into privately owned development. The tenants formed the Dante Tenants Defense League to represent the 400 families remaining in the project and fight the evictions. In 1960, the group went to the state housing commissioner, but they were unsuccessful fighting the conversion of the complex. New York State Supreme Court Judge Catalano ruled in October 1960 that the conversion was not in violation of New York Public Housing Law.

1951 Aerial view of the Canal District – Dante Place Project/ Marine Drive Apartments shown in center

By 1961, Dante Place resembled what had been originally been proposed as the Fairhaven Village – converting the complex from public housing to subsidized moderate income rental apartments. A $300,000 remodel was completed and the apartments were rented out. This project was the first time in the United States that a low-income housing project was converted into a private non-profit middle-income apartment development. Once the new complex reached 92% occupancy, the tenant stockholders elected a board of directors and officers to manage the development. The complex was renamed Marine Drive Apartments.

When planning for the Dante Place Projects, there was a great discussion among the City Planning Board members regarding what to name the new street. Councilman John Ramunno argued for the new street to be named “Dante Place” to keep with the history of the neighborhood. However, the Council President and others protested because they wanted a new name that did not have a connection to the past, the history of the neighborhood, or the Italian culture that it represented. The Council eventually voted in favor of removing ties to the “old environment” and Marine Drive was named due to the waterfront neighborhood’s location.

As part of the Downtown Urban Renewal Plan, development of the Waterfront Village began. The first condos opened in Waterfront Village in Summer 1972. In 1974, the Erie Basin Marina was completed, built by slag from Bethlehem Steel. The gardens at the Marina were developed by Stanley Swisher, supervisor of the grounds for the City’s Engineering Department. Stanley Swisher would plant a new bed of perennials each year.

In 1979, the Buffalo Naval and Servicemen’s Park opened. The original display included the USS Little Rock and the USS The Sullivans. In 1988, the submarine the USS Croaker was added to the display.

Other than the Marine Drive Apartments and Waterfront Village, since the 1950s, much of the Canal District sat vacant and silent. The Central Wharf and the Commercial Slip were buried and covered in stone and parking areas.

2002 Aerial View of the Canal District

Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park

In 1999, as part of Phase I of the Erie Canal Harbor plan, the Naval Park moved as part of a $15.5 million dollar improvements to the Erie Canal Harbor. Memorials were moved to the newly created Veteran’s Park. The USS Little Rock, the Sullivans and the Croaker were repaired and moved to the new Naval Basin. The existing esplanade facilities were enhanced and expanded to create a continuous walkway along the edge of the water.

Canalside

The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation was created in 2005 to help restore economic growth to Buffalo and WNY’s waterfront. Phase II of the Erie Canal Harbor plan was completed in 2008 and included the re-watering of the Commercial Slip, a towpath/walkway on the edges of the slip, construction of a bowstring truss bridge, the reconstruction of Commercial Street, Lloyd Street, Perry Street and Hanover Street, and the uncovering and preservation of the Steamboat Hotel and Lloyd street as an archeological site. A wooden wharf was created, along with floating docks. This area is referred to as Canalside, a 20-acre part of the historic Canal District. Canalside has been successful in drawing people down to the waterfront – offering programming, events, festivals and other attractions. Canalside has more than 750 events and 750,000 visitors annually.

Demolition of the Aud

Memorial Auditorium closed in 1996, when the Buffalo Sabres, Blizzards and Bandits moved across the street to the newly built Crossroads Arena (now First Niagara Center…click here to learn more about the name of the Arena). Plans to renovate and repurpose the Aud were shuffled around for years, including the reuse of the Aud as a Bass Pro site. In 2007, the Aud was sold by the City of Buffalo to ECHDC. Salvageable items were removed to be sold, stored or removed. Asbestos removal and environmental remediation of the Aud site was performed in 2008 and demolition began in January 2009. A farewell ceremony was held June 30, 2009 to open the time capsule from 1939 and say goodbye to the Aud.

The Aud Block is currently being redeveloped, which includes development parcels based on the historic street grid. One of the parcels will be developed by the Explore and More Children’s Museum. Additional restaurant and public spaces are anticipated to be developed as well. Water features on the Aud Block will be interpretations of the alignment of the Erie Canal, Main and Hamburg Canal, and the Commercial Slip. Across Main Street on the Donovan Block, south of the newly opened One Canalside, a portion of the canal water feature will be included, as well another development parcel. These projects, along with Harbor Center, will create the next phase of the Canal District’s development.

2011 View of the Area, showing the rewatered commercial slip, recreated historic street pattern an demolished Aud site

2011 View of the Area, showing the rewatered commercial slip, recreated historic street pattern and the demolished Aud site

Buffalo’s Canal District has been a unique part of Buffalo’s story since the founding of the City of Buffalo. The district has had several lives – from seedy underbelly, Little Italy’s crowded tenements, public housing, to sitting dormant and the recent redevelopment. As Canalside continues to be developed, the story will continue to unfold. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Check out the Street Index to read about other streets.

Sources:

“Housing Project Rises wehre Canalers Roistered” Courier Express 10-29-1952
“Lusty Canal St. Lived Hard and Fast in Heyday” Courier Express 10-26-1952
“Dante Area Streets Get Single Name” Courier Express, November 11, 1960 Buffalo Streets Vol 1.
America’s Crossroads: Buffalo’s Canal Street/ Dante Place. Buffalo NY Heritage Press, 1993.
Dug’s Dive. Buffalo Express Saturday Morning August 29,1874
Hart, Mary Bronson. Partitioning Poverty: Zones of Influence in Social Work. Boston Evening Transcript. August 29, 1900.
Syracuse, Buffalo Illustrate Broadened UR Concept. The Evening News. Newburgh, NY. August 9, 1961.
Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia. Family and Community: Italian Immigrants in Buffalo, 1880-1930.
First Tenants to Move into Dante Project. Buffalo Courier-Express. August 31, 1952. 8-A.
Crowbars End Lurid History of Slum Area. Buffalo Courier Express. July 11, 1948.
Move to Clear Buffalo Slum Area Launched. Buffalo Courier Express. October 2, 1936. p 7.
Dante Tenants Fight Eviction. Baltimore Afro-American. August 30, 1960.
Queen City Waterfront Plan

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Buffalo’s Canal District, Part 2: Dante Place – Buffalo’s Little Italy

Posted in Downtown/Harbor, tagged Buffalo, Canal District, canal street, Dante Place, History, Il Corriere Italiano, immigration, Italian Heritage Festival, Little Italy, maria love, mary remington, Memorial Auditorium, Remington Hall, Revere Block, settlement houses, St. Anthony's, tenements, The Hooks, urban renewal, Welcome Hall on April 4, 2014| 7 Comments »

This post is Part Two in a series of three posts about Buffalo’s Canal District. Click here to read Part One, discussing the early days of the Erie Canal, when the area was part of the seedy underbelly of Buffalo. Part Three will come out next week and will discuss the most recent years of Buffalo’s Canal District. Today’s post discusses the Italian Quarter and Dante Place, the street that replaced Canal Street.

1925 Map of the Italian Quarter

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, built in 1906 on LeCouteulx Street Source: America’s Crossroads by Michael Vogel

The Canal District slowly died as trade along the canal was replaced by railroads. Industry and immigration began to change the landscape of the area. The sailors and canal business moved out of the area and sought work elsewhere. The vacant buildings were taken over by immigrants. The Canal District made way to what was called the Italian Quarter, due to the influx of Italian immigrants. Between 1900 and 1920, the Italian population of Buffalo increased from 6,000 to 16,000 (Buffalo’s total population in 1920 was 506,775). The Italian community separated in Buffalo based on the territories and villages of their homeland – each settling into different parts of the City of Buffalo. The Abbruzzese moved to the upper East Side; the Campobassini moved to the Lower East Side; the Calabrians moved to South Buffalo; and the companies moved to an area near Downtown Buffalo. The Italians who settled in the Canal District were coming mainly from Sicily to escape a famine and high taxes.

The area was also known as “The Hooks” after the cargo hooks that the dockworkers and longshoremen used. Near the entrance to the district was “the Coop”, an Italian fruit vendor stand. The bath house posted instructions in both English and Italian. The name of Canal Street was changed to Dante Place in 1909. The impact of changing the name of the street had a large impact on the neighborhood. The rule limiting the women of Canal Street from venturing north into Buffalo proper was lifted. After the women left, the saloons and concert halls began to close. The once notorious dance hall saloon known as the Only Theater became a “normal” tavern and politicians meeting place.

Jacob Schoellkopf, a millionaire who made his money from tanning…owner of the Revere Block. Newspaper articles of the day criticized him for the poor conditions in his buildings.

Former brothels and hotels for canal workers and travelers became tenements. These three and four story brick buildings housing multiple families in crowded conditions. The tenements were poorly-ventilated, small rooms with little heat, frozen pipes in winter and little sunlight. Cholera and pneumonia were common in the tenements. Many of the immigrants lived in poverty. Rooms rented for $6/month (about $100-130 in current dollars). In 1890, one old hotel called the Revere Block, originally designed to hold 100 guests, had 1,040 residents living in crammed conditions. Reports in other buildings included 18 families crammed into four rooms; 56 people sharing eight bedrooms. Conditions in many of these tenements were disgusting and unsanitary. Social work organizations began working to help deal with the conditions in the district. Charity Organization Society and Miss Maria Love began to work with the churches around 1895, working to organize efforts against poverty throughout the City of Buffalo. Seventy-six churches, of 12 denominations, pitched in to help around the city. Each church was responsible for a district, working for the “moral elevation of the people, and for the relief of all the needy and neglected persons of whatever religious faith within the district”. Instead of offering direct relief, many of these societies attempted to address the cycle of poverty.

Images from Welcome Hall, one of the settlement houses in Dante Place. Click here to see in greater detail

Images from one of the settlement houses in Dante Place.
Click here to see in greater detail

Remington Hall was located at the corner of Erie Street and Canal Street (next to the Revere Block) and was one of the settlement houses located in the canal district. Miss Mary Remington was the head of the settlement house, working with First Presbyterian Church to reform one of the “vilest tenements in Buffalo”.

Mary Remington was born in 1859 in Connecticut and began working to help others at a young age. At the time, social service was in its infancy and community centers were not common. In 1894, when Miss Remington came to Buffalo, she noticed that the churches were ignoring the Canal street district, but she saw that the need there was the greatest. Many Buffalonians did not believe that she could make a difference in that neighborhood, but she was determined to try.

Mary Remington in 1933
Source: Buffalo Courier Express

Remington Hall included a kitchen, sewing classes, a Sunday School, mothers’ meetings, a nursery and kindergarten, vocational education, housekeeping and cleanliness classes and recreational programs. Miss Remington served as landlord, cook, leader of religious services, pianist, teacher and friend to the needy regardless of their race, creed, age or reputation. She was referred to as “mea madre” by many of the Italian immigrants. She wrote letters for the men who could not write, she delivered soup and tea to sick women, bailed neighbors out of jail and helped out her neighborhood in any way she could as part of her daily routine. During the Pan American Exposition in 1901, she took in extra borders and raised $1,000 to do repairs to her building and open a fresh air lodge at the old International Hotel in Fort Erie for poor residents to go to experience a summer change of scenery. She helped more than 100 women who had kept brothels by showing them a different, upstanding way of life. She sustained the Remington Hall primarily by the rents she charged her tenants. She was named among the “Woman’s Who’s Who of America” in 1914. In 1933, Miss Remington said, “If I could live my life over, I would again spend it among the poor”. During the depression, Miss Remington’s health declined and she was forced to move to the country. She still continued to provide for the needy, knitting mittens and sending vegetables from her gardens in to the city.

The Settlement House Movement was strong in Buffalo and settlement houses existed across Buffalo. Two of the oldest – Westminster Community House (1893) and Neighborhood House Association (1894) merged to form the Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers (BFNC) in the 1980s and still provide services in the Fruit Belt Neighborhood.

While settlement workers tried hard to make conditions better for the residents in poverty stricken areas, many of the early social workers were viewed as outsiders. They were thought to undermine old world culture rather than seeing its positive value. In Dante Place, they misunderstood many of the Italian immigrants, and the Italians misunderstood them. The American values of sobriety, thrift, sociability, industry, cleanliness, patriotism and “properness” were foreign to the southern Italians of the district. Many of the Sicilian men resented the settlement’s intrusions into family life. The district was described as “looking more and more like Little Italy by day, and the old-time pit of vice and iniquity by night”. There were reports of organized crime, but for this area, this was nothing new.

Il Corriere Italiano from the day President McKinley died in 1901

Many of the Italians formed their own fraternal organizations, professional societies and cultural clubs. There were so many of these groups that a Federation of Italian-American Societies was established in 1906. One of the important Italian newspapers in Buffalo was known as Il Corriere Italiano (the Italian Courier). The paper was published from 1898 until the 1950s. The editor of the paper also published a book in 1908 called La Citta di Buffalo, NY (the City of Buffalo, NY) which was written to bring potential immigrants from Italy.

Most of Buffalo’s Italians worked as laborers. Many of the Italians worked on construction of the Pan-American Exposition in the northern part of the City of Buffalo in 1901. During the Pan-American Exposition, the Italians were represented by the Venice in America attraction on the Midway of the Exposition. The attraction included mandolin and guitarist players.

Here is a view of the area from 1921:

1921 View of the Area

During the 1920s, New York State began to fill in the Erie Canal. At the time, the abandoned canal waters stood stagnant and polluted. By the 1930s, the area was considered one of Buffalo’s worst slums. Citizens living in the “proper” part of Buffalo continued to cast their eyes down on the waterfront. City Planners began a 40-year fight to change the area to create something new on the waterfront, to create something of which the whole city could be proud.

A typical tenement in Dante Place – 42 Fly Street

Little Italy lingered on for a little longer; however, the neighborhood began to look old and dilapidated. Many of the Italians from Little Italy began to integrate into the rest of the city, as their families began to earn enough to move into houses on the Lower West Side. The paved streets, concrete sidewalks and trees of the Lower West Side was seen as an improvement from the manure filled cobblestones and wooden sidewalks of the Canal District. In 1949, Mount Carmel Church closed, and St. Anthony’s on Court Street replaced it as the main Italian church in Buffalo. The Italians celebrated many of the feast days with parades and large religious festivities. Among these was the Feast of St. Anthony, when people came together for a parade and festivities. The St. Anthony’s Festival on Connecticut Street began in 1976 as a way to bring back the days of the old traditions. The Connecticut Street festival was moved to Hertel Avenue in the 1980s and is the annual Italian Heritage Festival, held every summer and attracting an estimated 600,000 annually.

A 1947 painting titled Dante Place by Joseph Carvana

In 1936, one of the residents of a tenement in Dante Place lit a candle and went into the basement, causing a Natural Gas explosion that lifted the entire building off its foundations. Five people died in the blast, bringing national attention to slum areas, which spurred new legislation. Buffalo quickly moved to raze the substandard buildings in Dante Place, and by 1937, over 160 buildings had been demolished. In 1948, only 90 families remained in the area. The Buffalo Courier Express noted in October 1936 that this may have been the first slum clearance rehabilitation project in the United States. In the 13 block area, there had once been 1500 residents and by 1936, there were only 124 remaining.

City officials used Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds to construct Memorial Auditorium on the northeastern portion of Little Italy. The Aud replaced the Broadway Auditorium. When construction began, the Buffalo News reported:

As if overnight, the Terrace once more is coming to life. The massive new hall will be the mainstay, but city planners also want to improve the section with a boulevard in the old canal bed, waterfront parks and relocation, if not removal of the New York Central tracks. Visible proof of these good intentions is construction of the new hall.

Postcard of Memorial Auditorium

The Aud opened in October 1940. The Aud was host to many events, including circuses, concerts, sports and political events. Over the years, the Aud was home to the Buffalo Bisons of the AHL, the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL, the Buffalo Braves of the NBA, the Buffalo Stallions of the MSL, the Buffalo Bandits of the MILL, the Buffalo Blizzard of the NPSL, and the Buffalo Stampede of the RHI. Additionally, The last of the old saloons was the Peacock Grill, located at 136 Dante Place. In 1950, Libby and Joe Guillo sold the rights to the Peacock Grill building and moved up to Main Street. The era of the Canal District as Little Italy had ended.

Stay tuned for Part Three, which discusses the last 60 years of Buffalo’s Canal District.

Learn about other streets by checking out the Street Index.

Sources:

Courier Express Dec 17, 1952 p 15
Buffalo Evening News 4-15-1950 “Echoes of Revelry Have Faded out and Earth-Movers Clang Away.
“Housing Project Rises where Canalers Roistered” Courier Express 10-29-1952
“Lusty Canal St. Lived Hard and Fast in Heyday” Courier Express 10-26-1952
“Dante Area Streets Get Single Name” Courier Express, November 11, 1960 Buffalo Streets Vol 1.
America’s Crossroads: Buffalo’s Canal Street/ Dante Place. Buffalo NY Heritage Press, 1993.
Dug’s Dive. Buffalo Express Saturday Morning August 29,1874
Hart, Mary Bronson. Partitioning Poverty: Zones of Influence in Social Work. Boston Evening Transcript. August 29, 1900. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2249&dat=19000829&id=z40-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=qFkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6968,6102881
Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia. Family and Community: Italian Immigrants in Buffalo, 1880-1930.
Maggiotto, Anthony, Sr. LaTerra Promessa: The Promised Land: 200 Years of WNY Italian-American Experiences. Federation of Italian-American Societies of Western New York, 2007.
Mary E. Remington Founder of Dante Place Mission. Buffalo Courier Express, August 27, 1933. P 4.

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Canal Street, Buffalo – “The Wickedest Street in the World”

Posted in Downtown/Harbor, tagged Buffalo, buffalo gals, Buffalo Waterfront, Buffalo's Infected District, Canal District, canal street, canalside, Dante Place, dive bar, Dug's Dive, erie canal, Five Points, Fly Street, Hanover Street, Houses of Ill-Fame, lake street, LeConteuix Street, lloyd street, Maiden Lane, Marine Drive, Peacock Street, State Street, The Hooks, Water Street on March 31, 2014| 19 Comments »

This post is the first in a series of three posts about one street that still exists – Marine Drive – and several streets that no longer exist – most specifically Canal Street and Dante Place. These streets are a part of Buffalo’s old (and new) Canal District. The Canal District contains some of Buffalo’s most fascinating stories. Today’s post will deal with the district when it was known as the Canal Street area. Part Two will come out on Friday April 4th and deals with the Italian Immigrant era, when it was known as Dante Place or “The Hooks”. Part Three will come out next week and deal with the last 60 years of the area’s history – the Marine Drive apartments and Canalside.

The Canal District consists of the area along Buffalo’s inner harbor, which today is located south of the I-190, between Main Street and Erie Street. Here is a current view of the area we’re discussing:

View from 2011

The area, with the success of Canalside, is quickly becoming one of the success stories for Buffalo. The area has a long and fascinating past, some of which is represented by the ruins of canal era buildings along the Commercial Strip today. In 1950, the Buffalo Evening News wrote of the area:

Old Canal Street – Dante Place for the past quarter of a century – lies doggo this spring. Its days are numbered. Of some ordinary street it could be said it is dreaming of its past stories – but not Canal St – the old rip. If anything, Canal St. is like an ancient burned-out roue reflecting on a disreputable past. Canal Street and some of its immediate purlieus like Maiden Lane, and Peacock Street have empty houses with the windows bashed out. The old plaster in old rooms is broken and crumbling. Along the streets are old house numbers – 148, 156 – corroded and painted over and beaten by the weather of a hundred years. There is the occasional iron rail across what was once a barroom window, to protect it from stumbling drunks and lolling roustabouts. These are the flotsam and jetsam of an era long gone – a rough and roistering era of hard men and fancy women, of the waterside of Buffalo when it was young and heady with liquor, laughter and love at voyage end. It was the days when the canaler could sing that “The Erie was a-risin‘, the gin was gettin‘ low, and I scarcely think we’ll have a drink till we get to Buffalo”. It was the days when the sailors, swinging off their brigs and barks and ready for a fight or frolic, could yell: “Canaler, canaler – you’ll never grow rich; you’ll die in the ditch”.

Dug’s Dive Illustration

Canal Street was only two blocks long, running between Commercial Street and Erie Street. The street was called “the wickedest street in the world”. It was said that, during its heyday, there was a murder every day. Legends were told of saloon owners who would serve a poisoned drink, steal a man’s clothes and personal items, and dump the body in the canal. The supposed first “dive bar”, Dug’s Dive was located along the canal, down a steep set of slippery steps from the towpath, so patrons sometimes “dived” into the bar. The proprietor of Dug’s Dive was William Douglas, a former slave.

Canal Street was a busy place, due to its location on the waterfront. The Canal folk met the sailors from the Lake. In 1829, when the road was laid out, it was known as Cross Street because it crossed several of the short streets between Commercial Street and Erie Street. Other streets in the area were Peacock, Fly, Water, Hanover, LeConteuix, Evans, Lake, Lloyd and State.

In 1847, it was written in the Buffalo Republic:

During the summer, the very worst class of people inhabiting this portion of the first ward, have been permitted to gather there in unusual numbers, publicly enacting the most disgusting scenes, rioting by day and reveling by night…If the canal could speak, and its waters cast up the hidden bodies of those who have doubtless come to an untimely end, its tale of horror would startle the public mind, and those whose duty it is to look after the public peace of our city, might feel and realize how great this has been of their omission of duty.

Depiction of the Canal Street Area

By 1854, the canal had become supreme in the district, and the name was changed to Canal Street. The street was a busy place – The Erie Canal connected under Main Street with the Main-Hamburg Canal, running east to connect with the Clark-Skinner Canal, which started around Chicago Street and ran south to the Buffalo River. On the lake were the Prime, Coit, and Niagara slips, among others. The Canal Street district of the city was bounded by The Terrace, Lower Main Street, Erie Street and the harbor. The Canal Street district was connected to the rest of Buffalo by foot and wagon bridges over the Canals. Maiden Lane got its name from the early days of Buffalo when the young women said goodbye to their sailor sweethearts or welcomed them home from voyages.

The Canal District quickly established itself with bars and taverns to entertain the canal workers. Along with the taverns came gamblers, drunks and working girls. Long nights of drinking and brawling turned the area into a crime-ridden district.

The Canal District was often referred to as the “infected district”, both due to the low moral standards in the area and due to the diseases that ran rampant syphilis, chlamydia as well as diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping-cough and the flu. The Express described the area as containing “broken down hovels of ill-fame, presided over by ill-favored hags, who have long forfeited their right to the name of women”. The saloons were profitable enterprises for many Buffalonians. When early reformers and settlement houses tried to come in, they failed to lure the men away from the saloons. The saloons of the time functioned as a labor bureau, a post office, a source of credit, a political headquarters, an ethnic gathering place, and a spot where a man could get a free lunch along with his beer.

1893 Map from the Christian Homestead Association of the “Houses of Ill-Fame” in the Canal District (Source: Rare Book Room of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library)

The song “Buffalo Gals” was written by John Hodges in 1844 and refers to the women who lived in the canal district. By the 1880’s, it was said that there were as many as 400 women “of easy virtue” in the Canal Street section of the City of Buffalo. Included in the district were 93 saloons, 15 concert-hall dives, and hundreds of dance-hall girls. While Grover Cleveland was Sheriff in 1870, Cleveland had tried to clean up the place, but was unsuccessful. Many of the women were employed by the saloons as “cooks” but were on hand to provide companionship to the men of the barges. These women of the district were not allowed to go further uptown than the Liberty Pole, which was located near where the Memorial Auditorium was later located. Once a week, the women were allowed to go into town to go shopping.

During the Pan-American Exposition of 1901, a number of women from New York City came to the canal district, attempting to make money off visitors to the Pan-Am. They planned to take the “Buffalo Gals” out of their territory by bringing their worldliness to the area. Before the Pan-Am, there were 500 Buffalo women living in the Canal district. The ladies of Canal Street resented the NYC women, and joined forces and attacked the NYC women with clubs, knives and fists, chasing the NYC women out of Buffalo. The NYC women were escorted by police back to NYC on packet boats and trains.

Commercial Street Bridge Over Erie Canal, 1926

In 1895, the Erie Canal was deepened and shortened. Newly built railroads were built, which were more efficient in moving goods across distances with greater speed and power. The changing transportation landscape began to change the neighborhood. Immigrant families began to settle in the area. The rule limiting the women of Canal Street from venturing north into Buffalo proper was lifted. These ladies “of the fancy ways” began deserting the area. The vice they represented moved to other areas in the city, including the red light district of Vine Alley (located between Elm and Oak -the area was razed in the 1920s when William Street was extended from Michigan to Broadway). After the women left, the saloons and concert halls began to close.

Stay tuned for Part Two, which will discuss the Canal District’s transition into Dante Place, coming out on Friday April 4th.

Learn about other streets by checking out the Street Index.

Sources:

Courier Express Dec 17, 1952 p 15
“Echoes of Revelry Have Faded out and Earth-Movers Clang Away. Buffalo Evening News 4-15-1950
“Housing Project Rises where Canalers Roistered” Courier Express 10-29-1952
“Lusty Canal St. Lived Hard and Fast in Heyday” Courier Express 10-26-1952
“Dante Area Streets Get Single Name” Courier Express, November 11, 1960 Buffalo Streets Vol 1.
America’s Crossroads: Buffalo’s Canal Street/ Dante Place. Buffalo NY Heritage Press, 1993.
Dug’s Dive. Buffalo Express Saturday Morning, August 29,1874
Hart, Mary Bronson. Partitioning Poverty: Zones of Influence in Social Work. Boston Evening Transcript. August 29, 1900.
Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia. Family and Community: Italian Immigrants in Buffalo, 1880-1930.
Nicolosi, Rachel. Love for Sale: Prostitution and the Building of Buffalo, New York, 1820-1910. The Exposition: vol 2, Issue 1. 2014.

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Angela Keppel

Angela Keppel is a Buffalo, NY history enthusiast and urban planner. She spent her childhood in the Grosvenor Room at the downtown library and the Buffalo History Museum. "Talking Proud" is her anthem.

For more information and to contact Angela, please see the about me tab at the top of the page.

A complete list of streets which have been written about can also be found at the top of the page under the Street Index tab.

All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. Any photographs displayed on the blog are for information purposes only. Attempts have been made to source to original image content wherever possible. If you own a specific image on this site and want it removed, please email me at buffalostreets (at) gmail.com and I will remove it.
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