Discovering Buffalo, One Street at a Time

Former Talbert Mall property shown in red. Gladys Holmes Blvd shown in

Today we are finishing up our series on streets in the Talbert Mall/Frederick Douglass Towers.  For more about the area, I suggest you start with the series on Mary Talbert and the Talbert Mall, which can be found at this link.  Today, we will be discussing the two other women that streets were named after here – Gladys Holmes Blvd and Mary Johnson Blvd.

In 2001, during the renovation of the towers and the building of the townhouses, Mayor Masiello renamed the streets.  The tenant council selected the names and submitted them to City Council, choosing the names of three women important to the community.

 Source: Geneva Anaya, Ancestry.com

Mary Johnson was born in Buffalo on August 25, 1925.  She worked as a Staff Assistant and Manager a the Buffalo Urban League for 23 years before retiring in the 1990s.

She was very involved in the community and served on the Board of Directors of the Community Action Organization, the Board of the JFK Community Center, the Urban League Education Auxiliary Group, AMVETS Auxiliary Post 5, Ellicott Neighborhood Advisory Council and the YMCA Heart of the Home Club.

Mary Johnson lived in the Talbert Mall/Douglass towers starting in 1960.  Her family had lived in the neighborhood for a long time – she and her parents are listed in the 1930 Census living at 61 Spring Street.

Mary died in Niagara Lutheran Nursing Home in June 2013 at the age of 87.  She was survived by her Son George Jr, and six daughters – Jean Ann Robinson, Estelle Arlene Blue, Catherine Lee Watkins, Virginia Beard, Ann Mae Hoskin and Mary Harris.

Gladys Holmes was born in 1927 in Macon, Georgia.  Gladys married Grady Holmes in 1943.  Grady served in the Marine Corps during WWII.  After the war, Grady and Gladys moved to Buffalo, arriving in 1952.  Grady worked at Bethlehem Steel.

Gladys and Grady lived in the Talbert Mall/Frederick Douglass Towers for 37 years before she died in 1997.  When they named the street for her, they called Gladys a “community mom”.  In addition to being mother to the community, she had five daughters of her own – Betty Holloway, Jeannette Bishop, Annette Holmes, Graleen Dowell and Barbara Ann Singletary.  She is buried in Forest Lawn.

I was unable to find much information about Gladys Holmes.  Part of the difficulty in researching more contemporary subjects is that they’re not yet written about in history books!  If anyone knew either Gladys or Mary, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Another difficulty in my research of Gladys is that there was at least one other Gladys Holmes living in Buffalo at this time.  The other Gladys Holmes was the first Black woman to give birth in Children’s Hospital in Buffalo.  You can read more about her in the book Born in Mississippi, Raised in Buffalo New York.

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If you’re interested in hearing me speak, I am on the fall schedule for Erie County’s University Express program. I will be giving two talks. Programs will be streamed live so you can watch from the comfort of your home.  For more information, visit the University Express website here.

Sources:

• “Mary Johnson, Buffalo Community Activist”.  Buffalo News.  June 12, 2013.
• Campagna, Darryl and Tom Ernst.  “Housing Authority Honors Three”.  Buffalo News.  June 16, 2001.
• “Grady Holmes”.  Buffalo News.  October 10, 2001.