Map Showing Sherwood Street on West Side.
Today we are going to talk about two streets – Sherwood and Sidney. They were both named for members of the same family. Sherwood Street is a short street, running one block between Hampshire and Arkansas Street on the Lower West Side of Buffalo. It is named for Merrill Bennett Sherwood, Jr, a soap manufacturer.
The second street, Sidney Street, runs between Humboldt Parkway and Fillmore Avenue in the MLK Park Neighborhood on the East Side and is named for Merrill Sherwood’s son, Sydney.
Map showing Sidney Street on the East Side.
George Washington’s Vault at Mount Vernon which Adiel Sherwood based on his family vault on. Photo by author.
The first Sherwood family member to live in Buffalo was John Adiel Sherwood, who went by Adiel. He was born in 1785 in Kingsbury in what is now Washington County, New York. Adiel’s cousin was General Isaac Sherwood who served with George Washington at Valley Forge. Adiel arrived in Buffalo in 1815, when it was still a small village. Adiel Sherwood purchased a farm in what was known as Buffalo Plains. The farm was in the vicinity of what is now Bennett High School. Adiel erected a vault on his lot which was an exact replica of the Washington’s Vault at Mount Vernon. When Forest Lawn opened, a city ordinance was passed that prohibited burials on private property. All bodies were removed from the burying ground on the Sherwood Farm and moved to the Sherwood family plot at Forest Lawn in 1886. Adiel Sherwood died in 1839.
Adiel Sherwood Grave. Photo by Author.
Adiel Sherwood invested heavily in Buffalo because he believed in the future of the community. At one time, he owned 3,000 acres, most of it on Main Street. He was appointed Commissioner of Deeds by the Governor. Adiel Sherwood married Anna Woods and they had eight children. Their son, Merrill Bennett Sherwood, Sr. was born in 1809.
Merrill Sr came to Buffalo with his family as a child in 1815. He later purchased oil properties in Pennsylvania and was involved in various Buffalo banks. In 1840, he was President of Erie County Bank. He was also President of the Farmers’ Joint Stock Company. Many farmers were lured by Mr. Sherwood to place their savings in the bank, however, there were reports that the bank was a scam. The story goes that Mr. Sherwood was threatened by the farmers and fled Canada never to return again, but plenty of sources list Mr. Sherwood as still living in Buffalo until his death. Other reports said that the banknotes were good and were widely used throughout Erie County. Either way, the bank was affected by the Panic of 1857, so many lost money. All banks in Buffalo suspended business during the panic, except for White’s Bank down by the Canal. In 1912, Frank Hayward Severance wrote about the story about the bad bank notes and fleeing to Canada in the Picture Book of Earlier Buffalo that “this, however, is ancient gossip and not history.”
Merrill Sherwood married Harriet Griffin, daughter of Zachariah Griffin in 1837. Mr. Griffin, Harriet’s father, had a farm on the site of what is now City Hall. Merrill and Harriet Sherwood first live in a modest home on Main Street north of Chippewa. They had five children, Griffin, Merrill Jr, Hiram, Harriet, and Mary.
Sherwood Mansion at 652 Main Street, Downtown Buffalo. Source: Picture Book of Earlier Buffalo
In 1854, the Sherwoods built a home which was a three-story brick mansion and a showplace for Buffalo. The house had 50 rooms and was topped by a massive square observatory. Nearly everything in the house was brought from France via sailing vessels. The doors were of solid mahogany. The lawns and gardens were surrounded by an ornamental handwrought iron fence. The house was known for its beautiful rose garden. In 1860, the Sherwood family lived in the house with hostler (a caretaker of horses) James Reed and servants Bridget McGowan, and Rosa Reine.
The Sherwoods moved out of the house by 1867. After the Sherwoods moved out, the house had several uses. It was used as a display house for Hersee Furniture (we’re going to learn more about them in our next post!). The Sherwood Mansion was then used as an upscale boarding house called The Sherwood. It was used for visitors to the Pan American Exposition in the last year of its life. The Sherwood Mansion on Main Street was torn down in 1902 to make way for the growing business district of the City of Buffalo. The site is now home to Shea’s Performing Arts Center.
Merrill Sherwood Sr. suffered during the financial panics of the 1870s and 80s and was forced to sell off much of his oil property and real estate in Buffalo. Mr. Sherwood Sr died in April 1886. He is buried in Forest Lawn.
M. B. Sherwood, Jr.’s patent for meat preservation. Source: Google Patents.
Merrill Sherwood Jr, for whom the street is named, was born in Buffalo in 1837. He grew up in the Sherwood Mansion. Merrill Jr originated a formula for a nationally used toilet soap and operated a soap factory in the City of Buffalo. The firm was called Sherwood & Hovey and was located at 39 Lloyd Street. In 1868, he also patented a method for curing and salting meat. This method was said to be more useful for preserving meat, particularly in warm climates.
Sources said that Merrill Jr was not as successful in business as his father, but filled his time with his hobbies – music and the study of the Bible. He was also a pianist.
Merrill Jr. married Phoebe Cordelia Burt, daughter of George Burt of East Aurora. They had five sons, Sydney, Charles, Hiram, Edwin, and William. They lived at 365 Franklin Street, next to the Cyclorama Building. They later moved to 50 Park Street.
Merrill Jr also worked as a traveling salesman. He died in a hotel in Newark, New Jersey in 1888. His death was determined to be from apoplexy and not to accident. Mrs. Sherwood, his widow, had to sue the Insurance Company to cover his life insurance costs, claiming that there were bruises on his head, indicating that he had likely fallen and that caused his stroke. Mrs. Sherwood was successful and received a judgment of $4,918.66 ($166,363 in today’s dollars).
Sydney Sherwood. Source: Buffalo News.
Sherwood Street and Sidney Street were both named by Merrill’s son, Sydney G. Sherwood (in sources, sometimes his first name was spelled Sydney and sometimes Sidney…since his grave says Sydney, I will use that.). Sydney was born on February 5, 1857. He attended old Central High School on Niagara Square and at the medical college of the University of Buffalo. He had a keen interest in people, which is what led him to medicine, but he decided not to continue his studies, instead, he moved his interests to reporting on people. Sydney Sherwood was a well-known local newspaperman and said that his desire to understand human nature stemmed from the same quest for understanding that had led him to medical school originally, and it helped him as a writer. Sydney Sherwood started his career in 1879 as a reporter on the Sunday News, a publication of the Buffalo Evening News. In 1885, Sydney became a railroad editor of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. He founded the Buffalo Real Estate and Building News. In 1894, he became editor of the Eastern Contractor and also edited the Mercantile Review. From 1901 to 1905, he was commercial editor of the Buffalo Express and then published the Buffalo Live Stock Record. In 1912, he became editor of the Co-Operative Magazine. From 1920 to 1925, he was financial editor of the Buffalo Times.
Sydney Sherwood Grave. Photo by Author.
Sydney Sherwood was also a partner in the land company that developed the land that became Sherwood Street. He requested that the street be named after his father, Merrill Sherwood, Jr. Sydney also developed the tract that includes Sidney Street. Sydney passed away in 1935. Like his father, grandfather, and Great Grandfather, he is buried in the Sherwood family plot. There are 17 Sherwood family members buried in the plot. Interestingly, both Merrill and Merrill Jr are buried in the lot, but neither had headstones. There are only headstones for about half of the family members in the plot.
Sherwood Family Plot in Forest Lawn includes the headstone in the front, the five headstone stones in the center, and the three ledger (flat to the ground) stones to the right of the center stones. Photo by author.
William Sherwood House on Niagara Street. Source: Picture Book of Earlier Buffalo.
Merrill Sherwood Senior’s brother, William Sherwood, also had a well-known house in Buffalo. His house was at the corner of Carolina and Niagara Streets. It was built in the 1850s. This house was demolished in 1892 to build the current apartment building which is located at the site. You sometimes see sources that say that the Sherwood Mansion on Main Street was demolished in 1892, which is incorrect – they are talking about this house on Niagara Street. It is confusing because newspapers of the time referred to both houses as the “Sherwood Homestead”. William Sherwood worked as a merchant. In 1860, he lived in this house with his wife Frances Lord, children William and John, and three Irish servants – Rose Mooney, Isabella Cowan, and James Dow. Several years before his death, William and his family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. He died in 1897 in Clinton Missouri.
So, the next time you head to Shea’s, think about the house that was located there before and the family that lived there! Want to learn about other streets? Check out the Street Index. Don’t forget to subscribe to the page to be notified when new posts are made. You can do so by entering your email address in the box on the upper right-hand side of the home page. You can also follow the blog on Facebook. If you enjoy the blog, please be sure to share it with your friends, it really does help. Interested in getting even more content from me? You can become a Friend of Buffalo Streets on Patreon. You can go to https://www.patreon.com/buffalostreets/ to join.
Sources:
- Smith, H. Katherine. “Sherwood Street Carries Name of Local Pioneers’ Descendant.” Buffalo Courier Express. July 6, 1941, p19.
- “End of the Sherwood House.” Buffalo Courier Express. May 18, 1902, p8.
- “Did He Die By Accident?” Buffalo Commercial. May 4, 1892, p9.
- “Joint Stock- Public Meeting”. The Buffalo Daily Republic. December 11, 1854, p2.
- “Recalls Story of the Sherwood House and Others”.. Buffalo Courier Express. May 6, 1902, p7.
- Sydney G. Sherwood, Newspaperman Dies.” Buffalo News. April 22, 1935, p17.
- Smith, H. Katherine. “Sidney Street is Memorial to Newswriter, Developer of Area.” Buffalo Courier Express. September 14, 1941, p17.
- “For Sale”. Buffalo Courier Express. March 12, 1867, p3.
- “Landmark to Go”. Buffalo Courier Express. April 29, 1892, p.6.
Discovering Buffalo, One Street at a Time 