Discovering Buffalo, One Street at a Time

Streets Named After Black People Shown in Red

Last week we talked about President’s Day.  This month is also Black History Month.  Did you know there’s kind of a connection between the two?  Black History Month started with celebrations of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass’s birthdays on February 12 and 14th respectively.  They both figure largely into Black History in the United States – President Lincoln for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and Frederick Douglas was a Black abolitionist, author and orator.  After their respective deaths, the Black Community began celebrating their contributions to African American liberation and civil rights on their birthdays.  In 1924, Carter Woodson, who pioneered the field of African American Studies, introduced “Negro History and Literature Week”.  It started as being recognized by his college fraternity, Omega Psi Psi.  In 1926, it was launched as Negro History Week by Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH).  By the 1940s, some communities began to recognize February as Negro History Month.  As the  Civil Rights movement arose in the 1960s, the week became Black History Month in additional places.  By 1976, the month had become widespread and President Ford urged Americans to participate in the observance of the month.  Rooting Black History Month in February, the month honors the legacy of Lincoln and Douglass, and includes the history and achievements of Black History in general.

Notice in the Buffalo Times newspaper from 1930 about Negro History Week in Buffalo.

Negro History Week was recognized in Buffalo as early as 1924.  Local lectures were given at the Michigan Street YMCA, an important institution in Buffalo’s Black Community and information about the week was reported in the newspapers, including the Buffalo American (a Black Newspaper) and The Buffalo News.

Vine Street Church. Source: Barbara Seals Nevergold, “Ida Dora Fairbush – Buffalo’s First African American Teacher”

The Black Community has early roots in Buffalo.  The first recorded Black man to live here was Joseph Hodge in the 1790s.  A Black Community grew in Buffalo, centered around Michigan Avenue.  In 1831, the Colored Methodist Society was organized as a religious body, the first African-American faith based institution in Buffalo.  The congregation worshipped in a house on Carroll Street and in 1839 they moved into a frame building on Vine Street.  Vine Street is no longer extant, it was off of Michigan Street between Eagle and Broadway; it was removed when William Street was rerouted.  In 1845, the original Vine Street Church was replaced by a new brick structure. The Vine Street African Methodist Episcopal Church remained on Vine Street until 1928, when they moved to Eagle Street, where they were located for another 25 years.  They moved to Michigan Avenue in Cold Spring in the 1950s and still operate as Bethel AME Church.

Michigan Street Baptist Church

The Michigan Street Baptist Church was founded in 1836 and in 1845, they built their church around the corner from the Vine Street Church.  The Michigan Street Baptist Church is still standing on Michigan Avenue, and is an anchor institution of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor.

Michigan Street was home to a large celebration in April 1870 to celebrate the ratification of the 15th Amendment, which granted African American men the right to vote.  There was a 38-gun salute, worship services and a parade that ran down Michigan to Seneca, Seneca to Main, Main to Virginia, Virginia to Delaware, Delaware to Eagle, Eagle to St. James Hall.  The Hall was full for a celebration and a reading of President Grant’s proclamation upon the adoption of the Amendment.

Over the years, some streets have been named after members of Buffalo’s Black Community.

• Nash Street – Named after Jesse Nash, one of Buffalo’s most prominent African American citizens in the first half of the 20th Century and the long time pastor of the Michigan Street Baptist Church.  His house is still located on Nash Street and now operates as a museum.  You can visit the Nash House Museum
  

  Dr. Nash’s Portrait on Buffalo Freedom Wall. Source: Albright Knox Art Gallery

  on Saturdays from 11am to 4pm.

• Mary Johnson Blvd and Gladys Holmes Blvd – Named for Mary Johnson and Gladys Holmes, two community advocates in the Ellicott Neighborhood
• Mary B Talbert Blvd – Named for Mary Burnett Talbert, who was named the most famous colored person in the country during her time.  She worked to advance rights for Black people and was a part of the Niagara Movement – which had it’s first meetings at her house on Michigan Avenue.  Three posts are dedicated to her, you can read them here:  Part One,  Part Two, and Part Three
  

  Mary Talbert’s Portrait at Buffalo Freedom Wall. Source: Albright Art Gallery

• Delmar Mitchell Drive – Named for Delmar Mitchell, the first African American elected to City-Wide Office
• Ora Wrighter Drive – Named for Ora Wrighter, A Community Activist who fought for the people
• Minnie Gillette Drive – Named for Minnie Gillette, the first African American County Legislator
  
  

  Minnie Gillette Portrait on Buffalo Freedom Wall. Source: Albright Knox Art Gallery

•  King Peterson Drive – Named for King Peterson, the First (Acting) Black Mayor of a Major City.  He served as Acting Mayor in 1956 while the Mayor and Common Council president was out of town.  It was such big news that a Black man was a mayor, even temporarily, it was printed in papers across the country, including Chicago and LA.
  
  

  King Peterson Portrait on Buffalo Freedom Wall. Source: Albright Knox Art Gallery.

• William L. Gaiter Parkway – Named for William Gaiter, former president of BUILD (Building Unity, Independence, Liberty and Dignity) the activist Black organization.
  
  

  Bill Gaitor Portrait on Buffalo Freedom Wall. Source: Albright Knox Art Gallery

As you can see, despite Buffalo’s strong Black Community since it’s founding, there are still few recognitions of the accomplishments of our Black Community Members in the form of street names.  Many of these street names have only been designated in the last few decades.

To learn more about important Black Buffalonians and the Black history of Buffalo, I encourage you to visit the following websites:

• Uncrowned Community Builders – This website is run by the Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research and Education on Women, Inc, founded by Barbara Seals Nevergold, PhD and Dr. Peggy Brooks-Bertram, PhD..  They have been working to research, document and preserve the regional histories of African American women and men in WNY since 1999.  The project began as a part of the Women’s Pavilion Pan Am 2001 for the 100th anniversary of the Pan American Exposition to document the contributions of African American women and African women’s involvement in the Exposition and the contributions of African American women in the century after the Exposition.  They expanded their mission to also include “Uncrowned Kings” in addition to the “Uncrowned Women” and their website became Uncrowned Community Builders.  Their website is a tremendous resource and they have compiled biographies of more than 1200 African American men and women!
• African American History of Western New York – This website is run by The Circle Brotherhood Association, a group of African American men practicing, and dedicated to, the quality of life, successful manhood and parenting, economic growth and development, and the pursuit of excellence and spiritual development.  Their website looks at the historical presence of Blacks in Buffalo, Rochester, Jamestown, Syracuse, Geneva, Ithaca, Corning, Niagara Falls, Canandaigua, Fredonia and WNY from 1700 to 2000.

I was really moved last week by the words of Judge Susan Eagan last week during the sentencing of the racist responsible for the May 14th massacre at Tops on Jefferson.  Judge Eagan spoke about the history of systemic racism and how it’s the responsibility of all of us to ensure that we put an end to it.  Here is an except from her statement:

The ugly truth is that our nation was founded and built in part on white supremacy, starting with the treatment of Native Americans by the first European settlers to the cruel, inhumane economic engine nation building practice of slavery, to indentured servitude, to Jim Crow laws, to government policies creating segregated public housing with communities of color often placed in environmentally hazardous locations, to the manner in which expressways were built, dividing urban neighborhoods to create easy access to government-subsidized developments in the suburbs with restrictive covenants prohibiting the sale of suburban homes to African Americans, to redlining practices in communities of color further devaluing those neighborhoods, to the GI Bill, a well-deserved financial boon to our servicemen unless of course, you were a serviceman of color, to the war on drugs and mass incarceration disproportionately of men of color to the school-to-prison pipeline, to inequities in education, employment opportunities and compensation to the existence of food deserts and inadequacies in health care.

Our history is replete with both individual and systemic discriminatory practices, many of them still firmly in place today. In fact, it is these very policies and practices that contributed to and made this atrocity possible.

The effects of these policies, some current and others decades and centuries old, created the segregation in our city and enabled this defendant to research and identify this target to maximize the impact of his evil intent. All of these policies and systems either sponsored or tolerated by the government and implemented by individuals were designed to destroy the very fabric of family life, opportunities for success, the creation of generational wealth and even the mere existence of hope in communities of color. The harsh reality is that white supremacy has been an insidious cancer on our society and nation since its inception. And it undermines the notions of a meritocracy in the land of opportunity that we hold so dear.

However, white supremacy is not inevitable, or unstoppable. It has been carefully cultivated and nurtured by individuals and the government for centuries. This is the history that we have all inherited. It has been passed down from generation to generation. We must acknowledge that history, see that history for what it is, recognize it and learn from it, or we are doomed to repeat it.

Let ours be the generation to put a stop to it. We can do better. We must do better. Our own humanity requires it. As an individual, we must call out injustice in our daily lives when we see it.

We must reject racism in all of its forms. We must be conscious of the power of our words and actions and the impact they have on those around us, both intended and unintended. We must demand better of our public servants in their efforts to address inequity and we must embrace government policies aimed at creating and fostering diversity, equity and inclusion. We must make the outpouring of support, love and compassion that followed this heinous act an everyday practice. We are stronger together.

These are hard and challenging times. Our characters are being tested. The future of our nation is at stake. Are we up to the challenge?

I believe that we are.

In the words of poet laureate Amanda Gorman, “There is always light. If only we are brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to be it.”

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Streets Named After Presidents

Happy President’s Day!  Buffalo has a fairly rich presidential history!  I thought today we could talk about streets named after Presidents.

A Buffalonian is actually part of the reason there’s a President’s Day as a national holiday.  In 1874, Buffalonian Julius Francis took up the cause of preserving and promoting the memory of President Lincoln.  He petitioned the state and federal governments to establish Lincoln’s birthday as a holiday and spent the rest of his life fighting to accomplish his dream.  He collected Civil War artifacts and memorabilia to house in a museum.  Mr. Francis owned several drug stores and was a bachelor.  He declared his cause to memorialize Lincoln as “my wife and my life.”  He held the first seven observances of Lincoln’s Birthday at his own cost, renting a hall, arranging speakers and allowed the public to attend free of charge.  He succeeded in persuading New York to create a State Holiday, but failed to get the US Government to follow, despite many petitions.  He founded the Buffalo Lincoln’s Birthday Association.  He left his house at 145 Eagle Street as well as six $1,000 bonds to the association when he died in 1881.  The funds were used to hire New York sculptor Charles E. Niehaus to make the statue of Lincoln which now sits on the Buffalo History Museum portico, looking out over the Gala Waters/Hoyt Lake.  Although Lincoln’s Birthday has never been designated as a National Holiday, Mr. Francis did succeed in getting several states to designate Lincoln’s Birthday as a legal holiday.  While we refer to today as President’s Day, and it is a day where we honor the legacies of all of our presidents, the official Federal Holiday is actually Washington’s Birthday.  Thanks to Julius Francis, Buffalo has celebrated Lincoln’s Birthday every year since 1874, which is the longest continual celebration of Lincoln’s birthday – longer even then the places where Lincoln lived!  The celebration is now held annually at the Buffalo History Museum.

Lincoln’s Birthday Celebration, February 12, 2023. Photo by author.

There have been 45 men who have been president (serving 46 presidencies – Grover Cleveland had nonconsecutive terms).  Of those men, there are streets in Buffalo named after 17 presidents.

There are 10 streets which have presidential names, but I don’t have documentation that they were named after the President, as I am unsure of the name’s origin at this time.  There are 3 more streets which have presidential names, but are named after someone else with the same name!  There are 15 Presidents who do not have streets in Buffalo named after them.  These are mostly the modern era presidents, because Buffalo was already built out and new streets weren’t being built.

Here’s the breakdown of which presidents have street’s named for them.

Streets Named After Presidents:

• Washington Street – “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen” is the famous quote from George Washington’s eulogy….we can also add, first President to get a street name in Buffalo to his list!  In 1825, North and South Onondaga Streets merged to become Washington Street.  There’s also a short street named Mount Vernon Ave in South Buffalo, which was the name of Washington’s plantation in Virginia.
• Adams – There are several streets in the Pratt-Willert neighborhood of the near East Side which bear the names of many of the early presidents.  These streets were originally developed around the same time, so perhaps the developer was a presidential fan!  In addition to Adams, the following other streets are located in the neighborhood:
  • Madison
  • Monroe
  • Johnson – which is not to be confused with Johnson Park, which is named for Buffalo’s first Mayor, Ebenezer Johnson. 
• Jefferson  – Of course, Jefferson Avenue is one of the major north-south corridors on the East Side of Buffalo.  It is named for President Jefferson.  There’s also a Monticello Place, not far from the intersection of Jefferson and Main Streets, named for Jefferson’s Virginia plantation.
• 

  Statue of Millard Fillmore outside of City Hall. Photo by Author.

  Fillmore – Millard Fillmore lends his name to Fillmore Avenue, another major north-south street on the East Side.  Was originally an Olmsted Parkway.   Millard Fillmore brought us many of our institutions here in Buffalo.  While he was president, he also signed the Compromise of 1850 into law.  While he was the first chancellor of University of Buffalo, UB has recently removed his name from the campus.  

• 

  Wreaths at the Lincoln Statue at the Buffalo History Museum celebration of Lincoln’s Birthday, Feb 12, 2023. Photo by author.

  Lincoln – Lincoln Parkway is an Olmsted Parkway.  Olmsted named these parkways after civil war heroes – Bidwell and Chapin, and Lincoln.  Thanks to Julius Francis, Buffalo is home to the longest running celebration of President Lincoln’s Birthday, which has been held ever year since 1874!  The Lincoln Statue at the Buffalo History Museum was commissioned by the Buffalo Lincoln Birthday Association to be placed in the new building that was constructed in 1901.  A Lincoln life mask is also on display now in the Museum’s Continuum Exhibit on the second floor.  There’s a second Lincoln Statue on Lincoln Parkway in the rose garden at Delaware Park. It was sculpted in 1935 and presented to the City of Buffalo in memory of Louis Spitzmiller and Julia Spitzmiller.  Mrs. Spitzmiller left a $250,000 bequest in her will for the statue to be built.  

• Grant – The street was laid out and the name was decided in March of 1864.  At that time, Ulysses S Grant would have been Commander General of the US Army.  I believe the street was named in his honor, but I am not 100% sure.
• Garfield – Garfield Street in Riverside is named for President Garfield.  The streets were built on land that had been owned by William Bird.  The executors of his will gave land for two parallel streets – one to be named Garfield and the other to be named Arthur, after Vice President at the time, Chester Arthur.
• Arthur – see Garfield.
• 

  Statue of Grover Cleveland outside Buffalo City Hall. Photo by Author.

  Cleveland – Grover Cleveland is one of Buffalo’s presidential connections.  Cleveland Avenue bears his name today.  Become Sheriff, Mayor, Governor, President…Get a Street Named After You.  

• McKinley – After President McKinley died here, there was almost immediate calls to name a street for him.  One of the suggestions was to rename Lincoln Parkway for him (since he was shot not far from the parkway) and then rename Bidwell and Chapin to Lincoln and Garfield.  In this way, the three streets which form Soldiers Circle would have represented the three martyred presidents at the time.  Seems a little ominous, so thankfully they named the new parkway in South Buffalo after President McKinley instead. 
• 

  Theodore Roosevelt statue outside the TR Inaugural Site on Delaware Avenue. Source: Buffalo News.

  Roosevelt Ave – named for Theodore Roosevelt.  There’s also Theodore Roosevelt Plaza in Downtown and the Roosevelt Apartments, a senior housing building on Main Street.  And of course, the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site Museum, the location where Teddy’s presidency started in 1901.

• Taft – Taft Place is located in the Central Park neighborhood.  It is nearby to Sagamore Terrace, which is named for Sagamore Hill, President Roosevelt’s home. 
• Coolidge – Coolidge Road in South Buffalo was built in 1926, right when President Coolidge was becoming president.
• Kennedy – There is a Kennedy Road in Cheektowaga, and JFK High School in Cheektowaga was named for Kennedy.  It is reportedly the first high school in the Country to be named after him!

Streets with Presidential Names, but are Not named for the Presidents:

These are streets have the name of a President but are named after someone else.

• Hayes – Hayes Place is not named for President Hayes, but rather after engineer Edmund B. Hayes, who also gives his name to Hayes Hall at UB.
• Wilson – Wilson Ave often gets listed as a street named after a president since it’s close by some of the streets named for other presidents.  It’s named for Guilford Reed Wilson. 
• Clinton – Sorry, Bill, our Clinton Street is named for either Dewitt Clinton, Governor of New York from 1817 to 1823 or his son, George William Clinton, an early Mayor of Buffalo.  Governor Clinton is often best known for “Clinton’s Ditch” a name that was used to describe the construction of the Erie Canal, which ended up being much more successful than expected!  Governor Clinton first visited Buffalo in 1810.  During that trip, he wrote in his diary, “the Village has a population of 500.  It has 5 lawyers and no churches”.  Bill Clinton visited several times while he was President, and most recently while campaigning with Hillary Clinton.  We’ll have to ask him what he wrote in his diary about his visits!

Possible Presidential Streets:

These are streets which have a Presidential name, but I do not yet have documentation as to the origin of the name.

• John Quincy Adams  – There is a Quincy Street off of Broadway.
• Jackson – There is a Jackson Ave in Sloan.
• William Henry and Benjamin Harrison – There is a Harrison Street in the Seneca Babcock Neighborhood.
• Tyler – There is a Tyler Street in University Heights.
• Polk – There is a Polk Place in North Buffalo
• Taylor – There is a Taylor Place in South Buffalo.
• Pierce – There is a Pierce Street in Kaisertown.
• Harding – There is a Harding Ave in South Buffalo.
• Hoover – There is a Hoover Ave in the Village of Kenmore.  I am unsure if it is named for President Hoover, though it likely is as Hoover Elementary School elsewhere in the village was named for him.

No Streets:

There is no Van Buren Street or  Buchanan Street.  Most of the Presidents after President Hoover don’t have streets named after them.  This is because Buffalo has been fully built out since Hoover was president, so very few new streets were being built.  This is likely why Hoover is in Kenmore and Kennedy is in Cheektowaga.  The suburban areas were still building new streets whereas the city was built out.  There is a Johnson Street, but it is named after Andrew Johnson and not Lyndon Johnson.  Perhaps someday they were rename a street after one of the more modern presidents.  

Did you know that Lincoln’s birthday is one of the reasons we also celebrate Black History Month?  Check back next week for more on that and a list of streets named after Black Buffalonians!  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.

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Accepting the award

I was awarded the Owen B. Augspurger award from the Buffalo History Museum!  The award was established in 1974 in honor of Mr. Augspurger, who was a former History Museum president.  The award is presented to an individual for outstanding service to the cause of local history.  The award is given out annually at the Museum’s Red Jackets Awards Ceremony, which was held last night.  I am honored to be among the distinguished list of past recipients.

Here are the remarks I gave during the ceremony:

I’m so honored to be receiving this award.  My streets project started because I went to the library to find out how Keppel street got its name.  I know it’s not named after my family, as my dad is an immigrant and all of our Keppel family is still in the Netherlands.  All these years later, and I still haven’t gotten to the bottom of the Keppel street name, but I’ve learned about so many streets along the way.  I was boring my friends telling them the stories I was uncovering, so I started to write the stories to share them on a blog, and Discovering Buffalo, One Street at a Time was born.  I never really thought it was something that other people would really care about.  But I think my blog works because streets are something that are personal to us all.  Everyone comes from a street – whether it’s the street where dad lived when he first moved to town,  the streets where grandma and grandpa lived, they’re all full of memories.  And so there’s a connection, even if the person the street was named after had little to do with the actual street.  It’s a way to connect with our history in a hyper local way.  When I started, I thought I’d maybe have 12 followers.  And now there’s more than 9,000 of us!

As a professional urban planner, I get to live part time in the future, looking forward to new development projects, looking at how to build a better community for our future.  Because of my work in history, I get to live in the fabulous juxtaposition between the past and the future.  I cannot help but look at projects like the new Ralph Wilson Park they’re building at Lasalle Park and be really excited for what’s coming, but in my mind, I also see the canal slips and heavy industry that 1932 Buffalo decided to turn into a park to celebrate the city’s centennial. I live in the Hotel Lafayette, a grand historic hotel, and sometimes, if I squint my eyes, I can see those who came before walking down the hallways.  I get to live our history every single day, living and working in the heart of downtown which our city grew, radiating out from Niagara Square like spokes on a wagon wheel.

I think Mr. Augspurger and I would have gotten along, both because of our interest in local history and also Mr. Augspurger’s work on downtown development projects like the Main Place Mall and the parking ramps.  One of the things I do for my job is to track parking, so I can tell you that the Augspurger Ramp is about 74% occupied.

Thank you to everyone who has followed along, to Debra for nominating me, to the History Museum, and to everyone who has shared my posts, or come to hear me speak.  My favorite thing is when people share their stories with me, which adds to the rich tapestry of the city that lives in my brain.  I hope to keep learning and keep sharing for a long time to come!

Owen B. Augspurger Parking Ramp

Those of you who came to my University Express Talks last fall will know that I have been researching urban renewal plans of the 1950s and 60s and how they impacted Downtown and the neighborhoods around it.  The creation of Main Place Mall, which Mr. Augspurger helped make happen, was Buffalo’s first private urban redevelopment plan.  Previous urban redevelopment projects had been to create government owned housing projects.  I know that Main Place Mall gets a bum rap, but it was a successful mall for many decades after opening and holds a special place in the retail history of downtown.  I have fond memories of going to the food court for lunch on school field trips and sneaking off to grab a book at Walden Books while every else ate lunch.  Mr. Augspurger also helped to create the off street parking program for downtown, hence the parking ramp was named for him.  Mr. Augspurger was also involved in helping to save the Ainsley Wilcox mansion and create the Teddy Roosevelt Inaugural Site, which long time readers of my blog will know was also the house of Judge Masten!

I really truly appreciate all of you have been along for this journey!  I have some new posts coming soon!   I’m working on rewriting the very first post I ever wrote, now that I have some new research.  Also coming up will be posts about when the corner of Walden and Bailey was “way out in the country”, some info about the Erie County Penitentiary, and a story about a man who had too many handkerchiefs!

House of Lewis Falley Allen on what is now Niagara Street.

I have also began working on trying to little deeper into some of the people I’m researching.  One of the things I want to do is talk about “the help”.  I think it’s important to remember that these men who “built” Buffalo, they built it with lots of help.  I’ve been working to dig into my research to try to find info about live-in help that lived with some of the families I write about.  I want to try to give a glimpse into what early Buffalo life was like for the influential, and give a name to those who have been forgotten to history.  For example, I have learned that Lewis Falley Allen had a staff of five to run his household.  The staff in 1880 included housekeeper, Elizabeth Ryan, a 50 year old woman from Ireland and her 20 year old daughter Agnes who served as a servant; servants Rosa Bronson, a 16 year old girl, from New York; Emma Hudson, 27 year old woman from Canada; and John Hogan, a 24 year old man from Ireland.  Look forward to more info like this in future posts.

Lastly, I will be giving my last walking tour of the season on Sunday, October 9th at 1pm, Discovering Lower Main Street.  Click here for more about the tour.  The tour ends right next to Southern Tier Brewery if anyone wants to watch the end of the Bills game after the tour.  Hope to see some of you there!

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Hi friends – we are kicking off tours for the season!  This season, I will be giving two tours.  The tours build off my unique perspective and experience as a historian and urban planner that will show glimpses of both the city we once were and the city we are becoming.  

Discover Downtown – Then and Now.  This tour will focus on the area and buildings around Lafayette Square, Niagara Square and Roosevelt Plaza.  We’ll take a look at how this area became the central hub of Downtown Buffalo, looking at the past and at some of the new developments happening in the area.  This tour will include about 1.5 miles of walking.  We will meet at 1pm outside of Public Espresso in the Hotel Lafayette at 391 Washington Street, Buffalo NY 14203.  The tours will be a loop and will end close to the starting point.  Here is the facebook link for the Discover Downtown – Then and Now tours:  https://www.facebook.com/events/946865436001874/946865439335207

Discover Downtown – Then and Now will run on the following dates:

• • • Saturday May 14th, 1pm at 391 Washington Street, Buffalo NY 14203
    • Sunday July 17th, 1pm at 391 Washington Street, Buffalo NY 14203
    • Saturday September 10th, 1pm at 391 Washington Street, Buffalo NY 14203

Discover Lower Main Street.  A new tour for this season!  This tour will focus on Lower Main Street and the former canal district.  We’ll take a look back at the past, but also talk about how urban renewal and highway construction shaped the area and at some of the new developments happening in the area.  This tour will include about 1.5 miles of walking and one set of about 15 stairs.  We will meet at 1pm outside of Tim Hortons in HarborCenter at 1 Scott Street, Buffalo NY 14203.  The tours will be a loop and will end close to the starting point.  Here is the facebook link for the Discover Lower Main Street tours:  https://www.facebook.com/events/732763641253479/732763654586811 

Discover Lower Main Street will run on the following dates:

• • • Saturday June 11th, 1pm at 1 Scott Street, Buffalo NY 14203
    • Sunday August 14th, 1pm at 1 Scott Street, Buffalo NY 14203
    • Sunday October 9, 1pm at 1 Scott Street, Buffalo NY 14203

All tours will be free, but donations will be graciously accepted.  All money received will go directly into continuing to build up Discovering Buffalo, One Street at a Time.  Can’t make a tour but would like to contribute?  You can contribute via paypal here:  https://paypal.me/akepps or by venmo @akepps83 

Street parking in Downtown is free on weekends, or there are several pay parking lots near both locations. Both meet up locations are only one block away from the Metro Rail – you’d get off at Lafayette Square Station for the Discover Downtown – Then and Now Tour, or at Erie Canal Harbor/Canalside Station for the Discover Lower Main tour.  

You can RSVP by emailing buffalostreets@gmail.com or on the facebook events pages.   Any updates to the tours will be posted on the facebook page.

As always, thank you all for your support and comments.  I’m looking forward to seeing some of you in person this summer on tours!   

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I recently realized that we’ve discussed 200 streets on the blog!  Can you believe it?  We’re technically at 206 streets.  There are 1544 street names in the City of Buffalo, so we’ve covered around 13% of streets so far.  The 200th street was Eggert Road, which was pretty cool since it was an important street to me growing up, and I also lived on Eggert for 5 years during college!

Here’s a map of all of the streets I’ve written about so far:

I have begun to think about making some upgrades to the site sometime soon.  One of things I’d love to be able to make an interactive map for the site.  My vision is that you could zoom into a street and be able to access the post about that street when you clicked on the street name.  Are any of my readers more tech-savvy than me and know how to make this happen?  Please email me at buffalostreets@gmail.com if you are interested in helping me figure out how to do that!

What’s your favorite street I’ve written about?  What streets do you wish I’d write about?  As many of you know, historic research can be hard at times and I’m sure we’ll never know everything about every street.  Sometimes it feels like you hit a lot of dead ends but then you’ll find some info that takes you on a different path entirely.  That’s the frustration and also the beauty of historic research! I plan to continue writing as long as I keep finding information! 

I feel like I’ve become better at research in the more than a decade I’ve been doing this, so I may revisit some earlier posts to bring additional information about those people.  Is that something you would be interested in? 

The Erie County University Express schedule for this semester just came out – I’ll be speaking in July at West Side Community Services.  Find more information, along with all the other wonderful courses presented through University Express here:  https://www4.erie.gov/universityexpress/classes

I have some fun posts coming up, so stay tuned!  Hope everyone is starting to enjoy the warmer weather as we start to hopefully get back to normal and come out of COVID!  

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Hi friends! I started this blog ten years ago this week!!  As most of you may know, I started researching streets because I wanted to know how Keppel Street got its name, since that’s my last name.  As I learned about other streets, I knew I needed to share the stories I was uncovering.  I created this blog to be able to have a medium to share those stories.

In ten years time, I’ve written 139 posts and we have covered 206 streets!!!  I’ve given more than 100 talks around Western New York on streets and other local history topics.  The blog somehow has more than 8,500 followers!  When I started, I thought maybe I’d have around 12 followers. I am continually blown away by all the interest and support I have received.  Over the last decade, it seems like interest in Buffalo’s history has grown exponentially.  It’s an exciting time to be a historian in Buffalo!    

I am often asked how I do my research.  I spend hours and hours in my favorite place – the Grosvenor Room at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.  There are stacks and stacks of books about Buffalo’s history there.  If you’ve never been, I highly recommend.  The librarians there are top notch and can help you begin your quest.  It’s easy to get lost in the old books, discovering new things.  Loyal blog readers will know that the Grosvenor Library was originally a separate library, named after Seth Grosvenor.  Interestingly, in the past year, I was contacted by someone from Seth Grosvenor’s hometown who was doing some research.  Felt like a full circle moment for sure!  I felt quite lost during the months last year when the library was closed during the pandemic.  I am happy to be back researching at the library!  

Historic research can be hard!  There are no easy answers.  Someone asked me once if there was a website that listed who all the streets were named after that I use.  The website is this site here, the one I created!! Research comes from hours and hours of searching through old books and microfilm! You hit a lot of dead ends sometimes when researching.  You’ll think you found a source that will answer your question, but then you open in and it’s not about what you thought it was.  But sometimes, you’ll turn the page and find new information about something you didn’t even know you were looking for!  Research is frustrating and rewarding and exhausting and exiting and so many emotions all at the same time.  

Over the last decade, I think I have gotten better at research. I take great pride in trying to post the most factual information I can find.  While there has been a lot of renewed interest in Buffalo’s past, I have also found there has also been a lot of misremembering.  Often it’s no-one’s fault….I picture Buffalo like a giant game of telephone!  You remember telephone?  The old camp game where you whisper something into someone’s ear and they pass it along the line of people.  By the end of the line, the message sometimes gets a little twisted.  Especially with social media, it’s easy for those stories to travel quickly and myths to get widely dispersed around town.  I try to verify the information I find, and always list my sources.  I like to think my elementary school librarians and teachers who taught me the fundamentals of research would be proud.  I promise that I will never post information that I cannot verify.  

As a result of my increased research skills over the last decade, my posts often end up being longer and take more time to write.  My average words per post has gone up significantly from my first posts.  I really enjoy being able to take a deeper dive into some of the subject matter.  If people are interested, I am go back and write more about some of the earlier street names, to cover information I may not have uncovered the first time around.  Let me know if that’s something you’re interested in reading.   I am especially proud of the work I did this past year about urban renewal in regards to JFK Park and North Oak Street.  I also finally wrote about my hero Mary Talbert…it took me three parts to tell her story!

I am proud to announce that I will be kicking off walking tours again this summer!  My first one will be “Discovering Downtown – Then and Now” on Sunday July 25th. This will be the same tour I gave in Summer 2019, but I hope to branch out and do some additional tours as well, so stay tuned.  More information about the tour can be found at the Discovering Buffalo, One Street at a Time facebook page.  I hope to do tours monthly.  Additional tour dates will be posted over time, so follow along on facebook for more info.  The tours will be free, but donations will be graciously accepted.  All proceeds will be used to build up my blog and invest back into my research.  Interested in donating but can’t come on a tour?  You can send a donation to me through paypal here:  https://paypal.me/akepps?locale.x=en_US

I will also be doing a virtual talk through Erie County Senior Services University Express Program.  Discovering Buffalo One Street at a Time Part 4 will be at 10am on July 7th.  You can register for that by clicking this link.  You can also find Parts 1, 2 and 3 archived on their website here.  

Thank you to everyone who has followed my blog, shared their stories with me or shared my blog with their friends and family.  I really appreciate you all from the bottom of my heart.  While I don’t always have time to reply to every single message or comment, I promise I read them all and try to reply to as many as I can.  I’d love to know – what’s your favorite street I’ve written about?  or maybe that I haven’t written about?  

Want to see a list of all the streets I’ve written about?  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.

So here’s to ten years!  Ten years and I still don’t know how Keppel Street got it’s name.  They named 150 streets the day they named Keppel Street!  It’s one of those things I wonder if we’ll ever actually know.  But I love this crazy hobby of mine, so I’ll keep looking.  I love being the Buffalo Streets Girl and telling you all the stories of all the other streets!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Take Care,

Angela Keppel

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Happy Women’s History Month!!  As any good reader of this blog knows, our streets are often named after rich white men.  So, in honor of Women’s History Month, I thought we’d highlight some of our street named after women.  

Mary Talbert

• Mary Talbert Blvd – Mrs. Talbert was the “most famous colored person in the country” during her time.  Read about her here in Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
• Lovejoy Street – Sarah Lovejoy was the only woman killed defending Buffalo during the War of 1812.  You can read about her here.  
• St. John’s Place – Margaret St. John’s home was the only house spared during the Burning of Buffalo during the War of 1812.  You can read about her here.  
• Ripley Place – Mary Ripley was a teacher at Central High School.  She was charged with taming the boy’s study hall classes, which were the source of riots and police calls during the 1860s.  You can read about her here.
• Lovering Ave – Sarah Lovering Truscott, along with her niece and daughter give this street its name.  Her niece, Mary Lovering, was one of the first society women in Buffalo to earn her living outside of the home.  You can read about them here.  
• Gill Alley – Helen Gill decided to build a home in the Elmwood Village after her husband died.  This was unusual at the time, since most Victorian era homes were run by the man of the house.  You can read about her here.  
• Gladys Holmes Blvd and Mary Johnson Blvd – Gladys and Mary were community activists on the East Side of Buffalo, living in the Talbert Mall.  You can read about them here.  
• Minnie Gillette Drive – Minnie Gillette was our first Black County Legislator and helped to save the Old Post Office in Downtown (now ECC City Campus).  You can read about her here.  
• Ora Wrighter Drive – Ora Wrighter was a community activist on the East Side of Buffalo.  You can read about her here.  
• Wasmuth Avenue – Caroline Wasmuth was the first female land developer in Buffalo, back in the 1880s.  You can read about her here.  
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  Lavinia Austin

  Austin Street – While the street is named after her husband, Livinia Austin took over his business (with her daughter Delia) after his death and did some developing of her own, including converting the Unitarian Church at 110 Franklin Street from a church into commercial space.  The county is currently rehabbing the building for use once again, calling it the Lincoln Building.  You can read about Livinia and the Austin family, here. Lavinia Austin
• Many of the streets with women’s names were named after the children of a developer or land owner.  Examples of some of these streets that I’ve written about here include – Alice, Edith, Fay, Gail, Janet, Kay, May, Phyllis and Millicent. 

Of course, I have to give a shout out to the original Buffalo Streets girl herself, H. Katherine Smith.  She was a reporter for the Buffalo Courier for more than 40 years, and she was blind!  Her story inspires me every single time I read one of her articles.  

Of course, these women are just a few examples of some of the great Buffalo Women over the years!  In the comments, feel free to tell me your favorite stories about your favorite Buffalo Women!   I’ll start – my favorite is Louise Bethune, one of the first female architects. She designed the Hotel Lafayette, which has been my home for the last nine years, so I am forever grateful to her.  Who’s your favorite female Buffalonian?

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