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
In the past year, I’ve had some great opportunities – I gave a bunch of University Express presentations which has been great fun! In the fall, we covered “Which Side of the Skyway Are You On?” It was really fun to discuss the history of the Skyway and differing opinions on it. This spring, we switched to online classes, and I’ve done “Discovering Buffalo One Street at a Time” Parts 1, 2 and 3 so far! You can find them on 
Blossom Street is a street in Downtown Buffalo that runs between East Huron Street and Broadway. It is cut in half by Hersee Alley. It functions mainly as an alley for buildings along Ellicott and Oak Streets these days, but it is still designated as a street by the City of Buffalo. Buildings along the street have windows and doorway entrances that once looked out onto Blossom Street, but are now bricked over.
It is not named for flowers, but for Ira Allen Blossom. Mr. Blossom served as right hand man to Joseph Ellicott. Mr. Blossom’s family were pioneers in Monmouth, Maine, where Ira was born in 1789. In his 20s, Ira moved to Meadville Pennsylvania for work. When he was 26, he came to Buffalo as Joseph Ellicott’s assistant.
He died in 1856. Mr. Blossom’s tombstone read “a man who never turned his back on his honor, a loyal citizen, a generous friend.” He is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Today’s post is about two streets – Ramsdell Street and Eugene Avenue. Ramsdell Street is an east-west street running between Delaware Avenue and Grove Street in North Buffalo. At the end of the street is a park, Ramsdell Park.
Eugene Avenue is a north-south street running from Washington Avenue in Kenmore to a dead end near Delaware Consumer’s Square (Target Plaza). One of Ramsdell’s partners in the Delaware Avenue Land Company was Eugene Fluery. Eugene Street is named after him. Mr. Fleury was a former music critic and cirulation manager at the Buffalo Express, working with Mr. Ramsdell there. Mr. Fleury was born and educated in New York City. He was associated with newspapers of Cleveland and other cities before coming to Buffalo. He worked for the Express for 17 years. He lived on Linden Avenue and died on December 8, 1903.
The large fort planned for Black Rock was never built, but a smaller one was built in 1807 and became Fort Tompkins in August 1812. Fort Tompkins was also known as Fort Adams. The fort was actually large mounds which were mounting points for seven guns. It was technically a battery, which is a cluster of cannons in action as a group put into position during a battle of a fort or city. Fort Tompkins was the largest of eight batteries that were built during the war. It was located at the top of the bluff at the bend in Niagara Street. The escarpment here allowed them to overlook the river, giving advantages over the attacks from the water. The location was later the sight of railway barns. A plaque was hung on the railway barn and still hangs on the building located at 1010 Niagara Street. The more famous Fort Tompkins was located on Staten Island and was built in 1663. They were both likely named for Governor Daniel Tompkins, Governor of New York from 1807 to 1817. Fun fact for if you’re ever on Jeopardy: Daniel Tompkins was later President Monroe’s Vice President and the only VP in the 19th century to serve two full terms.
Helen Katherine Smith was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She went professionally by H. Katherine Smith and was known as Kate to her friends. Miss Smith’s paternal grandfather was director and general manager of the original Gas Company in Wilkes-Barre and her maternal grandfather was a founder and director of the Wilkes-Barre Deposit and Savings Bank. The family noted that Miss Smith got her business sense and drive from her grandfathers and that if she ever got tired of writing, she’d have made a wonderful business executive. Miss Smith’s first writing was to write rhymes for greeting cards, which she would sell with her father’s help as a young girl, for 25 cents a card.
In an interview after her retirement, Miss Smith said her favorite food was Italian eggplant (eggplant parmesan). She enjoyed cooking, but she didn’t like to bread the eggplant, because it’s too much work. A newspaper in Florida published her recipe for Italian eggplant, and I intend to add it to my repertoire. As those who know me know, eggplant parm is my favorite meal and a staple of my diet. I often will buy three eggplant at the farmer’s market and spend the afternoon breading them all at once and freeze the slices, because I also hate breading it too! I like to think Miss Smith and I would have been good friends. I can’t wait to sit around and chat with her in the great hereafter….imagine the two of us as a tag-team of interviewers! We’d be able to write-up some interesting stories for sure.
Discovering Buffalo, One Street at a Time 