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Person Street: Build a Whiskey Empire, Get a Street Named After You

Posted in Broadway-Fillmore, East Side, tagged Broadway-Fillmore, East Side, elm street, person street, prohibition, whiskey on April 8, 2021| 9 Comments »

Person Street

Person Street runs between two sets of railroad tracks in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood of Buffalo. The street runs for three blocks south of Broadway, and then jags at Broadway and continues another two blocks. The two halves of the street do not line up. This is because north of Broadway, the street was once known as Kuempel Ave. Sometime between 1893 and 1900, Kuempel Ave was changed to Person Street. Person Street seems like a generic kind of name. But it is named after an actual person who also happened to be a Person – Charles Person.

Charles Person was born in Alsace-Lorraine in 1827. He came to Buffalo in 1841 at the age of 14. He worked in a liquor business learning the trade. At the age of 23, he started his own liquor business.

Mr. Person and his wife Sophia had 11 children. The lived on Elm Street, which was still a mostly residential neighborhood at the time. George Urban and his family lived around the corner on Genesee Street. The Person family had grape bushes along the length of their property, with plum and pear trees in the backyard. The children spoke German with their mother, who had come to Buffalo at 18 but Charles Person insisted on speaking English whenever he could to learn to master the language.

Mr. Person’s business, C. Person’s Sons was the city’s “foremost whiskey rectifier”. Charles started the company in 1850. He sold his whiskey wholesale from 390-392 Elm Street next door to the family home. His firm was the largest liquor warehouse in Buffalo. Their building is currently part of the site that is presently the Catholic Health Headquarters. The company was well known, not just in Buffalo but throughout New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Two of their brands were Buffalo Club Whiskey and Riverside Whiskey. The whiskey business continued for three generations until prohibition. For the two weeks before Prohibition started, the line outside of their business went for blocks, everyone stocking up on whiskey. To understand the size of the business, when the doors closed, they still had 2,000 barrels of bonded whiskey remaining! One of the grandsons reported that they kept the whiskey at his house, and that they still had stock into the 1940s! During Prohibition, there were 4 attempted robberies at this house, so he had a special vault constructed to store the whiskey.

Mr. Person held a lot of real estate throughout Buffalo and was the first person to own property on the street that now bears his name. Mr. Person was Erie County Supervisor from the 4th Ward in 1873 and 1874. In 1875, he was elected Alderman of the 4th Ward. At the time, the 4th Ward encompassed Downtown between Eagle, Michigan, Goodell and Main Streets.

Source: Buffaloah.com

Mr. Person died in 1885. He left his business to three of his sons – Daniel, William and Frank. The sons continued the success of the business. When Charles first started the business, it was located in a space 20 by 30 feet. The business grew to take up 60 times the space – a 4 story building with dimensions of 60 by 150 feet. The building was described as including “elegant office and a distillation, packing, and storing area which employs an army of workers.” In addition to their own whiskeys, they also sold imported wines from Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Hungary. They were also the local agent for Cook’s Imperial Champagne, Pellich Gin, Sheboygan Mineral Water, and Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Beer.

Son William Person was also Fire Commissioner of Buffalo for 18 years. At the time this was the longest anyone had held that title. William ended up selling the remaining Person family lots on Person street in order to finance his son Eugene’s education at the University of Michigan.

Daniel H. Person was also a director of Meadville Distilling Company and of the Union Bank of Buffalo. He was a member of the Harmonia Lodge No 699.

Frank was the son who mostly managed the business. Frank had 2 sons – Frank W. and two daughters – Clara and Flora. Frank’s son and several of his nephews worked for the business. Frank was director oft the Buffalo Automatic Smoke Consuming Company and the Freehold Savings and Loan Association. He was a thirty-second degree mason.

So the next time, you pass Person Street, think of the Person family…and maybe raise a glass of whiskey in their honor.

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.

Sources:

Smith, H. Katherine. “Person Street Honors Land Owner Who Held City and County Posts”. Buffalo Courier -Express. October 1, 1939, Sec L-4.
Mueller, Jacob. Buffalo and Its German Community. German-American Historical and Bibliographical Society. 1911. Translated by Susan Kriegbaum-Hanks.
White, Truman, editor. Our County and Its People. The Boston History Company, 1898.

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A Case Study in Urban Renewal – JFK Park

Posted in East Side, Ellicott, tagged East Side, Ellicott Neighborhood, urban renewal on November 10, 2020| 7 Comments »

Today’s post is is a little different. We’ll be learning about JFK Park. Unlike most of our posts, we’re not going to look much at the person for whom this was named, but rather the circumstances that created the park. You can google President John Fitzgerald Kennedy if you’d like to learn more about him – there are plenty of books, movies, documentaries about him – see Note 1 for recommendations. JFK Park and the Community Center were created in the 60s, and, like many things built following President Kennedy’s death, named after him.

I spent the summer knee-deep in the history of the neighborhood surrounding the park, researching for the blog. I have written about the Ellicott Mall on one end, and the Talbert Mall on the other. To learn more about the Ellicott and Talbert Malls, and about the namesakes of some of the streets that run through this area, you can read the following posts:

20201004_152725 JFK Park fills most of the space between the Ellicott Mall and the Talbert Mall. This is also my neighborhood park, and I’ve spent a lot of time here the last few months during the pandemic. I walk through the park often during my daily walks. Sometimes, I’ll bring a blanket to sit and read while listening to kids play in the playground and (during non-pandemic times) on the ballfields, basketball court, pool, and tennis court. The photos I’m sharing here lack people out of respect for not wanting to post pictures of children without consent, but even during the pandemic, this is a well used and well-loved park. It also serves as recreation space for the JFK Community Center, Bennett Park Montessori (PS #32), and Buffalo Elementary School of Technology (PS #6).

427 and 429 N Division

This is also the place where my Italian immigrant family’s roots here in Buffalo started. My Great-Great Grandparents Anthony and Angeline Valerio lived across Hickory Street from what is now the park, at 429 North Division Street. Anthony and Angeline’s daughter, my Great Grandma Susan married my Louis Violanti at St. Columba Church in September 1927. The church has merged with St. Brigid’s and has built a new building, but it is still located near the same spot on Hickory, across from JFK Park. The Violantis moved into 427 North Division Street, located right in front of the Valerio’s house at 429 North Division, along with Louie’s parents – my Great-Great Grandparents Joseph and Rosie Violanti. My Grandpa, Joe Violanti, was born on the kitchen table at one of these houses in December 1928. One generation later, the entire neighborhood as they knew it was gone.

This neighborhood was called the Ellicott Neighborhood. It’s a name that isn’t used much anymore. Sure, there’s the Ellicott Council District, but you don’t hear people refer to the neighborhood as much any more. It may have had earlier names as well, before it was called Ellicott, I often struggle to find information about historic neighborhood names. If you know, I’d love to learn more. Like much of the East Side, it’s identity is lost and it’s lumped into a larger area. It gets assigned a vague description “the area between Downtown and Larkin”. It was demolished, and therefore lost much of its identity.

This park that I love so dearly was 7 blocks of active city life. In 1950, the neighborhood looked like this:

Sanborn Map of JFK Park area in 1950

In 1950, there were 253 buildings with the following uses: 36 stores, 3 schools, 2 restaurants, 2 churches, 1 synagogue, 1 junk exchange, 1 contractor’s yard, 1 filling station, 1 clubhouse, 197 private dwelling units, 4 buildings of flats, and 3 apartment buildings. At the time, a private dwelling referred to a building that was home to up to two families, flats referred to a frame structure where a family occupied each floor (the common Buffalo upper-lower houses).

288 South Division Street in the 1950s. Now part of JFK Park. Source: WNY Heritage

What remains of those 253 buildings? Just two buildings, both are schools – the former Technical High School, now administrative offices for the Buffalo Public Schools and other is PS 6, still an active elementary school.

In 1950, the average household size in Buffalo was 3.4 people per dwelling unit. Assuming that there were 2 units in each of the flats buildings and 4 units in each apartment building, that gives a conservative population of about 737 people on these seven blocks. (For comparison’s sake, the average number of people per dwelling unit in 2018 is 2.24)

Example of houses stacked on a lot. Picture houses on either side of these houses as well to picture how dense the neighborhood was.

This is just 7 blocks, and we demolished at least 32 blocks of this area, basically everything surrounded by William, Jefferson, Swan, and Michigan. Picture if the Allentown Neighborhood was shifted from north of Downtown to just east of Downtown, that’s about how dense the Ellicott Neighborhood was, except it was actually even more dense. A common thing in this neighborhood was houses stacked on lots – so there’d be both a front house and a back house on the lot. You can still see evidence of this on some of the blocks there weren’t completely demolished, and on the historic maps showing just how many houses were crammed onto these blocks.

“Urban Renewal” is typically used to refer to a series of programs that were used by cities in the middle of the 20th Century to address urban decay in cities. The programs cleared out blighted areas of cities by clearing out areas that were declared slums. The programs were designed to replace the “slums” with new, higher class housing and new businesses. Often, the projects were implemented by local public housing authorities, which is the case in the Ellicott Neighborhood Redevelopment projects.

Most urban renewal programs involved municipalities taking land within a designated urban renewal area by purchasing properties or taking the properties by eminent domain. The properties would then be razed and selected developers would build a new development on them.

The Housing Act of 1937 created the US Housing Authority, a federal corporation able to loan money to states and local governments to build housing for those unable to find suitable housing themselves. Under this act, one housing unit of slum clearance resulted in one unit of new modern low-income housing built. About 150,000 units of housing were built across the country under this act before the start of WWII. Most of the housing authorities found that new housing alone was not enough to remove the slums and provide urban redevelopment. The new housing often became the new slum a few decades after it was built. The idea became that we need urban renewal- including housing, zoning, schools, enforcement of health standards, transportation, and minimization of racial restrictions.

The GI Bill (The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act), passed in 1944, allowed veterans to obtain mortgages, allowing many to purchase houses in the suburbs.

The Housing Act of 1949, also known as the Taft-Ellender-Wagner Act, provided loans to cities to acquire and clear slum areas to be sold to private developers to develop under a plan prepared by the city. The act also provided grants to cover up to two-thirds of the city’s costs. Under this act, the programs implemented were known as “urban redevelopment”.

The Housing Act of 1954 made these projects more profitable by providing mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration. Programs implemented under this act were known as “urban renewal”.

The first major modern Urban Renewal project was completed in Pittsburgh in 1950. This project demolished a portion of Downtown Pittsburgh and converted it to parks, office buildings, and a sports arena (the former Mellon Arena).

Urban renewal programs had an immense impact on our cities. Highway construction was often a part of urban renewal programs – getting cars out of crowded city streets and routing them onto highways to allow people to get places more quickly was the reason so many urban highways were built during this era. These highway projects had the additional consequence of exacerbating sprawl, as they allowed people to live further away from Central Business Districts in the suburbs and commute to work via the new highways.

20201012_164131 In 1955, Buffalo Common Council designated the 160-acre Ellicott District Redevelopment Project Area to be totally cleared and rebuilt except for religious and education buildings. This was the first Urban Renewal project in New York State – designated with project number NYR-1. In December 1957, a $10 Million Capital Grant (approximately $92 Million in 2020 dollars) was funded to begin to acquire the 1050 parcels and relocated residents and businesses. In 1961, a $600,000 ($5 Million in 2020) addition was added to PS 6 and $450,000 ($4 Million in 2020) in renovations were completed a the Former Technical High School (at the time, it was Clinton Junior High). 25 acres were set aside for the $1.5 Million ($13 Million in 2020) Elliott District Recreation Center, which became JFK Park.

The Urban Renewal Area was appraised in 1959 and there were 2,219 households in the area. Average household size was 4 people, and a total population of 8,836 people. There were 1004 parcels, 1447 improvements (buildings), and 2,215 dwelling units. Most of the dwelling units were 2 and 3 family buildings. Seventy percent of the buildings in the area were classified as substandard. When inventoried, there was only a vacancy rate of 2% throughout the neighborhood. There were 81% rental units and 19% owner-occupied units. At the time, the City considered a slum and blighted area to be when there were fewer than 45% owner-occupied units.

Relocation continued for 27 months. In total, 1600 family groups and 400 roomer households were relocated. Others had left on their own volition when they saw the writing on the wall, or just the normal course of moving due to life circumstances. The average household size of households relocated by the government was 3.14 people. The average length of time of residence before relocation was 7 years, with owners having a longer tenure in the neighborhood than the renters. Black owners in the neighborhood had lived there an average of 12 years. The white owners in the neighborhood, in particular, had lived there for a long time, with 50% of white owners being 60 years or older and 67% of them had lived in the neighborhood 20 years or more. Most of the relocated families, approximately 70%, remained in the Ellicott District or moved north into the Masten District.

Graphic showing the “problem neighborhood” as an octopus

The housing here in the Ellicott Neighborhood was some of the oldest in the city. Most of the housing was a typical 2.5 story frame structure with a peaked roof and a front porch that you see throughout Buffalo. It was run down and crowded. The Ellicott Neighborhood was labeled as the highest in the city in terms of crime, delinquency, disease, and mortality. In the 1950s, Buffalo was the 15th largest city in the Country, but still had the same boundaries as it did in 1854 (and basically still same area today). As Buffalo grew, many people were tired of the crowded dirty inner-city neighborhoods. Swan Street, just south of here, was once the fashionable neighborhood where “important” people lived – Mr. Blossom, Mr. Tillinghast, Mr. Pratt, to name a few. The rich started to move out to areas where they could have larger houses in the Elmwood Village or mansions along Delaware Avenue. Even regular folks started to want to move into houses in newer, less crowded sections of the City. The blocks between Seneca Street and the Thruway were particularly run down during the 1950s because they had originally been designated as the route of the NYS Thruway. The Thruway shifted south to the railroad corridor, but structures had seen little maintenance and improvements as they had been planned for demolition for highway construction.

Redlining by banks allowed mortgages for white people to move to new houses in newer sections of the city, or in the suburbs. Mortgages and housing loans were not granted to Blacks. This meant that the worst, most crowded housing was often all that Blacks moving to the North during the Great Migration could afford, mostly the housing that was being left behind by those moving into the newer neighborhoods. This furthered decline in the Black neighborhoods as there was no new money coming into the neighborhoods or new investments happening in the neighborhoods.

The City of Buffalo had at least 44 Urban Renewal Plans. The “Ellicott District Redevelopment Project” was approved by Common Council on August 2, 1957. The area was described as “predominantly residential in use but characterized by predominance of substandard and insanitary dwellings, the infiltration of mixed commercial and industrial uses, obsolete subdivision, undesirable street layout and traffic hazards, overcrowding of families, and inadequate public utilities and community facilities”. The plan was to divide the land use in the area as follow: medium density housing suitable for middle-income and lower middle income families (63.18 acres), expansion of public schools and public recreation areas (26.99 acres), community business districts (8.31 acres), existing public school sites (6.94 acres), land for expansion of existing charitable organizations (13.12 acres), existing charitable institutions (3.07 acres), and streets (39.78 acres). (161.39 acres total)

My Great Grandparents, they moved to South Buffalo. Their new house on Ladner Avenue was much closer to Great Grandpa’s job at the steel mill and they were able to own a large two-family house, with lots of land around it for Great Grandpa Louie to grow his large gardens. South Buffalo was kind of like the suburbs back then, but easily accessible via streetcar. Their house was at the end of a row of houses, with nothing beyond their home except fields. My other set of Great Grandparents lived one street over, on West Woodside, and the two families would cut between the fields to get to each other’s houses. I am not sure of the exact circumstances of their move. At the time, there was a lot of discrimination against Italians, but my family was likely able to benefit by their ability to purchase a home outside of the crowded inner city.

20201021_161343 Robert T. Coles, the Buffalo-born architect, wrote his thesis in 1955 at MIT about a plan for Recreational Facilities in the Ellicott Community Renewal Area. In 1960, Robert Coles returned to Buffalo and was placed in charge of programming, design, and construction supervision of the recreation center that became JFK Community Center. The Rec Center building is a great example of Coles’ modern architecture style.

The lead demolition contractor on the project for the JFK Park project was Schwab Brothers. The Schwab Brothers were a demolition company from Buffalo that eventually had offices across the country – they became the largest demolition company in the country and held the demolition contract for the old Madison Square Garden and the old Yankee Stadium. Robert Coles teamed up again with Schwab Brothers to form Mid City Gardens, Inc, which designed the Mid City Gardens Apartments. The plan that had been created for the Ellicott Redevelopment Area was determined not to be urban enough for the area, so the Schwab Brothers proposed their plan. The plan looked at closing streets to prevent traffic congestion and keep local traffic moving – Clinton Street was disconnected from Downtown at this time, making William Street the main east-west thoroughfare to serve this neighborhood. William Street was widened at this time to its current configuration. Mid City Gardens consisted of 1,370 dwelling units and off street parking for each unit. The units were in a combination of high and low-rise buildings with “breathing room” between them. Two-story garden apartments were grouped with their own parking area and play space. There were 616 units in towers and 74 in garden apartments. The towers consisted of 77 units ranging from studios to two bedrooms and the garden apartments were two-story 3 and 4 bedroom units.

What eventually got built was garden apartments – the Ellicott Park Apartments, Towne Gardens, etc and single-family housing along William Street. Clinton Street was eventually reconnected through to Michigan and single family housing was built along there as well. The neighborhood is still home to three schools, five churches and is anchored by JFK Community Center in the middle of it all.

In the 1960s, novelist James Baldwin called Urban Renewal “Negro Removal”, after the way that the programs targeted neighborhoods primarily lived in by Blacks. As we’ve looked at in our previous posts about the Ellicott Mall and the Talbert Mall, the housing projects created by Urban Renewal programs were often not successful. High-rise towers often saw an increase in crime. The buildings were built quickly and inexpensively, so they often were run down quickly, without money to cover maintenance costs. While I covered an overview of urban renewal, this is by no means a conclusive study and I recommend looking into other sources for additional information. Public housing projects were built and demolished in many areas, not just in Buffalo (See Note 3 for additional resources).

20201021_161218 So the next time you’re walking through JFK Park, or any park or neighborhood, think about what used perhaps used to be there. Neighborhoods change over time, both my forces we can control and by those we cannot. Our cities are built on what came before. There might be more to the story than what you first see. A peaceful park might have been a whole neighborhood that no longer exists. Take a moment and remember.

We’ll be back to talking about streets in my next post – which will about William Gaiter Parkway. Some of you may remember Bill, who was a founder of the Juneteenth Festival here in Buffalo. Stay tuned for that! If you’d like to learn about additional streets, please check out the street index.

Note 1: If you’re looking for a biography about JFK, I recommend An Unfinished Life: JFK 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek or Jack: A Life Like No Other by Geoffrey Perret.(Side Note from Angela: in addition to Buffalo history and streets, one of my other hobbies is reading political biographies.)

Note 2: You can read the City of Buffalo Urban Renewal Plans here: City of Buffalo Planning Library

Note 3: For more information about public housing and urban renewal , I recommend watching the following documentaries: The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, about a housing project in St. Louis, Ken Burns East Lake Meadows, about a housing project in Atlanta, and James Baldwin’s Take this Hammer about San Francisco. For more about what happened locally, I recommend reading Partnership for the Public Good’s report: A City Divided: A Brief History of Segregation in Buffalo.

Sources:

US. Department Of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. “1950 Census of Population Preliminary Reports: Characteristics of the Population of Buffalo, New York”. Washington, D.C. May 14, 1951.
City of Buffalo. “Redevelopment Project for the Ellicott District Redevelopment Project”. August 2, 1957, as amended Oct 5, 1971.
Cities Under Austerity: Restructuring the US Metropolis.
Coles, Robert T. Community Facilities in a Redevelopment Area. Thesis submitted for the Degree of Master of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, September 1955.
Rashbum, William and Charles Bagli. “Demolition Man”. The New York Times. July 23, 2009.
“MidCity Gardens: A Proposal for the Ellicott District Redevelopment Area” Schwab Brothers – Developer, Robert T Coles – Architect. undated. From the Collection of the Grosvenor Room, Buffalo Library – HT177.B8 S34
Davidson, Mark and Kevin Ward. Cities Under Austerity: Restructuring the US Metropolis. State University of New York Press, Albany. 2018.
Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority. Ellicott Relocation: A Preliminary Report. March, 1961.
Brown, Harris, Stevens, Inc. Appraisal Report Ellicott District Urban Renewal Area, Buffalo NY. Prepared for the Board of Redevelopment, City of Buffalo. April 14, 1959.

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The Most Famous Buffalonian You May Not Have Heard Of, Mary Talbert – Part 3

Posted in East Side, Ellicott, tagged black history, East Side, Ellicott, ellicott neighbhorhood, Mary Talbert, Michigan Ave, urban renewal on September 5, 2020| 4 Comments »

Mary Talbert Blvd, shown in orange. The Talbert Mall property is outlined in red.

This post continues the series about the streets around the Frederick Douglass Towers/Talbert Mall and Mary B Talbert Blvd. If you haven’t read the first two parts, I suggest you start with Part 1, about Mary Talbert’s early life or continue with Part 2 about Mary’s life in Buffalo. Today, we will discuss the legacy of Mary Talbert, and continue the story of the Talbert Mall and the Ellicott Neighborhood.

Mary Talbert (and this commonly used photograph) was included in Twentieth Century Negro Literature or A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating to the American Negro, published in 1902.

When we left off, Mary Talbert had died on October 15, 1923. Her obituary in the Buffalo News called her “probably most noted woman in the world”.

After her death, there were some efforts to save the house at 521 Michigan Avenue. On the day her obituary ran in the paper, the Buffalo Times also ran an editorial calling for the house to be made a national shrine, saying that “no member of the Negro race ought to knowingly pass it without feeling a deep and solemn sense of gratitude emanating from a reverent heart, for one of the grandest figures in the annals of Negro History in America”. The newspaper went on to say that she fought to save the Frederick Douglass Home and that Buffalonians should not stand by and lose her own house. It continued, “In ages hence, when Negro people shall come to Buffalo, the city in which Mrs. Talbert worked and died and ask to be shown the house in which she lived and worked, the house in which she and Dr. Washington used often to exchange vices, what are we to say: an ingrateful people have allowed the house to rot and crumbled to dust with her. God forbid!”

In 1926, the Michigan Ave Baptist Church led an effort to try to save the house as a shrine, but was unsuccessful. At the time, the house was noted for having the “good fortune that two of the greatest leaders of their time, and, indeed all time to come, used to sit and speak of the great questions confronting the negro race”. The house was one of the oldest in the city and in the 1920s, it was close to 100 years old.

In 1932, two memorial trees were planted at the new Centennial Park (now Lasalle Park, currently being re-branded and reconstructed to become Ralph Wilson Centennial Park). One tree was planted for Henry Williams, a black man who fought with Commodore Perry during the War of 1812. The second tree was to honor Mary Talbert. Dr. Nash spoke at a ceremony honoring the two. The Negro Legionnaires and the Boy Scouts were involved in the ceremony.

Assemblywoman Crystal People-Stokes laying flowers at Mary Talbert’s Grave in 2017. Source: Buffalo News

In 1935, the National Association of Colored Women laid a wreath on Mary’s headstone. Mrs. W. Sampson Brooks of San Antonio, Texas, Miss Robert Dunbar of Providence Rhode Island and Miss Estella Wilson of Worcester, Massachusetts accompanied Mary’s daughter Sarah to lay the wreath.

In 1939, Mary McLeod Bethune, another influential Black woman like Mary Talbert, gave a talk at the Michigan Street Baptist Church and inspired a group of local civic, fraternal, political and church organizations to pledge financial support to reclaim and save the house. Newspapers reported they raised $3,000 ($46,000 in 2020 dollars).

Current view of 521 Michigan Avenue (foreground), Michigan St Baptist Church can be seen to the right of the photo. Photo by Author.

Despite these attempts to save the house, both of the Talbert family houses at 521 Michigan and 515-517 Michigan were demolished sometime between 1940 and 1950. The site of 521 Michigan is now a parking lot and 515-517 Michigan is a grassy lot. A historical marker was placed at the site of Mary’s house in 1998. The marker reads:
“Mary B Talbert helped found Niagara Mov’t, forerunner of NAACP, chaired US Anti-Lynching Commitee, delegate to 1920 Internatn’l Council of Women. 1866-1923.”

In addition to Mary Talbert Blvd, her name can also be found on:

Mary Talbert Way at UB. Source: UB Campus Planning

Talbert Hall on North Campus at the University at Buffalo(UB), which was built in 1977. The building is home to the University Honors Program, Bert’s Dining Center, international student services and classrooms. Just this week, UB also installed markers on the newly named Mary Talbert Way. This road replaced Putnam Way, which was named after James Putnam, who was a NYS Senator and UB Council member who held openly expressed racist views.
Mary B. Talbert Hospital, Cleveland. Source: CSU Archives.

Mary B Talbert Home and Hospital in Cleveland was founded as Mary B. Talbert Rescue home in 1925, and provided assistance for unmarried, pregnant women and girls. In 1960, the home merged with Booth Memorial and was known as the Booth-Talbert Clinic. The Clinic closed in 1976.
NACW Club Branches were named in her honor in various cities including Buffalo; Detroit, Michigan; Gary, Indiana; New Haven, Connecticut and Rocky Mount, North Carolina. In Rocky Mount, the Club purchased the first athletic park for Blacks, which they named Talbert’s Park after Mary. The park was later purchased by the City and still goes by “Stith-Talbert Park”.
City Federation of Women’s Clubs Branches are named for her in Florida and Texas
In 2000, Child and Family Services named their Main Street Clinic at 923 Main Street in her honor
During WWII, emergency housing was built on Clinton Street that was called the Mary B. Talbert Homes. This housing was built for workers (many of whom were Black) coming to Buffalo during the war to work in the war industry. These houses were demolished after the war.

While Mary’s father-in-law, Robert Talbert, did own property in Oregon, and Mount Talbert is named after a prominent family there. While there’s some evidence that some of the Talberts may have moved out west, I couldn’t find any evidence linking the Talberts of Mount Talbert with the Buffalo Talberts. If anyone knows for certain, I’d love more info!

During Mary’s lifetime and into the 1930s, most of Blacks in Buffalo lived in integrated neighborhoods. While there were groups of Blacks in sections of neighborhoods, most Blacks would report that they had white neighbors and at least one white friend. The Federal Housing Authority programs during the 1930s and 40s began to change that. The programs meant that mortgages were not given to Black residents in the suburbs or in white neighborhoods of the City. The white residents were able to get mortgages to move and establish themselves in modern and more aesthetically pleasing neighborhoods. As a result of this, combined with the increasing Black populations due to the Great Migration, Blacks were forced to move into the houses vacated by the whites in what was often the oldest and least favorable housing of the city. This resulted in children going to school with all blacks or all whites, with residents having neighbors of only one color. Within one generation, Buffalo and become a very segregated city.

Location of the Talbert Mall outlined in red. Sanborn Map from 1950.

During the Urban Renewal era, this resulted in Black neighborhoods being declared “slums” and being demolished in hopes of building new projects for people to live in. When Talbert Mall opened, it was considered to be an urban renewal success.

Talbert Mall in 1959

The Talbert Mall were named after Mary when it opened in 1959. At first, the apartments reportedly had a strong community feel. In 1964, the tenant council debuted an art show. German Gonzales was praised for his work – a series of oil paintings depicting “the History of the American Negro”. The apartments became run down and deteriorated quickly during their first decade.

1966 Aerial Photo of Talbert Mall. Note the demolition of properties all around the Talbert Mall property (outlined in red)

During the 1970s, the Talbert Mall had a reputation for issues, particularly gangs. The New York Times and other Northeastern United States newspapers reported about a crime wave through the area during the spring and summer of 1971. Gangs had taken over the Talbert Mall and other housing projects in Buffalo. The crime wave at the Talbert Mall prompted 145 families (approximately 1/4th of all residents at the time) to request transfer to another project. Reports of snipers shooting from roofs and robberies were rampant. Some reported that someone would call the police so that they could shoot at them when they arrived. Several people were murdered, including a construction worker and a 14 year old boy named Jerry Wise. At the time, 150 of the units were vacant. Mayor Sedita responded through the creation of a Black Squad of police officers to patrol the neighborhood from 8pm to 4am nightly.

In 1973, the Talbert Mall was renamed Frederick Douglass Towers. As Donn Esmonde reported in the Buffalo News in 2000, someone had thought that we needed to have a housing project named after an abolitionist, and didn’t even realize that we already had named it after a prominent civil rights advocate!

In 1974, Mrs. Carolyn D. Thomas founded the Mary B. Talbert Civic and Cultural Club after she realized they changed the name of the towers because they didn’t realize Mary was a Black woman. Every year, the Club recognizes individuals or outstanding leadership, commitment and cultural contributions to the Buffalo community. Mrs. Thomas also founded the Food Bank of Western New York in 1980.

Due to the vacancy, the buildings in the Talbert Mall/Douglass Towers began closing in the early 70s. Occupancy reached it’s lowest point in 1980, when only 221 of the units were rented, less than 30% of all units. During the 90s, 5 of the 12 towers were vacant. The vacant towers were not boarded up. In 1992, a mother was beaten to death in the entrance hallway to her building, while her 1 year old was nearby. Mayor Griffin opened a police substation on the complex in 1993 at 180 Jefferson Ave. In November 1992, a $4.6 million renovation was completed on one of the towers. The project took the vacant tower at 515 Clinton Street and replaced it with 59 modern units. The building became the only building fully occupied on the site.

The City of Buffalo looked to redevelop the entire site in 1996. At the time, 321 of the units were occupied. The tenants insisted that any redevelopment plan would require that 321 units be created, one for every tenant currently at the site. None of them wanted to be displaced. Many of the families had originally lived in the Ellicott Neighborhood and were shuffled into Dante Place when the Ellicott Neighborhood was demolished. They were then pushed out again and relocated to the Talbert Mall/Douglass Towers when Dante Place became Marine Drive Apartments. They did not want to be displaced again. The tenants worked closely with Norstar Development to come up with a plan they could all live with, with all of the neighbors remaining on site.

In 1999, a $40 million redevelopment was proposed for the complex. The plan called for demolition of 9 of the towers. Two towers would be renovated and converted into senior apartments, with 60 units each. The third remaining tower was the one that had been renovated in 1992/3. Additionally, new townhouses would be constructed, along with a community center, garden and a park.

In May 2000, demolition of the towers began. Phase I of the redevelopment included demolition of two towers and construction of 87 town homes. The street names were added to honor three women who were important to the community living in the neighborhood – Mary Talbert, Mary Johnson and Gladys Holmes.

2002 Aerial photo. Talbert Mall property shown in red. Note that some of the towers had been demolished and new townhouses had been built.

BMHA continues to manage the apartments. In 2010, the complex held a 50th Reunion party for tenants who had lived there over the years. In 2017, 87 of the apartments got new kitchens, bathrooms, windows, roofs and heating systems. The neighborhood is relatively quiet these days, with the exception of families enjoying their backyards and eating at their picnic tables.

Mary Morris Burnett Talbert Marker

In 2005, Mary Talbert was finally inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls. That year was also the centennial anniversary of the Niagara Movement so it was a fitting time for Mary to be recognized. At that time, the women of Empire State Federation of Women’s Clubs held a tribute at the grave of Mary Talbert. They were recreating a similar memorial that had happened in 1955 where 100 women gathered for a service and pilgrimage to her grave.

In 2006, a historic plaque was placed in Forest Lawn near her grave. Some of the funds to place the marker were raised by students at Bennett High School.

As we continue to think about civil rights and what that means to all of us today as a nation, think about Mary B. Talbert and her life’s ambition and fight. We continue to fight for justice for all people. And we remember all of those who fought for justice, for those who have died and for those neighborhoods we’ve lost, and we remember Mary as we do. #blacklivesmatter

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. To learn about other streets, check out the Street Index. You can also follow the blog on facebook. If you enjoy the blog, please be sure to share it with your friends.

Sources:

“3 New Projects to Provide 1724 More Dwelling Units”. Buffalo Evening News. October 30, 1954, pg. 8.”Crime Engulfing Buffalo Project”. New York Times. July 19, 1971, p 26.
“Editorial” Buffalo American. March 4, 1926, p. 2.
“Frederick Douglass’ Properties Handed Over to New Owners!” The Competitor, v.3, no2. April 1921, p 34.
“Death of Peyton Harris” Buffalo Morning Express. Feb 3, 1882 p.4.
“Death Takes Prominent Race Woman” Detroit Independent, October 19, 1923.
“Downtown Oberlin Historic District”. US Department of the Interior, National Parks Service. Prepared by O.H.I.O. 2002. Accessed from ohiohistory.org
“Ghetto Growth Traced” Buffalo Courier. February 16, 1968, p 26.
“Home of William Talbert May be Made a Shrine”, Commercial Advertiser, March 4, 1926
“Housing Site Opens After Renovations”. Buffalo News. Nov 17, 1993.
“Local Woman Benefactor of Negro People” Buffalo Morning Express. July 15, 1923. Sec 8, p1.
“Memorial Tribute” Buffalo Courier Express. July 31, 1935, p 9
“Mrs. Talbert, Champion of A Race, Dead”. Buffalo Express Oct 16, 1923.
“Mrs. Talbert, Local Woman Who Has Worked for Advancement of Race for Twenty-Five Years”. Buffalo Morning Express. Nov, 30, 1919, p.36.
“Negro Women Support Talbert Home Project” Buffalo News. December 11, 1939.
“To Plant Trees Honoring Two Negro Pioneers”. Buffalo Courier. June 1, 1932.
Allen, Carl, et al. “Killing Prompts Tenant Call for Better Security City Safety Official Vows Cooperation at Frederick Douglass Towers”. Buffalo News, November 10, 1992.
Campagna, Darryl and Tom Ernst. “Housing Authority Honors Three” Buffalo News. June 16, 2001.
Culp, D. W. Twentieth Century Negro Literature or A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating to the American Negro. J.L. Nichols& Co: Toronto Canada, 1902.
Esmonde, Donn. “Buffalo Woman Near Forgotten as Civil Rights Figure”. Buffalo News. Feb 28, 2000.
Hine, Darlene Clark, ed. “Mary Morris Talbert Burnett”. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Brooklyn NY: Carlson Pub, Inc. 1993.
Locke, Henry. History of Blacks in Buffalo. Buffalo Courier Express, 1973. Booklet found at F129.B8.L7 at Buffalo Library.
Mather, Frank. Who’s Who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent, Volume 1. Chicago, 1915.
McNeil, Harold. Douglass Towers Plan Reviewed. Buffalo News. Jan 22, 1999.
Morton, Marian. And Sin No More: Social Policy and Unwed Mothers in Cleveland 1855-1990. Cleveland Public Library, 1993.
Nahal, Anita and Lopez D. Matthews, Jr. “African American Women and the Niagara Movement.” Afro-Americans in New York Life and History, Vol 32, Issue 2. July 2008.
Payerchin, Richard. “Oberlin Historians Share Favorites of Forgotten Lore”. Morning Journal. April 29, 2019.
Reif, Michelle. “Thinking Locally, Acting Globally: The International Agenda of African American Clubwomen, 1880-1940”. The Journal of African American History, vol 89, no.3.
Tan, Sandra. Razing of Douglass Towers Heralds Redevelopment of Housing Complex. May 3, 2000.

Read Full Post »

The Most Famous Buffalonian You May Not Have Heard of, Mary Talbert – Part 2

Posted in East Side, Ellicott, tagged black history, East Side, Ellicott Neighborhood, Mary Talbert, Talbert Mall on September 2, 2020| 4 Comments »

Mary Talbert Blvd, shown in orange. The Talbert Mall property is outlined in red.

Today, we’re continuing our series looking at Mary B. Talbert Boulevard and the Talbert Mall. If you haven’t read Part 1, I suggest you click this link to start at the beginning. Part 2 today will cover Mary’s life while she lived here in Buffalo. Part 3 will be coming on Saturday, September 5th, and will talk about the legacy of Mary Talbert and the Talbert Mall projects.

When we left off in Part 1, Mary had just moved to Buffalo in 1891. Will and Mary’s daughter Sarah was born in 1892. Sarah graduated from Central High School in 1911 and the New England Conservancy of Music in 1915.

Phyllis Wheatley Club – Source – Library of Congress

In 1899, Mary became a Charter Member of the Phyllis Wheatley Club. The Phyllis Wheatley Clubs were the local affiliates of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). Phyllis Wheatley Clubs existed across the country, named after an 18th Century Black poet. The Club created programs and strategies to advance Buffalo’s Black Community. The second biennial convention of the NACW was held in Buffalo in 1901. In 1905, the Phyllis Wheatley Club of Buffalo opened a settlement house to help mothers and give job support to women. They also opened a house for the elderly and donated books by black authors to the public libraries.

African Village Exhibit on the Pan Am Midway. Note the Pan Am Electric Tower in the background. Source: Uncrowned Community Builders

In 1900/1901, Mary Talbert challenged the Board of Commissioners of the Pan American Exposition to appoint an African American to the Board and to include an exhibit on modern Black American life, such as Booker T Washington’s Negro Education exhibit that had been featured in Atlanta in 1895 or WEB DuBois’ Negro Exhibit in Paris in 1900. She protested the Old Plantation Exhibit, which perpetuated the “happy slave” narrative and the “Darkest Africa” village on the Midway. Many people came out for the protest, and they were successful, the exhibit was included in the Manufacturing and Liberal Arts Building. Because the exhibit was added later, it was not included in marketing information about the Pan Am, and little information exists about what was included in the exhibit.

In 1905, WEB DuBois and others met secretly in the home of Mary Talbert. This began the Niagara Movement. WEB DuBois invited a group of 54 members from 17 different states to come to Buffalo from July 11-13, 1905 to discuss plans to achieve equality. Twenty-seven delegates from 13 states and Washington, DC came to the meeting in Fort Erie. It is often said that the Niagara Movement held its first event in Erie Beach Hotel in Fort Erie, Ontario because hotels in Buffalo would not allow them. This myth has been debunked and more about that can be found in an article by Cynthia Van Ness that can be found at this link.

The Niagara Movement continued as a series of conferences and publications between 1905 and 1909. The group was led by WEB DuBois who had a difference of opinion with Booker T. Washington as to the best way to achieve equality. The “Bookerites”, led by Washington felt that economic prosperity and education were more important than civil and political equality. WEB DuBois and the Niagara Movement were looking to demand civil rights immediately. Mrs. Talbert was an acquaintance of both Booker T. Washington and WEB DuBois. In a letter, Booker T Washington asked his wife to ask Mary Talbert to keep her informed about what was going on with the Niagara Movement meetings and who was attending. The meetings in July 1905 started at the Talbert home and moved to Fort Erie the next day.

By 1908, the Niagara Movement started to falter. They suffered from lack of press and lack of funds. In 1909, a race riot occurred and several Blacks were lynched in Springfield Illinois. Mobs of white men roamed the city – looting, burning, shooting, and assaulting Blacks. The riot shook both Black and Whites alike and served as a catalyst for a meeting in 1909 which evolved into the forming of the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

In 1910, as leader of the Phyllis Wheatley Club, Mary hosted a meeting with Jesse Nash, John Sayles (secretary to Mayor Louis P. Fuhrmann) along with WEB DuBois and Fanny Garrison Villard of the National NAACP organization. This was the start of the Buffalo NAACP chapter, which officially formed in January 1915. The first president of the chapter was John Brent, the first Black Architect in Buffalo.

Mary Talbert was a Charter Member of the Empire State Federation of Colored Women and later became its President from 1912 to 1916. She also served as statistician, parliamentarian, Vice President, and President of the National Association of Colored Women.

Amenia Conference. Mary is in the center of the photo, fourth from the left in the 2nd row. Source: Library of Congress

In 1915, Mary was a part of the NAACP Conference, called the “Amenia Conference” in Amenia, New York (near Poughkeepsie) at Joel Spingarn’s estate, Troutbeck. Joel Spingarn was a Jewish man from New York City who fought for racial justice and was influential in the NAACP, one of the first Jewish members of the organization. He served on the board of NAACP for more than 25 years, as Chairman of from 1913-1919 and President from 1930 until his death in 1939. The NAACP’s highest honor award is named after Mr. Spingarn. This conference was held one year after Booker T Washington’s death, with the hopes of uniting the activist movement with Washington’s contingency. The attendees agreed to a unity platform at this conference, agreeing to work together on civil rights issues.

Mary Talbert addressing servicemen during WWI. Source: Kautz Family YMCA Archives, University of Minnesota

Second myth debunked: It is often written that Mary Talbert served as a nurse with the Red Cross during WWI. This is not true. In Mary’s own words, after Armistice for the First World War, she went overseas for four months to serve with the YMCA in the Meuse sector near the Argonne Forest. Of her time there, she said, “I helped the boys who buried 26,000 American dead…we remained in France until the last American soldier was in a grave properly located and marked”. Sixteen Black women went to Europe to support the YMCA’s war efforts. Many organizations did not allow Black women to serve overseas during the war effort. The YMCA was one of the only organizations to allow them. The YMCA recruited these women to work with the 400,000 black soldiers stationed in Europe. These women were called secretaries. She offered classes and prayers for the soldiers stationed there. She had led Liberty Bond drives during the war and had raised $5 million to support war efforts.

Mrs. Talbert and other YMCA Secretaries used their war work abroad to help secure participation in international conferences after the war. Gatherings of many groups were occurring, coinciding with the peace treaty negotiations. Mary attended the Women’s Peace Conference in Zurich in May 1919, as well as the Congress of Women held in Norway in 1920. Several black women were forbidden by the US government to attend many of these international peace talks. The US feared that sending too many “protesters” would draw attention to some of the US government’s deficiencies. Mary’s influence was strong enough that she was one of the few women allowed abroad. While she was abroad, she went on a tour of Europe and was a guest of Lord and Lady Aberdeen in England and Queen Wilhelmina in the Netherlands. Mary Talbert became one of the first black women to join the Women International League for Peace and Freedom.

Mary Talbert was an early supporter of the Dyer Anti Lynching Bill, sponsored by Missouri Congressman Leonidas Dyer in 1918. The bill would make lynching a federal offense. She spoke publicly in favor of the bill in 1920, even before the Anti-Lynching Crusaders were founded in 1922. She traveled thousands of miles across the country speaking to crowds of both black and white audiences. Her motto was “a million women united to suppress lynching”. The legislation passed in the House of Representatives in January 1922, but was held up in the Senate due to filibusters by the Southern Democrats. Between 1882 and 1968, nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress. According to the Tuskegee Institute, 4,743 people were lynched during those years, with almost 70% of the victims being Black.

Mary Talbert described post-WWI Buffalo as “a hard nut to crack”. Conditions for Blacks had declined. As the Black population of Buffalo increased, so had the discrimination and segregation tactics by the white residents. When Mary arrived in Buffalo in the 1890s, the Black population of the city was about 1,100, out of a population of 255,000. By the 1920s, the Black population had grown as Blacks had come from the south to work in the new industrial production of war equipment during WWI. After the War, many of those jobs ended. Employment for Blacks was hard to come by and in the 1920s, many Blacks lived on little to nothing. Blacks continued to come north during the Great Migration, and the City government did little to help conditions, which were deteriorating in the Black communities. While Buffalo had nationally known champions for Black rights in people like Mary Talbert and her neighbor Reverend Nash, they mostly ignored the problems that were happening and didn’t use them to help spearhead policy changes that could have helped improve conditions for the Black community. She was considered to be the most well-known Buffalonian in her time, fighting for change across the country and internationally. Mary was invited to speak across the country and was published in many newspapers and journals during her lifetime. The Buffalo Express interviewed her in 1923 and reported that it was likely she was better known outside of Buffalo than inside Buffalo. She didn’t like publicity and was often very modest about her accomplishments. In 1920, when she spoke in Cincinnati, advertisements described her as “Our Greatest Woman! Madam Mary B Talbert.”

In 1921, she spoke in front of the International Council of Women in support of equal right of inheritance for illegitimate as for legitimate children.

Frederick Douglass Home. Source: National Parks Service

During her time as President of the NACW, the group purchased and restored the home of Frederick Douglass in Washington DC. On March 5, 1921, the deed to the house was received by Mary Talbert, representing the NACW. She also served as President of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association, which maintains the home.

Mary Talbert Spingarn Medal. Source: Uncrowned Community Builders

In 1922, Mary Talbert was awarded the Spingarn Medal. This is the highest award of the NAACP, given for “the highest or noblest achievement by a living American Negro during the preceding year or years”. Mary was present the medal for her continued service to women of color.

Before her death, she had been scheduled to lead a group of more than 200 black clergymen on a tour of the Holy Land and Egypt, but was forced to postpone the trip due to her poor health.

Mary Talbert died on October 15, 1923, of coronary thrombosis. She was 57 years old. She is buried in the Talbert family plot at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Her obituary in the Buffalo News called her “probably most noted woman in the world”.

To learn more about Mary’s legacy and the legacy of the Talbert Mall apartments, you can read Part 3.

Sources:

“3 New Projects to Provide 1724 More Dwelling Units”. Buffalo Evening News. October 30, 1954, pg. 8.”Crime Engulfing Buffalo Project”. New York Times. July 19, 1971, p 26.
“Editorial” Buffalo American. March 4, 1926, p. 2.
“Frederick Douglass’ Properties Handed Over to New Owners!” The Competitor, v.3, no2. April 1921, p 34.
“Death of Peyton Harris” Buffalo Morning Express. Feb 3, 1882 p.4.
“Death Takes Prominent Race Woman” Detroit Independent, October 19, 1923.
“Downtown Oberlin Historic District”. US Department of the Interior, National Parks Service. Prepared by O.H.I.O. 2002. Accessed from ohiohistory.org
“Ghetto Growth Traced” Buffalo Courier. February 16, 1968, p 26.
“Home of William Talbert May be Made a Shrine”, Commercial Advertiser, March 4, 1926
“Housing Site Opens After Renovations”. Buffalo News. Nov 17, 1993.
“Local Woman Benefactor of Negro People” Buffalo Morning Express. July 15, 1923. Sec 8, p1.
“Memorial Tribute” Buffalo Courier Express. July 31, 1935, p 9
“Mrs. Talbert, Champion of A Race, Dead”. Buffalo Express Oct 16, 1923.
“Mrs. Talbert, Local Woman Who Has Worked for Advancement of Race for Twenty-Five Years”. Buffalo Morning Express. Nov, 30, 1919, p.36.
“Negro Women Support Talbert Home Project” Buffalo News. December 11, 1939.
“To Plant Trees Honoring Two Negro Pioneers”. Buffalo Courier. June 1, 1932.
Allen, Carl, et al. “Killing Prompts Tenant Call for Better Security City Safety Official Vows Cooperation at Frederick Douglass Towers”. Buffalo News, November 10, 1992.
Campagna, Darryl and Tom Ernst. “Housing Authority Honors Three” Buffalo News. June 16, 2001.
Culp, D. W. Twentieth Century Negro Literature or A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating to the American Negro. J.L. Nichols& Co: Toronto Canada, 1902.
Esmonde, Donn. “Buffalo Woman Near Forgotten as Civil Rights Figure”. Buffalo News. Feb 28, 2000.
Hine, Darlene Clark, ed. “Mary Morris Talbert Burnett”. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Brooklyn NY: Carlson Pub, Inc. 1993.
Locke, Henry. History of Blacks in Buffalo. Buffalo Courier Express, 1973. Booklet found at F129.B8.L7 at Buffalo Library.
Mather, Frank. Who’s Who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent, Volume 1. Chicago, 1915.
McNeil, Harold. Douglass Towers Plan Reviewed. Buffalo News. Jan 22, 1999.
Morton, Marian. And Sin No More: Social Policy and Unwed Mothers in Cleveland 1855-1990. Cleveland Public Library, 1993.
Nahal, Anita and Lopez D. Matthews, Jr. “African American Women and the Niagara Movement.” Afro-Americans in New York Life and History, Vol 32, Issue 2. July 2008.
Payerchin, Richard. “Oberlin Historians Share Favorites of Forgotten Lore”. Morning Journal. April 29, 2019.
Reif, Michelle. “Thinking Locally, Acting Globally: The International Agenda of African American Clubwomen, 1880-1940”. The Journal of African American History, vol 89, no.3.
Tan, Sandra. Razing of Douglass Towers Heralds Redevelopment of Housing Complex. May 3, 2000.

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The Most Famous Buffalonian You May Not Have Heard of, Mary Talbert – Part 1

Posted in East Side, Ellicott, tagged black history, East Side, ellicott mall, Ellicott Neighborhood, Mary Talbert, urban renewal on August 30, 2020| 12 Comments »

Mary Talbert Blvd, shown in orange. The Talbert Mall property is outlined in red.

This next series of streets will be streets around the Frederick Douglass Senior Community: Mary B. Talbert Blvd, Mary Johnson Boulevard and Gladys Holmes Boulevard. The Frederick Douglass Towers were formerly known as the Talbert Mall Development, sometimes called the Jefferson Ave Projects. The area is bounded by Clinton, Jefferson, Division, and Spring Streets, part of the Ellicott Neighborhood.

This will be a multi-part series. We will begin with the story of Mary B. Talbert. Her story will be divided into three parts. This post covers her early life and what brought her to Buffalo. Part 2 covers her life in Buffalo. Part 3 will discuss Mary’s legacy and the legacy of the Talbert Mall.

The Ellicott Neighborhood where these streets are located was historically a mix of Jewish, Italian, and Black families. Twenty-nine blocks of the neighborhood were demolished between 1958 and 1961, displacing 2,219 families and 250 businesses. Here is a map showing the Talbert Mall area in 1950:

Location of the Talbert Mall outlined in red. Sanborn Map from 1950.

The Towers were built in 1957, opened in 1959, and consisted of 12 towers each 7 or 8 stories tall. The buildings were designed by James William Kideney Associates. When they were built, they were named for Mary Talbert. On 16 acres and containing 763 units, the Talbert Mall was the largest of three developments built during this time period. The other developments, include the Ellicott Mall, which we discussed previously, and Kensington Heights, which we will likely cover on another date. It was planned for 3,612 people to live at the Talbert Mall site. The housing that was demolished to build the Talbert Mall was reported to be “the worst kind of blight in Buffalo. The apartments were supposed to be an urban renewal success story. We’ll talk more about what actually happened in Part 3. Here is an aerial photo of the Talbert Mall Towers in 1959 when they first opened:

Talbert Mall in 1959

Mary B. Talbert on Buffalo’s Freedom Wall, portrait by Chuck Tingley. Photo by Author

The Talbert Mall was named after Mary Morris Burnett Talbert. Mary Burnett was born in born in Oberlin, Ohio on September 17, 1866. Mary was the child of Cornelius and Caroline Burnett. Of the nine Burnett children, only Mary and her younger sister Clara were born in Ohio, the rest were born in North Carolina. Cornelius Burnett was born to free parents in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1816. Caroline Nicholls Burnett was born in 1833 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Caroline was a descendant of Richard Nicolls, the Englishman who captured New York from the Peter Stuyvesant and the Dutch in 1664. Nicholls became Governor of New Netherlands. While he was Governor, New Netherlands/New Amsterdam became New York, as it was now under control of the Duke of York, whom Nicholls served under.

Modern Image of 15 South Main Street in Oberlin.

While still living in North Carolina, Cornelius and Caroline Burnett purchased land in Oberlin in 1860. They hoped to give their family a better opportunity and education in hopes of a better life up North. The Civil War prevented their travel. They arrived in Oberlin in 1866, shortly before Mary’s birth. Mr. Burnett built a two-story building at 15 South Main Street. It became a restaurant and boarding house, run by Mrs. Burnett. It was one of the first hotels in Oberlin. Mr. Burnett also had a barbershop in the building and worked as a barber. The family lived behind the business. The building suffered from a fire, one of the worst in Oberlin history, where many structures were damaged. The building was rebuilt in 1886, incorporating parts of three older buildings. The middle, one-story portion of the building is believed to be the original brick house where the Burnett family lived after the fire. The building was significantly remodeled in 1906 when it became a bank and again in 1980. The building is currently the location of Black River Café. The building is a contributing structure to the Downtown Oberlin Historic District and is known as the Carpenter-Burnett Building.

When Mr. Burnett died in 1896, his obituary called him “one of Oberlin’s best known and highly esteemed colored citizens”. After his death, Mrs. Burnett moved to Buffalo to live with Mary.

Mary Burnett in Oberlin Days. Source: Oberlin Heritage Center.

The Burnett family were respected members of the Oberlin Business Community. Mary graduated from Oberlin High School at age 16 and attended Oberlin College, receiving an S.P. in 1886. She graduated at the age of 19, the only Black student to graduate that year.

In 1894, Oberlin granted a Bachelor of Arts degree to Mrs. Talbert based on her accomplishments and her studies. This degree was granted at this time to many Oberlin students who had previously earned an S.P.(Specialist) degree. She then became a member of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae. At the time, she was the only Black woman in the City of Buffalo eligible for admission to the association.

First myth debunked: It’s often said that Mary was the first African American to receive a PhD from the University at Buffalo. However, according to sources, including the UB archivist, this is not true. At the time, UB was only Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry. The College of Arts and Sciences did not exist yet. By the time Mary had died, UB had only awarded 2 PhDs total. Some believe this story began because of the confusion when she received her second degree from Oberlin. Additionally, those who took continuing education at UB at the time were awarded certificates that were called “doctorates”, so Mary may have received one of those doctorate certificates.

Union High School was located on this corner, now parking lots. Photo by Author.

After college, Ms. Burnett taught in Little Rock, Arkansas for six years, first teaching at Bethel University (which became Shorter University). It was said that she was a born teacher. After a year of teaching at Bethel, she became Assistant Principal of the Little Rock Union High School in January 1887. At the time, this was the highest position held by any women in Arkansas. (Note from Angela: I was in Little Rock in March and I was saddened to learn that much of what Mary knew of the city is gone – The site of Union High School is now a parking lot. The original site of Bethel University is now a Starbucks. The house where Mary lived in Little Rock is now a vacant one story commercial structure. I asked the staff members at Mosaic Templars – the African-American museum in Little Rock- and they did not know her, but said they’d look her up. I hope they’re reading this now.) Mary left teaching after her marriage but was often asked to reconsider and return to the profession. Regulations in Buffalo at the time forbid married women from teaching in the public schools.

William Talbert. Source: Uncrowned Community Builders.

In 1891, she married William Herbert Hilton Talbert, who went by Will. They were introduced to each other by Mary’s sister Henrietta, who married Will’s brother Robert. Mary and Will were married on September 8th in Oberlin. Harry Burleigh served as Will’s best man. Harry Burleigh, a musician from Erie, PA. Will and Harry had become friends as Harry’s father would pass through Buffalo working on the Buffalo-Chicago run of the Lake Shore Railroad. Harry Burleigh is well known for his compositions, including arrangement of many Negro Spirituals. Both the Talbert and the Burnett families were musically inclined.

Will Talbert worked as a clerk in the City Treasurer’s office and helped managed his family’s real estate holdings. The family’s real estate office was at 79 Clinton Street. Will’s grandfather, Peyton Harris, was one of the early Blacks in Buffalo, settling here around 1833. Peyton Harris came from Powhatan County, Virginia. He served in the Army during the War of 1812. When he came to Buffalo, he worked as a dyer and in the clothing repair business. He had a shop at 21 Commercial Street near the Erie Canal. He was known around town as “Uncle Peyton” and helped to establish the Michigan Street Baptist Church. On October 3, 1850, Uncle Peyton was part of a group of Black men who resolved to speak out and fight against the Fugitive Slave Act. Their resolution stated: “We unhesitatingly accept the issue forced upon us and of the two evils presented choose the least, preferring to die in resisting the executive of so monstrous a law rather than submit to its infamous requirements…we pledge ourselves to resist the execution of this law at all hazards and to the last extremity”.

Peyton Harris and his son in law, Robert Talbert (Will Talbert’s father) were successful real estate men. They owned many properties, including a large portion of Grand Island. In the 1870s, Peyton Harris was reported to own parcels valued at $12,000. Robert Talbert had gone to California during the Gold Rush and had been successful. Will was born while the family was in California. Robert Talbert invested his gold in real estate in California, Oregon, and New York.

In addition to owning a great deal of real estate, Uncle Peyton is believed to have built the house at 521 Michigan for his family. The house was one of the oldest in the city. Some sources say it was built in 1827, but other sources have Peyton Harris arriving in Buffalo during the 1830s and building for himself to live. Uncle Peyton also built the house next-door in 1845 for his daughter Anna and her husband Robert Talbert, at 515-517 Michigan Avenue. These houses had stood witness to emancipation and the signing of the 15th Amendment, when the parishioners at the Michigan Street Baptist Church held a large celebration, with a parade through the streets and a dinner at St. James Hall to honor the occasion. Will Talbert inherited both houses after his mother died. After Will’s death, the houses went to his and Mary’s daughter.

Michigan Street Baptist Church

The Talbert and the Harris families were members at the Michigan Street Baptist Church. Uncle Peyton had helped found the church. When Mary arrived in Buffalo after their marriage, she founded the Christian Culture Congress at the Church and served as president of the organization for more than 20 years. Since she couldn’t teach in public schools Mary continued her educational pursuits and established classes at the church. She trained more than 300 Sunday School teachers.

Will and Mary Talbert lived at both 515 and 521 Michigan Avenue at different times, along with other members of the Talbert and Harris families. Mary and Will had one child, Sarah May, born in 1892.

Stay tuned as we cover more about Mary’s life after she moved to Buffalo in Part 2, which you can read here. And more about her legacy will be coming in Part 3, coming next weekend.

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 had side of the home page. To learn about other streets, check out the Street Index. You can also follow the blog on facebook. If you enjoy the blog, please be sure to share it with your friends.

Sources:

“3 New Projects to Provide 1724 More Dwelling Units”. Buffalo Evening News. October 30, 1954, pg. 8.”Crime Engulfing Buffalo Project”. New York Times. July 19, 1971, p 26.
“Editorial” Buffalo American. March 4, 1926, p. 2.
“Frederick Douglass’ Properties Handed Over to New Owners!” The Competitor, v.3, no2. April 1921, p 34.
“Death of Peyton Harris” Buffalo Morning Express. Feb 3, 1882 p.4.
“Death Takes Prominent Race Woman” Detroit Independent, October 19, 1923.
“Downtown Oberlin Historic District”. US Department of the Interior, National Parks Service. Prepared by O.H.I.O. 2002. Accessed from ohiohistory.org
“Ghetto Growth Traced” Buffalo Courier. February 16, 1968, p 26.
“Home of William Talbert May be Made a Shrine”, Commercial Advertiser, March 4, 1926
“Housing Site Opens After Renovations”. Buffalo News. Nov 17, 1993.
“Local Woman Benefactor of Negro People” Buffalo Morning Express. July 15, 1923. Sec 8, p1.
“Memorial Tribute” Buffalo Courier Express. July 31, 1935, p 9
“Mrs. Talbert, Champion of A Race, Dead”. Buffalo Express Oct 16, 1923.
“Mrs. Talbert, Local Woman Who Has Worked for Advancement of Race for Twenty-Five Years”. Buffalo Morning Express. Nov, 30, 1919, p.36.
“Negro Women Support Talbert Home Project” Buffalo News. December 11, 1939.
“To Plant Trees Honoring Two Negro Pioneers”. Buffalo Courier. June 1, 1932.
Allen, Carl, et al. “Killing Prompts Tenant Call for Better Security City Safety Official Vows Cooperation at Frederick Douglass Towers”. Buffalo News, November 10, 1992.
Campagna, Darryl and Tom Ernst. “Housing Authority Honors Three” Buffalo News. June 16, 2001.
Culp, D. W. Twentieth Century Negro Literature or A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating to the American Negro. J.L. Nichols& Co: Toronto Canada, 1902.
Esmonde, Donn. “Buffalo Woman Near Forgotten as Civil Rights Figure”. Buffalo News. Feb 28, 2000.
Hine, Darlene Clark, ed. “Mary Morris Talbert Burnett”. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Brooklyn NY: Carlson Pub, Inc. 1993.
Locke, Henry. History of Blacks in Buffalo. Buffalo Courier Express, 1973. Booklet found at F129.B8.L7 at Buffalo Library.
Mather, Frank. Who’s Who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent, Volume 1. Chicago, 1915.
McNeil, Harold. Douglass Towers Plan Reviewed. Buffalo News. Jan 22, 1999.
Morton, Marian. And Sin No More: Social Policy and Unwed Mothers in Cleveland 1855-1990. Cleveland Public Library, 1993.
Nahal, Anita and Lopez D. Matthews, Jr. “African American Women and the Niagara Movement.” Afro-Americans in New York Life and History, Vol 32, Issue 2. July 2008.
Payerchin, Richard. “Oberlin Historians Share Favorites of Forgotten Lore”. Morning Journal. April 29, 2019.
Reif, Michelle. “Thinking Locally, Acting Globally: The International Agenda of African American Clubwomen, 1880-1940”. The Journal of African American History, vol 89, no.3.
Tan, Sandra. Razing of Douglass Towers Heralds Redevelopment of Housing Complex. May 3, 2000.

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Come to America from St. Croix, Get a Street Named After You

Posted in Broadway-Fillmore, East Side, Uncategorized, tagged Alexander Hamilton, Broadway-Fillmore, Buffalo, East Side, Smith Street on September 19, 2019| 2 Comments »

smith Smith Street is a 2 mile long road on the East Side of Buffalo running from the Buffalo River to Broadway. Smith Street is one of the interchanges from the I-190 Thruway, Exit 4.

Henry Kendall Smith was born on the island of Santa Cruz (now Saint Croix) on April 2, 1811. His parents were Jeremiah Smith and Jane Cooper Smith, who were of English origin. At the time of his birth, the island was in possession of the English during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1815, following the peace between Britain and France, the island was once again a Danish territory. Mr. Smith, Henry’s father, was an architect and builder. While the English had occupied the Island, there had been prosperity. When Denmark returned to power, property values depreciated greatly and many plantation owners were ruined. The change in government caused Mr. Smith to lose a great deal of money. However, his social standing allowed him to achieve the rank of major in the Danish provincial army, which allowed him an income as opposed to financial ruin. One day, while passing through a fort, some quicklime was accidentally throw into his face. Following the accident, he was confided to bed for weeks and blinded for life. At the time, the family consisted of Jeremiah and Jane, along with two sons and two daughters. The family struggled to make ends meet. Mrs. Smith, was not discouraged by the family’s misfortune, and helped her children to look towards the future. A long litigation took place revolving around the accident. Eventually, rather than continue the ligation to get his fair share due to him, Henry’s father accepted a settlement of $1,500 from the party responsible for his injuries, in order to be able to educate Henry.

At the age of 8, Henry was sent to Baltimore to study under Reverend Dr. Berry, a minister of the Church of England and a scholar. When Henry left for Baltimore, his father told him that he would now have to take care of himself and that it was his responsibility as to whether he would sink or swim. Henry reported replied that he would swim, and left behind his family forever.

For those who have seen the musical Hamilton, or know Alexander Hamilton’s history, Henry’s story will sound familiar. Alexander Hamilton was also from St. Croix, and was sent to America to receive an education after experiencing poverty early in life.

Henry Smith’s Mayoral Portrait

At age 17, he became a clerk at a wholesale dry goods store in New York City. In his free time, he would continue his studies of the classics, believing that there was another occupation out there for him, and that he would not be a clerk forever. One day, his employer told Henry that he was acting like a woman or a “clumsy boor”. So Henry told his employer that he could do the work himself, and left the store. Shortly prior, he had met Daniel Cady of Johnstown, New York. who was engaged in a trial in New York. After listening to Cady’s arguments and the reply by Ogden Hoffman, Henry was inspired and decided he would become a lawyer.

Henry traveled to Johnstown, found Mr. Cady, and asked to enter his office as a law student. At the time, lawyers did not go to law school, but rather learned the trade in a law office. Mr. Cady welcomed Henry into his office. Henry was devoted to his books and continued his studies under Mr. Cady until he was ready for his examination. While he was studying, he earned an income by teaching at a school. Henry was admitted to the bar in May 1832 and continued to practice in Johnstown. In October of that year, the Young Men’s State Democratic Convention met in Utica, and Mr. Smith was one of the delegates from Montgomery County. During the convention, he delivered a speech regarding the nomination of a gubernatorial candidate which gave him the reputation of an accomplished and logical speaker. At the convention, Henry met Honorable Israel T. Hatch, from Buffalo, who invited Henry to come to Buffalo.

Henry moved to Buffalo in spring of 1837, to form a partnership with Mr. Hatch. After working with Mr. Hatch, Henry also worked with George W Clinton, Mr. Williams, Isaac Verplanck and others in Buffalo.

At the breakout of the Patriots War in 1837, Henry was made Captain of one of the five companies of volunteers formed by citizens for the protection of Buffalo. He continued in the militia service for some time, passing through the ranks until he attained the rank of Colonel. When he was made Colonel, he was given a gold watch that had the inscription, “The citizens of Buffalo to Hon. Henry K Smith, the eloquent and efficient advocate of the Erie Canal and the rights of the City.”

In 1838, Mr. Smith was appointed District Attorney for Erie County. He resigned after seven months, because he was being requested so often for other civil business as a lawyer.

In 1844, he accepted the office of Recorder of the City of Buffalo, an office he held for four years. Subsequently, in 1846, he was appointed postmaster of Buffalo and held the office for two and a half years. In 1850, he was elected Mayor of Buffalo. He was nominated for state assembly, state senate and congress. In 1840 he was a delegate to the national convention which re-nominated Martin Van Buren for president (Van Buren lost that election to William Henry Harrison).

Mr. Smith married Miss Vorhees in spring of 1834. She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant of Johnstown. Unfortunately, she passed away shortly after their marriage. In 1838, he married Miss Sally Ann Thompson, the daughter of Shelton Thompson of Buffalo. After 18 months, she too passed away, leaving behind a son, Sheldon Thompson Smith. Henry suffered greatly after the death of both of his wives. To deal with his grief, he focused on the care and education of his son, on his professional duties and politics.

Mr. Smith had considerable musical talents. He taught himself to play the violin. He would often be found singing with his family and would sing the Star Spangled Banner, God Save the King, and other patriot songs on festive occasions such as the Fourth of July or St. Patrick’s Day. He was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal, during the time of Rev. Shelton, for whom Shelton Square was named.

Mr. Smith died on September 23, 1854, at age 43. He is buried in Forest Lawn.

During the 1950s and 1960s, there was a Proposed East Side Expressway that went through several iterations. The Expressway was originally planned to start at the Kensington Expressway at an interchange at Best Street, run along the south side of Humboldt Park, now MLK Park, and to continue along Walden Avenue. They then decided to shift the expressway south of Walden in order to preserve the Walden Business Corridor. The Expressway was going to run 2.6 miles and end at Walden Avenue near the City Line. The Expressway was included in New York State Highway Law 1957. In 1958, they decided that it would be better if they were also able to connect the Thruway I-190 to the Expressway with an additional route. This highway was thought to be beneficial to the planned opening of the Thruway Industrial Park and to help bring people into the struggling Broadway-Fillmore shopping district. At the time, Broadway-Fillmore was the 2nd most dense area, second only to Downtown in both size and value.

One of the plans for the East Side Expressway and Smith Street Spur

The Proposed Smith Street spur would start at the East Side Expressway with an interchange at Miller Avenue, and continue southwest along Memorial Drive to Fillmore Avenue, then would follow Fillmore to Smith to the Smith Street interchange of the I-190. Reports at the time said that this spur of highway was “essential to the lifeblood of the East Side”. More than 300 houses were planned to be demolished as part of this Smith Street Spur proposal. The plan was debated for many years, with various alignments discussed and fought over. Elmer Youngmann, the District Engineer for the New York State Department of Public Works (for whom the Youngmann Expressway – I 290- was named) was against putting the spur down Memorial Avenue due to the high costs of the road due to the private properties along the route. Neither the East Side Expressway in this alignment nor the Smith Street Spur were ever built.

Want to learn about other streets? Check out the Street Index!

Sources:

1. Proctor, L.B. “Sketches of the Buffalo Bar: Henry K. Smith”. Published in Buffalo Courier & Republic, 1869.

2. Viele, Henry K. “Sketch of the Life of Hon. Henry K. Smith”. Published in Buffalo Courier & Republic, May 25, 1867.

3. Rizzo, Michael. Through the Mayor’s Eyes. Lulu Enterprises, Inc. 2005.

4. The Proposed East Side Expressway and Proposed New Arterial Route. Buffalo: 1961.

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Be the First Female Developer in Buffalo, Get a Street Named After You

Posted in East Side, tagged Buffalo, East Side, elk street market, First Female Developer, Genesee Street, History, Walden Avenue, Wasmuth, Womens History on March 28, 2019| 5 Comments »

wasmuth Wasmuth Avenue runs between Genesee Street and Walden Avenue near Martin Luther King Jr Park on the East Side of Buffalo. The street is named after one of the first female developers in Buffalo, Caroline Wasmuth. Ms. Wasmuth was one of Buffalo’s pioneer business women.

Caroline Geyer arrived in America alone in 1845 at the age of 16. The trip from Germany by boat took three months. She got a job working for the Lautz (sometimes also spelled Lauts) family. The Lautz family were an early Buffalo German family who manufactured candles and soaps as Lautz Brothers & Co. She wasn’t able to continue her formal education in America, but learned to speak, read and write English. She enjoyed reading and educated herself through her books.

Her first business experience began at her husband’s grocery store at Carlton Street and Michigan Avenue. Ms. Wasmuth invested all of their savings into a savings and loan company. During the 1880s, there was a land boom in Buffalo and she was asked to become a partner in the Buffalo Land Association. The company developed the land in the Genesee-Walden district. They later formed the Ontario Land Company to develop land in Cheektowaga.

She had a stand at the Elk Street market for 47 years, specializing in berries and fresh vegetables. The Elk Street market was located on what is now South Park Avenue (you can read more about the change in street name here) You can also learn more about the Elk Street Market at this link, where Steve Cichon notes that it was the largest fruit and garden truck market in the United States. During Ms. Wasmuth’s time, farmers were prohibited from bringing their produce into Buffalo. She would walk to the City line to meet them and make her selection. She could carry as many as five 30-quart trays of berries on her head from the City Line to the Elk Street market, likely about 4 miles! She was known for having a kind heart towards anyone not being able to have food and a reputation for giving a meal to anyone who came to her door. She was well known for her generous nature, particularly towards people who were struggling.

Ms. Wasmuth enjoyed singing and was a member of the Saengerbund, a well known German singing society, and the choir of St. Peters Evangelical Lutheran Church, located at the corner of Genesee and Hickory. She was a member of the Women’s Society of that church. She was also a member of the Seven Stars Rebekah Lodge No. 136, which was the women’s branch of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows who met at 145 High Street. She was also a member of the Gertrude Lodge No 47, Daughters of Herman, which was a German aid society located at 260 Genesee Street.

Ms. Wasmuth was noted for being unusual among early businesswomen because she did not try to dress like a man. She loved her pretty clothes and jewelry.

She was known for adopting new inventions that could be useful to her. Her husband, George Peter Wasmuth, was the first Buffalonian to bottle horseradish. She convinced her husband to buy one of the first foot-power machines for grinding horseradish, relieving the family of grinding horseradish for hours. They used to buy from twenty to thirty tons of horseradish at a time. Her nine children helped around the house.

During an interview during the 1940s, her son Fredrick said that many of the family members were still living on land originally purchased by Ms. Wasmuth. However, he lamented that they would have been happier if they owned a piece of land she had passed on the purchase of – she could have bought the property where Buffalo Savings Bank stands downtown for $0.50 a foot. The passed on the purchase, and bank was built. We typically refer to the building today as the Gold Dome; the property would certainly be worth more than that today!

wasmuth Ms. Wasmuth was married twice and had four sons and five daughters: Frank, George, Maggie, Lillian, Anna, Caroline, John, Fredrick, and Charles. The family lived on Michigan Street (now Ave) near Carlton Street, on what is now the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. She was also one of the investors in the Pan American Exposition, having bought a subscription in 1899. She died in 1904 at the age of 75. She is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Sources:

“Wasmuth Avenue Honors Business Woman” Buffalo Courier Express, Sunday January 28, 1940.
“Pan-American Subscriptions” Buffalo Evening News, Saturday January 28, 1899.
1880 United States Federal Census. Accessed via Ancestry.com

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Survive Three Narrow Escapes from Death, Get a Street Named After You

Posted in East Side, tagged East Side, History, Kensington, Leroy, pike, Van Gorder, Wyoming County on February 27, 2019| 3 Comments »

vangorder Van Gorder Street is a short street located off of Fillmore Avenue in the Fillmore-Leroy neighborhood of Buffalo. The street runs one block east of Fillmore Ave where it dead-ends at Burgard High School (PS #301).

greenleaf van gorder The street is named after Greenleaf S. Van Gorder, a politician and banker.

Members of the Van Gorder family have lived in New York State for a long time. In 1650, Gysbert Albert Van Gorder, one of the Greenleaf Van Gorder’s ancestors, came from Holland as a pioneer settler in Ulster County and his ancestors were prominent in the early affairs around Fort Orange (Albany). Greenleaf was born in York, in Livingston County, New York, in 1855. He attended Temple Hill Academy in Geneseo and Alfred University. After graduating from college, he studied law in the office of Sanford & Bowen of Angelica, New York. In 1877, at the age of 22, he was admitted to the bar. For the first two decades of his career, he practiced law in Pike, a small town in Wyoming County, NY. During that period, he was elected Town Clerk, County Supervisor, and State Assemblyman. He then spent four years representing Wyoming, Genesee, Livingston and Niagara Counties in the State Senate.

Senator Van Gorder served as a member of the board of the Pike Seminary and President of the Bank of Pike. He was instrumental in establishing the Public Library of Pike. He also worked hard to build a modern water system for Pike. The town fathers kept postponing the installation of the water system. During the 1880s there was a bad fire there and many businesses, churches and homes were destroyed. The need for the water system was realized, as it could have been stopped easily with the right system. Many of the maple trees along streets in the village were destroyed by the fire. Senator Van Gorder worked to plant trees along the bare streets, calling for volunteers to assist him. On the day they set aside for the planting, an early snowstorm hit, and only one man came to help in the efforts. The Senator refused to let the man work in the snow, so Mr. Van Gorder planted the trees himself. He also helped to transform a neglected cemetery by planting trees and shrubs. He felt a strong connection to Pike, and even after moving to Buffalo, he kept a summer home there. He also fought for many years to bring a railroad to Pike. He worked with Frank Goodyear on the project, but Mr. Goodyear’s death stopped the progress and the railroad was never built.

Senator Van Gorder had a series of narrow escapes from death. He owned a 300-acre dairy farm at Springdale, between Pike and Bliss. One day on the farm, he almost died when a prize bull, who weighed nearly a ton, gored him. During a storm near Cape Hatteras, his boat engine lost power and he drifted all night. One night on Hodge Ave in Buffalo, he was held up by two men. He threw the bag he was carrying at the men and was shot. The bullet remained in his body the rest of his life, since it was so close to his heart and spine doctors did not want risk removal surgery.

Senator Van Gorder’s family also had some tough times. His brother John Van Gorder and his half-sister, Anna Farnam were murdered at their home in Angelica, New York after a gristly struggle in 1904. It was believed that they were killed by laborers working on the construction of the Pittsburgh, Shawmutt and Northern Railroad who had been at a campsite near the family’s farm.

He practiced law in Buffalo from 1895 to 1931. He was a partner in the firm of Bartlett, Van Gorder, White and Holt.

Senator Van Gorder enjoyed travel and music, and was an avid piano player. He was involved with the Fillmore Land Company, which developed the section of the City where his street is located. The Fillmore Land Company was instrumental in getting the city to install the Fillmore Avenue sewer between Kensington and Dewey Avenues. He was a member of the Republican party, the Presbyterian church, Triliminar Masonic Lodge No. 543, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Holland Society of New York and the Buffalo Historical Society.

Senator Van Gorder married Eve Lyon. They had a daughter, Mary. The family lived at 332 Ashland in the Elmwood Village. Mary Van Gorder was secretary to the principal of School Number 54 at Main Street and Leroy Avenue.

Senator Van Gorder died in 1933. He is buried in Pike Cemetery in Wyoming County.

Want to learn about other streets? Check out the Street Index.

Sources:

Smith, H. Katherine. “Van Gorder Street Memorial to Legislator-Educator-Lawyer”. Buffalo Courier-Express, October 20, 1940 sec 6, p13.
Douglass, Harry. “Wyoming County’s Famous Sons and Daughters”. The Wyoming County Times, Nov 7, 1935.
“Brother and Sister are Stabbed to Death”. The Culver Citizen, May 12, 1904, p3.

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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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