Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
, United States. Its boundaries are Main Street to the east, Parkside Avenue to the west, Woodbridge Avenue to the north, and Amherst Street to the south, with its southwestern limit running along the railroad lining Linden Avenue. Amherst Street Station sits at Central Park's southeastern corner.The neighborhood originated from a development conceived by cement magnate Lewis Jackson Bennett (1833–1925) on his Buffalo Cement Company property.http://buffalostreets.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/central-park/ Buffalo's Central Park: A Street, a Plaza and a Neighborhood November 20, 2012 by Angela KeppelLewis J. Bennett History of Buffalo reprint from Genealogical and Family History of Western New York, ed. by
William Richard Cutter
William Richard Cutter (August 17, 1847 – June 6, 1918) was an American historian, librarian, genealogist, and writer.
Life
Born in Woburn, Massachusetts, on August 17, 1847, he was the son of Dr. Benjamin Cutter and Mary Whittemore Cutter. ...
, 1912, Vol. II His Central Park home was designed by Buffalo architect
Milton Earl Beebe
Milton Earle Beebe (November 27, 1840 – February 3, 1923) was an American architect who designed numerous buildings in Buffalo, New York, in Fargo, North Dakota, and elsewhere.
Early development
Bennett bought land in North Buffalo for a
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
source needed to establish a cement factory. Starting in 1875 he also acquired land on the east and west sides of Main Street where there were cement deposits. In 1877 he established the Buffalo Cement Company, operating a quarry and manufacturing stone and cement. Ten years later he planned a residential subdivision on the company's lands with his son, Leslie Jay Bennett, and William Pierce, a co-owner of Buffalo Cement. They decided to call the area Central Park because of its geographic location near
Delaware Park Delaware Park may refer to:
*Delaware Park-Front Park System, the Buffalo, New York park and parkway system listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
* Delaware Park, New Jersey, a CDP in Warren County, New Jersey.
*Delaware Park Racetrac ...
.
Later developments
Central Park was in close proximity to the Beltline Railroad and a station was built in Central Park (at Starin and Amherst). Known as the Central Park Station, it was owned by Buffalo Cement and leased by
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...
and
Hudson River Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...
.
The Otowega Club's clubhouse was located in the area at the corner of Linden and Starin. It was later used by the Art Institute of Buffalo before being demolished after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Burke's Green initially was an unnamed parcel of park land deeded to the city by Bennett, with a beehive-style pile of rocks and a water pipe up that drizzled water over the rocks. Eventually this fountain was dismantled and an evergreen was placed in the center. Then, in the 1960s, the park was dedicated to the memory of F. Brendan Burke, and renamed Burke's Green. Bennett's house at 354 Depew Avenue was constructed in the area. It included 24 rooms and sat on 3 acres of land. It was demolished in 1935 and 12 building lots created.
Bennett donated the land on Main Street to the City for Bennett High School and All-High Stadium. Bennett led a fight that helped bring about a change from the "rate bill system" to a free public school system paid for by taxes, considered to be the first district to adopt that system. He was a life member of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences and Buffalo Historical Society, a member of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and a member of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce. He named streets after his family and friends, including Morris Avenue for the family of Lewis Bennett's brother-in-law, John Vedder Morris, and the man's father, Abram Vrooman Morris. John Morris married Mr. Bennett's younger sister Maria Lydia Bennett in 1875. Depew Avenue was named in honor of Chauncey M. Depew, a US Senator, New York State Secretary of State, and President of the New York Central Railroad.
See also
*
Neighborhoods of Buffalo, New York
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...
References
Additional sources
* James Arnone Central Park, Buffalo, New York: A Neighborhood of History and Tradition. 2010.
* William Richard Cutter Genealogical and Family History of New York, Vol. 11, 1912
* ''The Village of Depew is Unique to the Area in that it Straddles Two Townships'' Depew Bee, July 14, 1994.
* Carol Wagner ''Bassett House: A History'' The Junior League of Buffalo, 1985.