The Lovejoy District is a neighborhood in

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 ...

. Lovejoy is the easternmost portion of the city, running along the city's border with

Cheektowaga Cheektowaga (; ) is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town has grown to a population of 89,877. The town is in the north-central part of the county, and is an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. The town is t ...

. The

councilman A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or regio ...

of the area in 2025 is Bryan J. Bollman. Lovejoy is named after Sarah Lovejoy, an American killed in December 1813 during a British-Indian raid on Buffalo during

Niagara Frontier The Niagara Frontier refers to the stretch of land in the United States that is south of Lake Ontario and north of Lake Erie, and extends westward to Cleveland, Ohio. The term dates to the War of 1812, when the northern border was in contention b ...

warfare of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

."North-West Buffalo War of 1812"
Black Rock Historical Society

Ethnicity

As Buffalo developed as an industrial city, Lovejoy became a destination for European immigrants and later, migrants from the rural South. In the 1830s, it was a primarily German neighborhood. With later demographic changes and immigration from southern and eastern Europe, it became a neighborhood of Italians. In the 20th century, African Americans and Hispanics moved in as well. The most recent 21st-century arrivals have been Arab and Asian, reflecting changing immigration patterns. The neighborhood is still dominated numerically by

Italian Americans Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

Schools

PS #43 is the primary school in the East Lovejoy area, which many student-age children attend. It has architectural and significant history. Started in 1831 by Joseph Churchyard, the man who owned the land, the school created an annex on East Lovejoy and Benzinger streets. This is the current school #43. Built to accommodate 600 ethnic German children living in the area, the school had 49 classrooms, two gymnasiums, a cafeteria, and other features. In 1926, the number of students attending was 1,662. Recently, the school underwent a $56 million construction project; another building was constructed on the former parking lot and connected to the old one. PS 43 is now one of the Buffalo Public Community Schools. St. Agnes Catholic parish school operated in Lovejoy for about 100 years before its close in 2009. The diocese did not have the funds for needed upgrades. It opened in the 1800s.

Parks

Among the many parks in the Lovejoy area are Hennepin Park, the main and largest park, including a recently redone community center; Davey Park, and Moreland Field. Buffalo Color Park was built on a remediated

brownfield Brownfield is previously-developed land that has been abandoned or underused, and which may carry pollution, or a risk of pollution, from industrial use. The specific definition of brownfield land varies and is decided by policy makers and l ...

site formerly occupied by Schoellkopf, Hartford & Hanna Company. It is home to

Queen City Field Queen City Field is a proposed multipurpose stadium in Buffalo, New York. Planned to be built on the site of the former Medaille Sports Complex, once completed, it will be home to the city's yet-to-be-named USL Championship and USL Super Leagu ...

, the Heritage Discovery Center, and The Powerhouse.

Iron Island

"Iron Island" is a popular nickname for the area of Lovejoy that is almost entirely surrounded by train tracks (Tracks run along William Street, Broadway, many go through the Buffalo Central Terminal, and across William Street). The area also had a

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

building located on N. Ogden Street, which was destroyed in a large fire in July 2012.

Street Name Change

Originally Lovejoy Street ran from the Buffalo/Cheektowaga border heading West to Emslie St. The street was split in two after the opening of the Buffalo Central Terminal in 1929. The Western end of Lovejoy St. from Memorial Dr. (formerly Lindburgh Dr.) to Emslie St. was renamed "Paderewski Dr." and the Eastern end of Lovejoy St. from Central Ave. to the Buffalo/Cheektowaga border was renamed "East Lovejoy St.".

References