staffannouncer.com (2003-2017)

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

staffannouncer.com is now BuffaloStories.com

Since 2003, Steve Cichon has been posting the sights, sounds, and stories of Buffalo’s pop culture past and present at staffannouncer.com.

Now, all of the great memories and plenty more are in an updated easy to read format at BuffaloStories.com.




An early staffannouncer.com production image.

It’s really hard to imagine, but back in 2003, you couldn’t find much about Irv Weinstein, Crystal Beach, Clint Buehlman, AM&A’s and Sattler’s online.

There were no researched stories or articles about many of Buffalo’s most cherished pop culture touchstones.

Click for the complete pages of staffannouncer.com 

In those days of prohibitively expensive digital scanners and cameras, dial up internet access, and slow page load times, there were very few photos of these people and places on the web.

Not wanting to live in a world where typing “Commander Tom” into Google had zero results, Cichon created staffannouncer.com with the idea that it would be a place to share his passion about broadcasters, broadcasting, and the stuff that was broadcasted about… especially here in Buffalo.

Fast forward to 2017, and many of the pages created more than a decade earlier aren’t formatted properly for the desktop, tablet, and smartphone browsers of modern web surfing.

Cichon spent months bringing all the 1999 AOL chatroom looking pages into the current Snapchat world, duplicating staffannouncer.com on BuffaloStories.com, where it’s far easier to read, search, and update as needed.

While the main staffannouncer.com URL will now redirect here to buffalostories.com, that’s the only change to the website. All the old pages will remain online at their original addresses as a form of historic preservation– but they won’t be updated, either for content or browser compatibility.

And in case you miss the old staffannouncer.com homepage, that’s still there, too… http://staffannouncer.com/lasthomepage.html

Categories:

Buffalo’s Pop Culture Heritage
The essence of Buffalo Stories is defining and
celebrating the people, places, and things that make Buffalo… Buffalo. That’s Buffalo’s pop culture heritage-– and that’s what you’ll find here.

Buffalo’s Radio & TV 
Irv. Danny. Van. Carol. The men and women who’ve watched and listened to have become family enough that we only need their first names. Buffalo has a deep and rich broadcasting history.  Here are some of the names, faces, sounds and stories which have been filling Buffalo’s airwaves since 1922.

 Buffalo’s Neighborhoods
North and South Buffalo. The East and West Sides.  But how many neighborhoods can you name that don’t fit any of those descriptions? From the biggest geographical sections, to the dozens of micro-neighborhoods and hundreds of great intersections.

Parkside
There is a category for Buffalo Neighborhoods, but as the historian of Buffalo’s Parkside Neighborhood, and having written two books on the neighborhood’s history, giving the Fredrick Law Olmsted designed Parkside Neighborhood it’s own category makes sense.

Family & Genealogy
My family history is Buffalo history. All eight of my great-grandparents lived in Buffalo, including my Great-Grandma Scurr, who is among the children in this Doyle family photo taken in Glasgow, Scotland. Aside from Scotland, my great-grandparents came from Pennsylvania, Poland, and England. One branch of my family tree stretches back to Buffalo in the 1820s, and a seventh-great aunt was among the first babies baptized at St. Louis Roman Catholic church back in 1829, when the church was still a log cabin.

&c, &c, &C: reflections from Steve’s desk
While my primary focus for this site is sharing about things that make Buffalo wonderful and unique, sometimes I have other thoughts, too. I share those here, along with some of the titles from other categories which I’ve written about in a more personal manner.

 


Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com
Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com

Buffalo Postcards– Hundreds of ’em

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

A collection of well over 600 Buffalo Postcards.

 

1855CourtHouse
Court House. From a series of Buffalo drawings from 1855.

1855LightHouse
Buffalo Light House

1855MarketHouse
Market House

1855NiagaraRailroadDepot
Niagara Railroad Depot

1855SherwoodHouse
Sherwood House

1stbaptistchurch
First Baptist Church- North Street at N.Pearl

AerialDowntown
Aerial view of Downtown. Notice there is no Convention Center… Genesee Street goes right to Niagara Square without interruption.


Albright Museum & State Teachers College. Look at all those trees… Now parking lots.


Arnholt’s Restaurant, 299 Washington St. opposite the Ellicott Square Building. Now a parking lot.

Arrival-of-Fire-Dept
Arrival of Fire Dept on Genesee St., Fighting fires with horse & buggy.

BabyFurntiture1294Hertel
Baby Furntiture Store, 1294 Hertel Ave

BfloRaceway
Buffalo Raceway, under the lights

Bisons-Base-Ball-Park
Bisons Base-Ball Park, Offermann Stadium

BroadwayFillmoreAvenues
Broadway& Fillmore Avenues. This intersection is much more the same than many others, Except the donkey and the trolley tracks. This is standing with your back to downtown looking at the Broadway Market.

BroadwayLookingWest
Broadway Looking West… Nice trolley

broadwaymkt
The Broadway Market. Note Kleinhans on the front umbrella.

BuffHarbor
Buffalo Harbor Showing Coal docks

BuffHarbor10
Harbor Scene: Grain Elevators and Steam Ships

BuffHarbor12
Harbor Scene

BuffHarbor13
Harbor Scene: Real photo this time

BuffHarbor14
The Harbor: ladies in a rowboat

BuffHarbor15
The Ship Channel

BuffHarbor4
Two Lighthouses.

BuffHarbor60sTugBoats
1960s Tug Boats, The Oklahoma and the North Carolina in Buffalo Harbor

BuffHarbor8
Entrance to the Harbor

BuffHarbor9
Another Harbor Scene

BuffHarborAmericana1
The Americana: Sailing between Buffalo and Crystal Beach (more in the Crystal Beach section)

BuffHarborBfloYachtClub
Buffalo Yacht Club

BuffHarborDakotaElevator
The Dakota Elevator

BuffHarborFireBoat
Buffalo Fire Boat in Action

BuffHarborFireTug1908
Same card as previous with different coloring… common in old postcards.

BuffHarborGrainElevators
Concrete Grain Elevators

BuffHarborGrainElevators2
Grain Elevators

BuffHarborJackKnife1
Jack Knife Bridge, Kellogg Grain Elevator… This is Michigan Ave, just past the new casino heading away from downtown.

BuffHarborJackKnife2
Jack Knife Bridge. Given the number of different postcards I’ve seen of this bridge, It must have been impressive in its day

BuffHarborJackKnife3
More Jack Knife Bridge

BuffHarborJackKnife4
Jack Knife Bridge

Buffharbor6
Jack Knife Bridge 1950s, a cool later view

BuffHarborLighthouse1
The Buffalo Harbor Lighthouse. One of Buffalo’s oldest still-standing structures.

BuffHarborLighthouses
Two Lighthouses. Again, the more familiar one stil stands across the Harbor from the Hatch

BuffHarborMouth
Mouth of the Harbor Using the Lighthouse for bearing, the Aud site is out of site just to the right

BuffHarborNYCRRyards
NYCRR yards near the waterfront. Train tracks criss-crossed the waterfront area.

BuffHarborNewLocks
New Locks. The old Intl RR Bridge.

BuffHarborStereo
Buffalo Harbor Stereocard. Stereocards were placed in a binocular-like device and the images would appear.

BuffHarborUnloadingOre
Unloading Iron Ore

BuffHarborView
View from the Harbor. That’s St. Joseph’s Cathedral with the twin spires just right of the middle

BuffHarborWaterfrontafterStorm1907
After the storm of Jan 20, 1907

BuffHarborYachtRace
Yacht Race with the Yacht Club in the background

Buffharbor5
Entrance to the Harbor

Buffharbor7
Entrance to Harbor. Real Photo version of previous card

BuffaloAirport1
Buffalo Airport. Built in 1939 as a WPA project, it was expanded in 1955, 1961, 1971, and 1977…

BuffaloAirport2
Buffalo Airport. This building was replaced in 1997 by the current terminal. The current building is slightly to the west of where this building stood.

BuffaloAirport3
Greater Buffalo International Airport. The Name was changed from Buffalo Municipal Airport when the city handed the airport over to the predecessor to the NFTA in 1959. It became the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in 1996.

BuffaloAirport4
Original Terminal. This would eventually be known as the “East Terminal,” with a west terminal built in the 70s to alleviate over crowding.

BuffaloGeneralHospital
Buffalo General Hospital.

BuffaloStateHospital
Buffalo State Hospital. Now known as the HH Richardson complex, located on Forest Ave near Elmwood.

CBAmericanaFootofMain
Boarding the Americana. The ferry to Crystal Beach left the foot of Main Street. The Aud and the Metro Rail would be in this shot…

CBCanadianaAtDock
Canadiana At Dock. You’d take the Americana or the Canadiana from the foot of Main to the Dock at Crystal Beach

CBCanadianaAtSea
The Americana coming….

CBCanadianaatSea2
And the Canadiana going…

CBMIdwayEntrance
Entrance Midway Entrance. Crystal Beach thrilled the people of Southern Ontario and Western New York from 1888-1989.

CBMidway4
Crystal Beach Midway. Despite 70 years difference, the midway didn’t look all that different when it eventually closed.

CBarriving
Arriving at Crystal Beach

CBatWinter
The Crystal Beach Pier in winter

CBathleticField
Athletic Field at Crystal Beach. The Coaster in the background was known as the Backety-Back.

CBbathers
Bathers on Crystal Beach

CBbathersBoatPier
Bathers as the Canadiana approaches

CBbeach
Bathers and Boat


1940s view: Bathers and Canadiana

CBbflosConeyIs
Buffalo’s Coney Island: Crystal Beach. Close up View of the Backety-Back


Two-level Boardwalk and Pier

CBbuffalosUnionStationRide
Union Station Ride

CBchildrenWading
Children Wading

CBcustomHouse
Real Picture card of Customs House. Taken from either Canadiana or Americana

CBcustomHouse2
Customs House

CBcustomHouse3
Customs House

CBcustomsLine
After the Customs House on the Pier

CBpier
The Pier. You can see the deck chairs in this shot.

CBdivers
Crystal Beach Divers. This doesn’t appear safe…

CBjollyBathers
Jolly Bathers at Crystal Beach. Notice the cottages along the beach…

CBmidway
Entrance to the Midway

CBmidway2
More from the Midway

CBmidway3
Midway. This One’s very familiar to me… Even only with memories of the 80s at CB

CBmidway5
Another Midway Scene

CBmidway6
Again on the Midway

CBrazzleDazzle
Razzle Dazzle. An Early amusement that looks to be unsafe.

CBmoonOnLakeErie
Moonlight on Lake Erie. What a way to end a Crystal Beach date…

cazCasino
Cazenovia Park Casino. The water is no longer there… This side of the building faces the creek

cazcasino2
Casino Closeup

cazbathroom2
Cazenovia Park. This is at the end of the ball diamonds… Basically a bathroom hut as far as I remember it 25 years ago. This is where our grandpa taught my brother and me to “not touch anything” in the public restrooms.

CazBridge
Cazenovia Bridge. This looks alot like the area below the current Cazenovia St. (not Pkwy) Bridge…

CazPark1922
Cazenovia Park 1922.

CentralTerminal1
Central Terminal. Here are several views of the building’s exterior…

CentralTerminal2
Central Terminal

CentralTerminal3
Central Terminal

CentralTerminalCars
Central Terminal

CentralTerminalCocktailLoun
Central Terminal Cocktail Lounge. Inside the attractive Martin’s Restaurant

CentralTerminalLunchCounter
Central Terminal Lunch Counters

CentralTerminalMainConcours
Central Terminal Main Concourse

CentralTerminalMainEntrance
Central Terminal Main Entrance

ChamberofCommerceBldg
Chamber of Commerce Bldg

ChildrensHospital
Childrens Hospital. Nice Tin Lizzy there…

Chippewa&Delaware2
Chippewa at Delaware. To get this view, stand in Starbucks Parking lot… The rounded building is Bada Bing these days… The Hampton Inn is now across the street.

Chippewa&Main
Chippewa & Main. For this view now, as you drive up Chippewa from the 33 towards the bars, look to the right as you cross the Metro rail tracks. Note the Buffalo Marquee…

Chippewa,Washinton,Genesee
Chippewa%2CWashinton%2CGenesee Chippewa, Washinton, & Genesee Sts. This intersection looks as confusing then as it does now. I don’t think any of that clump of buildings is still there… All parking lots or the M&T Building across from TGI Friday’s.

ChippewaMarket1
Chippewa Market. The Chippewa Market is now the parking lot across Washington from TGI Fridays.

ChippewaMarket2
Chippewa Market. Look for St Michael’s church the next time your stopped at Chippewa and Washington.

ChippewaMarket6
Chippewa Market

ChippewaMarket7
Chippewa Market

ChippewaWashingtonMarket
Chippewa Washington Market

CityTrustBlg
City Trust Company Building. Shelton Square, Main at Niagara.

CivicStadiumRockpile
Civic Stadium, aka The Rockpile. Before the second level was added.

CivilWarArch
Civil War Arch

CivilWarArchCloseUp
Civil War Arch Close Up

ClayRobinson
Clay Robinson Co of East Buffalo

Club31
Club 31

CommodorePerryonLakeErie
Commodore Perry on Lake Erie

ContinentalInn
Continental Inn

CornerNiagara&Franklin
Corner Niagara & Franklin

CornerPearl&WTupper
CornerPearl%26WTupper Corner Pearl & West Tupper

CountryClub
Buffalo Country Club

CourierBdayClub
Courier express Birthday Club

CourierBldg
Courier Express Bldg (Now the Building houses the Catholic Diocesan Offices

CourtStSheas1
Sheas Theatre on Court St. Condemned to make way for Liberty Building

CourtStSheas2
Sheas on Court Street

CourtStSheas3
CourtSt Sheas

DLW2
DL&W Terminal

DLW3
DL&W Terminal

DLWtrolleycar
DL&W trolley car

DaysPark
Days Park

DaysPark2
Days Park

Deconess1914
Deaconess Hopsital 1914

buffharbor3
Buffalo Harbor

chezami
311 Delaware Ave: Chez Ami

chezami2
Same Chez Ami image… this one actual photo

chezamiBack
Chez Ami back

ChezAmi3
Chez Ami. Other side of the bar

delawareave1
Delaware Ave Delaware–Buffalo–Park

Delaware--Buffalo--Park
Delaware–Buffalo–Park Delaware Park

DelawareAve&North
DelawareAve%26North Delaware Ave at North

DelawareAve2
Delaware Ave Homes

DelawareAve3
Delaware Ave Homes

DelawareAve4
Delaware Ave Homes

DelawareAveAtChippewa
Delaware Ave At Chippewa

DelawareAveAtEdward
Delaware Ave At Edward

DelawareAveAtJohnsonParkHou
Delaware Ave At Johnson Park. Mayor Johnson’s House is long gone.

DelawareAveBishopColton1
Bishop Colton’s House, Now Blessed Sacrament Church’s Rectory, just north of W Utica

DelawareAveBishopColton2
Bishop Colton’s House

DelawareAveBridgeOver
Bridge Over Delaware Ave. Under Scajaquada Parkway then, now Scajaquada Expressway

DelawareAveBuffaloClub
Buffalo Club

DelawareAveBuffaloClub2
Buffalo Club

DelawareAveErieCountyJail
Erie County Jail

DelawareAveFordHotel
Ford Hotel, Delaware at Chippewa.

DelawareAveHotelTouraine1
Hotel Touraine

DelawareAveHotelTouraine2
Hotel Touraine

DelawareAveKenmore
Delaware Ave at Kenmore

DelawareAveNorthFromSummer
Delaware Ave North From Summer

DelawareAveNorthFromSummer3
Delaware Ave North From Summer

DelawareAveNorthfromNorth
Delaware Ave North from North

DelawareAveTempleBethzion
Temple Beth Zion. This building burned to the ground, the current temple was built down the street.

DelawareAveWilcoxHouse1
Wilcox House. President Roosevelt was inaugurated here following President McKinley’s death further up Delaware at the Milburn Home.

DelawareAveWilcoxHouse2
Wilcox Mansion

DelawareAveatNorthHotelLeno
Delaware Ave at North Hotel Lenox

DelawarePark&ArtGallery
Delaware Park & Art Gallery

DelawareParkAlbrightBackSte
Albright Art Gallery Back Steps

DelawareParkAlbrightCars
Delaware Park & Albright Gallery Cars

DelawareParkAlbrightDirtRoad
DelawarePark & Albright Gallery

DelawareParkBandConcert
Delaware Park Band Concert

DelawareParkBands2
Delaware Park Bands

DelawareParkBoys3
Delaware Park Boys

DelawareParkBridge
Delaware Park Bridge

DelawareParkCanoeing
Delaware Park Canoeing

DelawareParkCasino2
Delaware Park Casino

DelawareParkCasino4
Delaware Park Casino

DelawareParkConcertDay
Delaware Park Concert Day

DelawareParkDavid
Delaware Park David

DelawareParkDelawareAvebri2
Delaware Park Delaware Ave Bridge

DelawareParkDelawareAvebri3
Delaware Ave Bridge

DelawareParkElmwoodAveBridg
Delaware Park Elmwood Ave Bridge

DelawareParkElmwoodBridge
Delaware Park Elmwood Bridge

DelawareParkErzaMeekerBflos
Delaware Park Erza Meeker

DelawareParkIceskating
Delaware Park Ice skating

DelawareParkIvyArch
Delaware Park Ivy

DelawareParkIvyArch2
Delaware Park Ivy

DelawareParkLake&Cars
Delaware Park Lake & Cars

DelawareParkLake1
Delaware Park

DelawareParkLilyPond
Delaware Park Lily

DelawareParkRumsey
Delaware Park Rumsey Park

DelawareParkS-curves
S-curves Delaware Park

DelawareParkScurves
S-curves Delaware Park

DelawareParkSteps
Delaware Park Step

DelawareParkWater
Delaware Park

DelawareParkboaters
Delaware Park boaters

DelawareParkboys2
Delaware Park

DelawareParkcanoeing2
Delaware Park Canoeing

DelawareParkcasino
Delaware Park Casino

DelawareParklake2
Delaware Park Lake

DelawareParknearLake
Delaware Park near Lake

DelawareParkonthelAke
Delaware Park on the lake

DelawareParkviewFromCasinp
Delaware Park view From Casino

DelawareStJosephsNewCath
St Josephs New Cathedral

DepewCentralHigh
Depew Central High

DiBelloPontiac12600-main
DiBello Pontiac 12600 Main St

EastAuroraMainSt
East Aurora Main St

EastAuroraRoycroftDiningRm
East Aurora Roycroft Dining Rm

ElectricBldg1
Electric Building

ElectricBldg2
Electric Bldg

ElectricBldg3
Electric Bldg

ElectricBldgAtNite
Electric Bldg At Nite

ElkStBusinessDist
Elk St Business District

ElkStMarket1
Elk St Market

ElkStMarket2
Elk St Market

ElkStMarket3
Elk St Market

EllicottSq1

EllicottSq1 Ellicott SquareElkStBusinessDist
EllicottSq2 EllicottSq2

EllicottSq2 Ellicott SquareElkStBusinessDist
EllicottSq3 EllicottSq3

EllicottSq3 Ellicott SquareElkStBusinessDist
EllicottSq4 EllicottSq4

EllicottSq4 Ellicott SquareElkStBusinessDist
EllicottSq5 EllicottSq5

EllicottSq5 Ellicott SquareElkStBusinessDist
EllicottSq6 EllicottSq6

EllicottSq6 Ellicott SquareElkStBusinessDist
Elmwood%26NorthChurch Elmwood&NorthChurch

Elmwood%26NorthChurch Elmwood & North ChurchElkStBusinessDist
ErieCanal2 ErieCanal2

ErieCanal2 Erie CanalElkStBusinessDist
ErieCanal3 ErieCanal3

ErieCanal3 Erie CanalElkStBusinessDist
ErieCoJail ErieCoJail

ErieCoJail Erie County JailElkStBusinessDist
FentonsPekin FentonsPekin

FentonsPekin Fentons Pekin RestaurantElkStBusinessDist
FerryLandingFtErie FerryLandingFtErie

FerryLandingFtErie Ferry Landing Fort ErieElkStBusinessDist
FerryStLiftBridge FerryStLiftBridge

FerryStLiftBridge Ferry St Lift BridgeElkStBusinessDist
FerryStfoot FerryStfoot

FerryStfoot Foot of Ferry StElkStBusinessDist
Forestlawn Forestlawn

Forestlawn Forest Lawn CemetaryElkStBusinessDist
FrBakersBoysHome FrBakersBoysHome

FrBakersBoysHome Fr Baker’s Boys HomeElkStBusinessDist
Franklin%26NiagaraSts Franklin&NiagaraSts

Franklin%26NiagaraSts Franklin & Niagara StsElkStBusinessDist
Freddies30yrs Freddies30yrs

Freddies30yrs Freddies DoughnutsElkStBusinessDist
Celebrating 30 yearsFreddiesOlder FreddiesOlder

FreddiesOlder Freddies DonutsElkStBusinessDist
Slightly older judging by the cars… Front Front

Front The FrontElkStBusinessDist
Front2 Front2

Front2 The FrontElkStBusinessDist
Front3 Front3

Front3 The FrontElkStBusinessDist
FrontBandStand FrontBandStand

FrontBandStand The Front Band StandElkStBusinessDist
FrontDriving FrontDriving

FrontDriving The Front… DrivingElkStBusinessDist
FrontierTelephone FrontierTelephone

FrontierTelephone Frontier TelephoneElkStBusinessDist
FtErieBeach FtErieBeach

FtErieBeach Ft Erie BeachElkStBusinessDist
FtPorter1 FtPorter1

FtPorter1 Fort PorterElkStBusinessDist
stood where the Peace Bridge stands FtPorterCastle FtPorterCastle

FtPorterCastle Ft Porter CastleElkStBusinessDist
FtPorterCastle2 FtPorterCastle2

FtPorterCastle2 Ft Porter CastleElkStBusinessDist
GatesCircle1 GatesCircle1

GatesCircle1 Gates CircleElkStBusinessDist
EB Green designed GatesCircle3 GatesCircle3

GatesCircle3 Gates CircleElkStBusinessDist
GatesCircle4 GatesCircle4

GatesCircle4 Gates CircleElkStBusinessDist
GeneralViewofBuffalo GeneralViewofBuffalo

GeneralViewofBuffalo General View of BuffaloElkStBusinessDist
Genesee%2CChippewa%26Washington Genesee,Chippewa&Washington

Genesee%2CChippewa%26Washington Genesee, Chippewa & WashingtonElkStBusinessDist
GeneseeHouseHotel GeneseeHouseHotel

GeneseeHouseHotel Genesee House HotelElkStBusinessDist
GeneseePearlMohawkEDWARDS GeneseePearlMohawkEDWARDS

GeneseePearlMohawkEDWARDS EdwardsElkStBusinessDist
at Genesee, Pearl, and Mohawk GeneseeStBeforeconvCenter GeneseeStBeforeconvCenter

GeneseeStBeforeconvCenter Genesee St Before convention CenterElkStBusinessDist
GeneseeStLookingEast GeneseeStLookingEast

GeneseeStLookingEast Genesee St Looking EastElkStBusinessDist
GeneseeStMajesticTheatre GeneseeStMajesticTheatre

GeneseeStMajesticTheatre Genesee St Majestic TheatreElkStBusinessDist
GeneseeStNoElectBldg GeneseeStNoElectBldg

GeneseeStNoElectBldg Genesee St: No Electric BldgElkStBusinessDist
GlenParkCasino GlenParkCasino

GlenParkCasino Glen Park CasinoElkStBusinessDist
Grant%26Ferry Grant&Ferry

Grant%26Ferry Grant & FerryElkStBusinessDist
GreaterBuffaloSteamShip GreaterBuffaloSteamShip

GreaterBuffaloSteamShip Greater Buffalo SteamShipElkStBusinessDist
HahnemanHospital HahnemanHospital

HahnemanHospital Hahneman HospitalElkStBusinessDist
HertelAve HertelAve

HertelAve Hertel AveElkStBusinessDist
HertelHolyAngels1908 HertelHolyAngels1908

HertelHolyAngels1908 Hertel Holy Angels 1908ElkStBusinessDist
HistoricalBldg HistoricalBldg

HistoricalBldg Historical BldgElkStBusinessDist
HistoricalBldgNOSCAJ HistoricalBldgNOSCAJ

HistoricalBldgNOSCAJ Historical BldgElkStBusinessDist
No 198 Expressway…. HomeopathicHospital HomeopathicHospital

HomeopathicHospital Homeopathic HospitalElkStBusinessDist
HotelAvonExchange%26Ellicott HotelAvonExchange&Ellicott

HotelAvonExchange%26Ellicott Hotel Avon Exchange & EllicottElkStBusinessDist
HotelBrozelSeneca%26Wells HotelBrozelSeneca&Wells

HotelBrozelSeneca%26Wells Hotel Brozel Seneca & WellsElkStBusinessDist
HotelBuffalo-statlerArborRo HotelBuffalo-statlerArborRo

HotelBuffalo-statlerArborRo Hotel Buffalo (statler) Arbor Room ElkStBusinessDist
HotelBuffalo-statlerSwan%26W2 HotelBuffalo-statlerSwan&W2

HotelBuffalo-statlerSwan%26W2 Hotel Buffalo (statler) Swan & WashingtonElkStBusinessDist
HotelBuffalo-statlerSwan%26Wa HotelBuffalo-statlerSwan&Wa

HotelBuffalo-statlerSwan%26Wa Hotel Buffalo statler Swan & WashingtonElkStBusinessDist
HotelIroquois1 HotelIroquois1

HotelIroquois1 Hotel IroquoisElkStBusinessDist
HotelIroquois2 HotelIroquois2

HotelIroquois2 Hotel IroquoisElkStBusinessDist
HotelLafayette HotelLafayette

HotelLafayette Hotel LafayetteElkStBusinessDist
HotelLafayette2 HotelLafayette2

HotelLafayette2 Hotel LafayetteElkStBusinessDist
HotelLafayetteLobby HotelLafayetteLobby

HotelLafayetteLobby Hotel Lafayette LobbyElkStBusinessDist
HotelLafayetteRestaurant HotelLafayetteRestaurant

HotelLafayetteRestaurant Hotel Lafayette RestaurantElkStBusinessDist
HotelLenox HotelLenox

HotelLenox Hotel LenoxElkStBusinessDist
HotelRaliegh HotelRaliegh

HotelRaliegh Hotel RalieghElkStBusinessDist
HotelStuyvesant HotelStuyvesant

HotelStuyvesant Hotel StuyvesantElkStBusinessDist
Humboldt5 Humboldt5

Humboldt5 Humboldt ParkElkStBusinessDist
The Wading Pool, now famously known as te MLK Splash Pad HumboldtPark1 HumboldtPark1

HumboldtPark1 Humboldt ParkElkStBusinessDist
Now known as Martin Luther King Park HumboldtPark2 HumboldtPark2

HumboldtPark2 Humboldt ParkElkStBusinessDist
HumboldtPark3 HumboldtPark3

HumboldtPark3 Humboldt ParkElkStBusinessDist
HumboldtPark4 HumboldtPark4

HumboldtPark4 Humboldt ParkElkStBusinessDist
HumboldtPark5 HumboldtPark5

HumboldtPark5 Humboldt ParkElkStBusinessDist
HumboldtParkFountain HumboldtParkFountain

HumboldtParkFountain Humboldt Park FountainElkStBusinessDist
Really?!? A Postcard depicting a water fountain!?!ImmaculateHeartSchool ImmaculateHeartSchool

ImmaculateHeartSchool Immaculate Heart SchoolElkStBusinessDist
ImmaculateHearthome ImmaculateHearthome

ImmaculateHearthome Immaculate Heart homeElkStBusinessDist
IntlBridge IntlBridge

IntlBridge International BridgeElkStBusinessDist
IntlBridge2 IntlBridge2

IntlBridge2 International BridgeElkStBusinessDist
IntlRailwayCoStation IntlRailwayCoStation

IntlRailwayCoStation International Railway Company StationElkStBusinessDist
IroqouisBroadway%26PrattLONGC IroqouisBroadway&PrattLONGC

IroqouisBroadway%26PrattLONGC Iroqouis Brewery Broadway & Pratt /u>ElkStBusinessDist
IroquoisRathskellar IroquoisRathskellar

IroquoisRathskellar Iroquois RathskellarElkStBusinessDist
JJallen%26Co608William JJallen&Co608William

JJallen%26Co608William JJ Allen & Co 608 William StElkStBusinessDist
Kenilworth1 Kenilworth1

Kenilworth1 Kenilworth Race TrackElkStBusinessDist
This was on the Tonawanda side of the Kenmore Ave/Niagara Falls Blvd intersection Kenilworth2 Kenilworth2

Kenilworth2 Kenilworth Race TrackElkStBusinessDist
Kenilworth3 Kenilworth3

Kenilworth3 KenilworthElkStBusinessDist
KleinhansHatDept KleinhansHatDept

KleinhansHatDept Kleinhans Hat DeptElkStBusinessDist
LackawannaSteel LackawannaSteel

LackawannaSteel Lackawanna SteelElkStBusinessDist
LafayetteSq LafayetteSq

LafayetteSq Lafayette SqElkStBusinessDist
LafayetteSq1 LafayetteSq1

LafayetteSq1 Lafayette SquareElkStBusinessDist
Horse drawn carraiges & trolleys LafayetteSq2 LafayetteSq2

LafayetteSq2 Lafayette SquareElkStBusinessDist
up Broadway… LafayetteSq3 LafayetteSq3

LafayetteSq3 Lafayette SquareElkStBusinessDist
Old Library and Model Ts.LafayetteSq4 LafayetteSq4

LafayetteSq4 Lafayette SquareElkStBusinessDist
1940s LookLafayetteSq6NotMuchDiff LafayetteSq6NotMuchDiff

LafayetteSq6NotMuchDiff Lafayette SqElkStBusinessDist
Pretty close to today… Trade trolleys for Metro rail LafayetteSq7ShowsKleinshans LafayetteSq7ShowsKleinshans

LafayetteSq7ShowsKleinshans Lafayette Sq Shows KleinhansElkStBusinessDist
LafayetteSq9 LafayetteSq9

LafayetteSq9 Lafayette SqElkStBusinessDist
LafayetteSqCars%26Libary LafayetteSqCars&Libary

LafayetteSqCars%26Libary Lafayette Sq Cars & LibaryElkStBusinessDist
LafayetteSqEarlyCars LafayetteSqEarlyCars

LafayetteSqEarlyCars Lafayette Sq Early CarsElkStBusinessDist
LafayetteSqLibrary1 LafayetteSqLibrary1

LafayetteSqLibrary1 Lafayette Sq LibraryElkStBusinessDist
LafayetteSqOlder LafayetteSqOlder

LafayetteSqOlder Lafayette Sq OlderElkStBusinessDist
LafayetteSqSoldiersandSail2 LafayetteSqSoldiersandSail2

LafayetteSqSoldiersandSail2 Lafayette Sq Soldiers and Sailors memorialElkStBusinessDist
LafayetteSqSoldiersandSailo LafayetteSqSoldiersandSailo

LafayetteSqSoldiersandSailo Lafayette Sq Soldiers and Sailors MonumentElkStBusinessDist
LafayetteSqTheatreLobby LafayetteSqTheatreLobby

LafayetteSqTheatreLobby Lafayette Sq Theatre LobbyElkStBusinessDist
LafayetteSqfrHotelShowsThea LafayetteSqfrHotelShowsThea

LafayetteSqfrHotelShowsThea Lafayette Sq fr HotelElkStBusinessDist
Shows TheatreLafayetteSqlooksatCourt LafayetteSqlooksatCourt

LafayetteSqlooksatCourt Lafayette Sq looks at CourtElkStBusinessDist
Lafayettesq8 Lafayettesq8

Lafayettesq8 Lafayette sqElkStBusinessDist
LakeErieNovelty LakeErieNovelty

LakeErieNovelty Lake Erie NoveltyElkStBusinessDist
Lancasterdowntown Lancasterdowntown

Lancasterdowntown Lancaster downtownElkStBusinessDist
Larkin1910 Larkin1910

Larkin1910 Larkin 1910ElkStBusinessDist
Larkin2 Larkin2

Larkin2 LarkinElkStBusinessDist
Larkin3 Larkin3

Larkin3 LarkinElkStBusinessDist
LarkinDouble LarkinDouble

LarkinDouble Larkin DoubleElkStBusinessDist
LarkinDouble2 LarkinDouble2

LarkinDouble2 Larkin DoubleElkStBusinessDist
Laubes1 Laubes1

Laubes1 Laubes RestaurantElkStBusinessDist
LeonardosDiningRm%26Bar LeonardosDiningRm&Bar

LeonardosDiningRm%26Bar Leonardos Dining Room & BarElkStBusinessDist
LilyanDubelsHaciendaUnionrd LilyanDubelsHaciendaUnionrd

LilyanDubelsHaciendaUnionrd Lilyan Dubel’s Hacienda Union RdElkStBusinessDist
LincolnPkwy-Horse LincolnPkwy-Horse

LincolnPkwy-Horse Lincoln Pkwy HorseElkStBusinessDist
Lorenzos386Pearl1 Lorenzos386Pearl1

Lorenzos386Pearl1 Lorenzos 386 Pearl StElkStBusinessDist
Lorenzos386Pearl2 Lorenzos386Pearl2

Lorenzos386Pearl2 Lorenzos 386 Pearl StElkStBusinessDist
Main%26Chippewa Main&Chippewa

Main%26Chippewa Main & ChippewaElkStBusinessDist
MainSt1 MainSt1

MainSt1 Main St ElkStBusinessDist
MainSt11 MainSt11

MainSt11 Main St ElkStBusinessDist
MainSt12 MainSt12

MainSt12 Main St ElkStBusinessDist
MainSt13 MainSt13

MainSt13 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainSt14 MainSt14

MainSt14 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainSt16 MainSt16

MainSt16 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainSt17 MainSt17

MainSt17 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainSt1970s MainSt1970s

MainSt1970s Main St 1970sElkStBusinessDist
MainSt2 MainSt2

MainSt2 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainSt3 MainSt3

MainSt3 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainSt6 MainSt6

MainSt6 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainSt7 MainSt7

MainSt7 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainSt8 MainSt8

MainSt8 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainStAtCourt2 MainStAtCourt2

MainStAtCourt2 Main St At CourtElkStBusinessDist
MainStAtHuronlookingNorth MainStAtHuronlookingNorth

MainStAtHuronlookingNorth Main St At Huron looking NorthElkStBusinessDist
MainStAtNiagara MainStAtNiagara

MainStAtNiagara Main St At NiagaraElkStBusinessDist
MainStAtNite MainStAtNite

MainStAtNite Main St At NiteElkStBusinessDist
MainStAud1 MainStAud1

MainStAud1 Main St AudElkStBusinessDist
MainStAud2 MainStAud2

MainStAud2 Main St AudElkStBusinessDist
MainStAud3 MainStAud3

MainStAud3 Main St AudElkStBusinessDist
MainStAud4 MainStAud4

MainStAud4 Main St AudElkStBusinessDist
MainStBfloSavingBank MainStBfloSavingBank

MainStBfloSavingBank Main St Buffalo Saving BankElkStBusinessDist
MainStBoatLoading MainStBoatLoading

MainStBoatLoading Main St Boat LoadingElkStBusinessDist
MainStEllicottSq MainStEllicottSq

MainStEllicottSq Main St Ellicott SqElkStBusinessDist
MainStEllicottSq2 MainStEllicottSq2

MainStEllicottSq2 Main St Ellicott SqElkStBusinessDist
MainStEllicottSq3 MainStEllicottSq3

MainStEllicottSq3 Main St Ellicott SqElkStBusinessDist
MainStEllicottSq4 MainStEllicottSq4

MainStEllicottSq4 Main St Ellicott SqElkStBusinessDist
MainStFoot MainStFoot

MainStFoot Main St FootElkStBusinessDist
MainStGrants MainStGrants

MainStGrants Main St GrantsElkStBusinessDist
MainStHengers MainStHengers

MainStHengers Main St HengerersElkStBusinessDist
MainStHuylers566Main MainStHuylers566Main

MainStHuylers566Main Main St Huylers 566 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainStInvalidsHotel665Main MainStInvalidsHotel665Main

MainStInvalidsHotel665Main Main St Invalids Hotel 665 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainStJNadam383Main MainStJNadam383Main

MainStJNadam383Main Main St JN Adam 383 MainElkStBusinessDist
MainStJNadams MainStJNadams

MainStJNadams Main St JN AdamsElkStBusinessDist
MainStKeitschFlower810Mains MainStKeitschFlower810Mains

MainStKeitschFlower810Mains Main St Keitsch Flower 810 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainStKirschners189Main2 MainStKirschners189Main2

MainStKirschners189Main2 Main St Kirschners 189 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainStLaubes MainStLaubes

MainStLaubes Main St LaubesElkStBusinessDist
MainStLaubesOldSpain660MainSt MainStLaubesOldSpain660MainSt

MainStLaubesOldSpain660MainSt Main St Laubes Old Spain 660 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainStLookingSouth2 MainStLookingSouth2

MainStLookingSouth2 Main St Looking SouthElkStBusinessDist
MainStMacDoels MainStMacDoels

MainStMacDoels Main St MacDoelsElkStBusinessDist
MainStMeldrums460Main MainStMeldrums460Main

MainStMeldrums460Main Main St Meldrums 460 MainElkStBusinessDist
MainStMiossVincentsTeaRm534 MainStMiossVincentsTeaRm534

MainStMiossVincentsTeaRm534 Main St Miss Vincents Tea Rm 534 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainStNorthfromCourt MainStNorthfromCourt

MainStNorthfromCourt Main St North from CourtElkStBusinessDist
MainStOldMTbuilding MainStOldMTbuilding

MainStOldMTbuilding Main St Old M&T buildingElkStBusinessDist
MainStPoppenbergMotors674Ma MainStPoppenbergMotors674Ma

MainStPoppenbergMotors674Ma Main St Poppenberg Motors 674 Main StElkStBusinessDist
MainStSheltonSq MainStSheltonSq

MainStSheltonSq Main St Shelton SquareElkStBusinessDist
MainStSistersHospital MainStSistersHospital

MainStSistersHospital Main St Sisters HospitalElkStBusinessDist
MainStSouthfromLafayetteSq MainStSouthfromLafayetteSq

MainStSouthfromLafayetteSq Main St South from Lafayette SqElkStBusinessDist
MainStTheUniversity MainStTheUniversity

MainStTheUniversity Main St The UniversityElkStBusinessDist
MainStTravelodge MainStTravelodge

MainStTravelodge Main St TravelodgeElkStBusinessDist
MainStWilliamsvilleNursery MainStWilliamsvilleNursery

MainStWilliamsvilleNursery Main St Williamsville NurseryElkStBusinessDist
MainStatCourt MainStatCourt

MainStatCourt Main St at CourtElkStBusinessDist
MainStatCourt4 MainStatCourt4

MainStatCourt4 Main St at Court StElkStBusinessDist
MainStatCourt5 MainStatCourt5

MainStatCourt5 Main St at Court StElkStBusinessDist
MainStatCourtSt MainStatCourtSt

MainStatCourtSt Main St at Court StElkStBusinessDist
MainStatGenesee MainStatGenesee

MainStatGenesee Main St at GeneseeElkStBusinessDist
MainStatGenesee2 MainStatGenesee2

MainStatGenesee2 Main St at GeneseeElkStBusinessDist
MainStatGenesee3 MainStatGenesee3

MainStatGenesee3 Main St at GeneseeElkStBusinessDist
MainStatHuron MainStatHuron

MainStatHuron Main St at HuronElkStBusinessDist
MainStatHuron2 MainStatHuron2

MainStatHuron2 Main St at HuronElkStBusinessDist
MainStatNiagara2 MainStatNiagara2

MainStatNiagara2 Main St at Niagara StElkStBusinessDist
MainStatNiagara3 MainStatNiagara3

MainStatNiagara3 Main St at NiagaraElkStBusinessDist
MainStatSeneca2 MainStatSeneca2

MainStatSeneca2 Main St at SenecaElkStBusinessDist
MainStatSeneca3 MainStatSeneca3

MainStatSeneca3 Main St at SenecaElkStBusinessDist
MainStatUticaHotelMarkeen MainStatUticaHotelMarkeen

MainStatUticaHotelMarkeen Main St at Utica Hotel MarkeenElkStBusinessDist
MainStathletic-park MainStathletic-park

MainStathletic-park Main St Athletic ParkElkStBusinessDist
The was at the Triangular Island at Main & Jefferson MainStathletic-park-2 MainStathletic-park-2

MainStathletic-park-2 Main St Athletic ParkElkStBusinessDist
MainStfleischmannsrathskell MainStfleischmannsrathskell

MainStfleischmannsrathskell Main St Fleischmanns RathskellerElkStBusinessDist
MainStfromCourt MainStfromCourt

MainStfromCourt Main St from CourtElkStBusinessDist
MainStfromLafayetteSq MainStfromLafayetteSq

MainStfromLafayetteSq Main St from Lafayette SqElkStBusinessDist
MainStfromSheltonSq MainStfromSheltonSq

MainStfromSheltonSq Main St from Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
MainatGeneseeSt MainatGeneseeSt

MainatGeneseeSt Main at Genesee StElkStBusinessDist
MarineNatlBank MarineNatlBank

MarineNatlBank Marine Natl BankElkStBusinessDist
MarketBroadway1 MarketBroadway1

MarketBroadway1 Market BroadwayElkStBusinessDist
MarketClinton%26Broadway MarketClinton&Broadway

MarketClinton%26Broadway Market Clinton & BroadwayElkStBusinessDist
MastenHighSchool MastenHighSchool

MastenHighSchool Masten High SchoolElkStBusinessDist
McKinleyMonument McKinleyMonument

McKinleyMonument McKinley MonumentElkStBusinessDist
McLeodHotel McLeodHotel

McLeodHotel McLeod HotelElkStBusinessDist
Milburn2 Milburn2

Milburn2 Milburn HotelElkStBusinessDist
Milburn3 Milburn3

Milburn3 Milburn HotelElkStBusinessDist
MillardFillmore1 MillardFillmore1

MillardFillmore1 Millard Fillmore HouseElkStBusinessDist
MillardFillmore2 MillardFillmore2

MillardFillmore2 Millard Fillmore HouseElkStBusinessDist
ModernWoodmenForestersEncam ModernWoodmenForestersEncam

ModernWoodmenForestersEncam Modern Woodmen Foresters EncampmentElkStBusinessDist
ModernWoodmenForestersParad ModernWoodmenForestersParad

ModernWoodmenForestersParad Modern Woodmen Foresters ParadeElkStBusinessDist
MohawkManor MohawkManor

MohawkManor Mohawk ManorElkStBusinessDist
MohawkMotorInn MohawkMotorInn

MohawkMotorInn Mohawk Motor InnElkStBusinessDist
MoreVotYouSee MoreVotYouSee

MoreVotYouSee More Vot You SeeElkStBusinessDist
NYcentralDepot2 NYcentralDepot2

NYcentralDepot2 NY Central DepotElkStBusinessDist
NYcentralDepot3 NYcentralDepot3

NYcentralDepot3 NY central DepotElkStBusinessDist
NYcentralDepot4 NYcentralDepot4

NYcentralDepot4 NY Central DepotElkStBusinessDist
NiaSq2 NiaSq2

NiaSq2 Niagara SquareElkStBusinessDist
NiaSq3 NiaSq3

NiaSq3 Niagara SquareElkStBusinessDist
NiaSq4 NiaSq4

NiaSq4 Niagara SquareElkStBusinessDist
NiaSq5 NiaSq5

NiaSq5 Niagara SquareElkStBusinessDist
NiaSq6 NiaSq6

NiaSq6 Niagara SquareElkStBusinessDist
NiaSq7 NiaSq7

NiaSq7 Niagara SquareElkStBusinessDist
NiaSq8 NiaSq8

NiaSq8 Niagara SquareElkStBusinessDist
NiaSqBirdsEye NiaSqBirdsEye

NiaSqBirdsEye Niagara Square Birds EyeElkStBusinessDist
CentralHighSchool CentralHighSchool

CentralHighSchool Buffalo’s Central High SchoolElkStBusinessDist
On Niagara Square, was torn down to build the State Office Building.NiaSqNoConvCtr NiaSqNoConvCtr

NiaSqNoConvCtr Niagara SquareElkStBusinessDist
No Convention Center Blocking up Genesee NiagaraFallsAeroCar NiagaraFallsAeroCar

NiagaraFallsAeroCar Niagara Falls Aero CarElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsBlvdGardenMotel NiagaraFallsBlvdGardenMotel

NiagaraFallsBlvdGardenMotel Niagara Falls Blvd Garden MotelElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsBorckHotel NiagaraFallsBorckHotel

NiagaraFallsBorckHotel Niagara Falls Brock HotelElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsBuffalotrolley NiagaraFallsBuffalotrolley

NiagaraFallsBuffalotrolley Niagara Falls Buffalo trolleyElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsFalls NiagaraFallsFalls

NiagaraFallsFalls Niagara Falls ElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsFallsSt NiagaraFallsFallsSt

NiagaraFallsFallsSt Niagara Falls Falls StElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsFallsSt1949 NiagaraFallsFallsSt1949

NiagaraFallsFallsSt1949 Niagara Falls Falls St 1949ElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsFallsSt2 NiagaraFallsFallsSt2

NiagaraFallsFallsSt2 Niagara Falls Falls StElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsFallsSt3 NiagaraFallsFallsSt3

NiagaraFallsFallsSt3 Niagara Falls Falls StElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsFallsStAtNite NiagaraFallsFallsStAtNite

NiagaraFallsFallsStAtNite Niagara Falls Falls St At NiteElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsHotelMarconi NiagaraFallsHotelMarconi

NiagaraFallsHotelMarconi Niagara Falls Hotel MarconiElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsMaidofMist NiagaraFallsMaidofMist

NiagaraFallsMaidofMist Niagara Falls Maid of the MistElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsOntMcGibbonsInn NiagaraFallsOntMcGibbonsInn

NiagaraFallsOntMcGibbonsInn Niagara Falls Ont McGibbons InnElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsProspectPoint NiagaraFallsProspectPoint

NiagaraFallsProspectPoint Niagara Falls Prospect PointElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsSheddedWheat2 NiagaraFallsSheddedWheat2

NiagaraFallsSheddedWheat2 Niagara Falls Shedded WheatElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsSkyline NiagaraFallsSkyline

NiagaraFallsSkyline Niagara Falls SkylineElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsTemperanceHouse NiagaraFallsTemperanceHouse

NiagaraFallsTemperanceHouse Niagara Falls Temperance HouseElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraFallsWinterScene NiagaraFallsWinterScene

NiagaraFallsWinterScene Niagara Falls Winter SceneElkStBusinessDist
NiagaraSq1 NiagaraSq1

NiagaraSq1 Niagara SquareElkStBusinessDist
Ninos18Goodell Ninos18Goodell

Ninos18Goodell Ninos 18 GoodellElkStBusinessDist
North-at-Delaware North-at-Delaware

North-at-Delaware North at DelawareElkStBusinessDist
OffermannStadiumMich%26woodla OffermannStadiumMich&woodla

OffermannStadiumMich%26woodla Offermann Stadium Michigan StElkStBusinessDist
OldCityHall1 OldCityHall1

OldCityHall1 Old CityHallElkStBusinessDist
OldCityHall3 OldCityHall3

OldCityHall3 Old City HallElkStBusinessDist
OldCityHall5 OldCityHall5

OldCityHall5 Old City HallElkStBusinessDist
OldHomeWeek1907 OldHomeWeek1907

OldHomeWeek1907 Old Home Week 1907ElkStBusinessDist
PanAmBandStndExposPrkSep1901 PanAmBandStndExposPrkSep1901

PanAmBandStndExposPrkSep1901 Pan Am Band Stand Expos Park Sep 1901ElkStBusinessDist
PanAmCigarBooth PanAmCigarBooth

PanAmCigarBooth Pan Am Cigar BoothElkStBusinessDist
PanAmElectric2 PanAmElectric2

PanAmElectric2 Pan Am Electric BuildingElkStBusinessDist
PanAmElectricyBldg PanAmElectricyBldg

PanAmElectricyBldg Pan Am Electric BldgElkStBusinessDist
PanAmEthnologyBuildings PanAmEthnologyBuildings

PanAmEthnologyBuildings Pan Am Ethnology BuildingsElkStBusinessDist
PanAmMachinery%26Transportati PanAmMachinery&Transportati

PanAmMachinery%26Transportati Pan Am Machinery & Transportation BldgElkStBusinessDist
PanAmManufactures PanAmManufactures

PanAmManufactures Pan Am Manufactures BuildingElkStBusinessDist
PanAmMinesHorticulture PanAmMinesHorticulture

PanAmMinesHorticulture Pan Am Mines & HorticultureElkStBusinessDist
PanAmPresMcKinleyAddress PanAmPresMcKinleyAddress

PanAmPresMcKinleyAddress Pan Am President McKinley AddressElkStBusinessDist
PanAmRainbowCity PanAmRainbowCity

PanAmRainbowCity Pan Am Rainbow CityElkStBusinessDist
PanAmStadium PanAmStadium

PanAmStadium Pan Am StadiumElkStBusinessDist
PanAmTempleofMusic PanAmTempleofMusic

PanAmTempleofMusic Pan Am Temple of MusicElkStBusinessDist
PanAmTempleofMusic2 PanAmTempleofMusic2

PanAmTempleofMusic2 Pan Am Temple of MusicElkStBusinessDist
PanAmUSgovernment PanAmUSgovernment

PanAmUSgovernment Pan Am US Government BldgElkStBusinessDist
ParksideSanitarium1392Amher ParksideSanitarium1392Amher

ParksideSanitarium1392Amher Parkside Sanitarium 1392 Amherst StElkStBusinessDist
PeaceBridge1 PeaceBridge1

PeaceBridge1 Peace BridgeElkStBusinessDist
PeaceBridge2 PeaceBridge2

PeaceBridge2 Peace BridgeElkStBusinessDist
PeaceBridge3 PeaceBridge3

PeaceBridge3 Peace BridgeElkStBusinessDist
PeaceBridge4 PeaceBridge4

PeaceBridge4 Peace BridgeElkStBusinessDist
PearlSt PearlSt

PearlSt Pearl StElkStBusinessDist
PerrysSanckBar373WilliamSt PerrysSanckBar373WilliamSt

PerrysSanckBar373WilliamSt Perrys Snack Bar 373 William StElkStBusinessDist
PierceArrow PierceArrow

PierceArrow Pierce ArrowElkStBusinessDist
PolishChurchCard PolishChurchCard

PolishChurchCard Polish Church CardElkStBusinessDist
PostOffice PostOffice

PostOffice Post OfficeElkStBusinessDist
PublicLibrary PublicLibrary

PublicLibrary Public LibraryElkStBusinessDist
PublicLibrary2 PublicLibrary2

PublicLibrary2 Public LibraryElkStBusinessDist
PumpingWorksCars PumpingWorksCars

PumpingWorksCars Pumping Works CarsElkStBusinessDist
RPPC102massAve RPPC102massAve

RPPC102massAve 102 Massachusetts AveElkStBusinessDist
RPPC1963Ragsman RPPC1963Ragsman

RPPC1963Ragsman 1963 RagsmanElkStBusinessDist
RPPCBfloSodaFountain RPPCBfloSodaFountain

RPPCBfloSodaFountain Bflo Soda FountainElkStBusinessDist
RPPCBfloTransprtatioCo1 RPPCBfloTransprtatioCo1

RPPCBfloTransprtatioCo1 Bflo Transportation CompanyElkStBusinessDist
There are quite a number of these floating around… Looks like a souvenir from your bus tour of Buffalo RPPCBfloTransprtatioCo2 RPPCBfloTransprtatioCo2

RPPCBfloTransprtatioCo2 Bflo Transportation CompanyElkStBusinessDist
RPPCBfloTransprtatioCo3 RPPCBfloTransprtatioCo3

RPPCBfloTransprtatioCo3 Bflo Transportation CompanyElkStBusinessDist
RPPCBflotoScarboroBeachtrol RPPCBflotoScarboroBeachtrol

RPPCBflotoScarboroBeachtrol Buffalo to Scarboro Beach trolleyElkStBusinessDist
RPPCDepewNYstores RPPCDepewNYstores

RPPCDepewNYstores Depew NY storesElkStBusinessDist
RPPCLackawannaMovieHouse RPPCLackawannaMovieHouse

RPPCLackawannaMovieHouse Lackawanna Movie HouseElkStBusinessDist
RPPCMamrosesOP RPPCMamrosesOP

RPPCMamrosesOP Mamroses Restaurant Orchard ParkElkStBusinessDist
RPPCTourSilverStreakTours RPPCTourSilverStreakTours

RPPCTourSilverStreakTours Tour Silver Streak ToursElkStBusinessDist
RPPCcentralParkMarket RPPCcentralParkMarket

RPPCcentralParkMarket Central Park MarketElkStBusinessDist
RPPCembalmedDog RPPCembalmedDog

RPPCembalmedDog Embalmed DogElkStBusinessDist
Buffalo’s been bizaare for a long time….RPPClockportTheTavernMainSt RPPClockportTheTavernMainSt

RPPClockportTheTavernMainSt Lockport The Tavern Main StElkStBusinessDist
RPPCtourbus1 RPPCtourbus1

RPPCtourbus1 tour busElkStBusinessDist
RPPCtourbus2 RPPCtourbus2

RPPCtourbus2 tour bus ElkStBusinessDist
RPPCtourbus3 RPPCtourbus3

RPPCtourbus3 tour busElkStBusinessDist
RPPCtourbus4 RPPCtourbus4

RPPCtourbus4 tour busElkStBusinessDist
RichmondCircle RichmondCircle

RichmondCircle Richmond CircleElkStBusinessDist
RichmondColonialCircle RichmondColonialCircle

RichmondColonialCircle Richmond Colonial CircleElkStBusinessDist
RichmondatPorter RichmondatPorter

RichmondatPorter Richmond at PorterElkStBusinessDist
RiversidePark RiversidePark

RiversidePark Riverside ParkElkStBusinessDist
Rockpile3 Rockpile3

Rockpile3 RockpileElkStBusinessDist
Rockpile4 Rockpile4

Rockpile4 RockpileElkStBusinessDist
SciandrasToyland SciandrasToyland

SciandrasToyland Sciandras ToylandElkStBusinessDist
SesquehanaIronUnionFurnace SesquehanaIronUnionFurnace

SesquehanaIronUnionFurnace Sesquehana Iron Union FurnaceElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq10 SheltonSq10

SheltonSq10 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq11 SheltonSq11

SheltonSq11 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq12 SheltonSq12

SheltonSq12 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq13 SheltonSq13

SheltonSq13 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq14 SheltonSq14

SheltonSq14 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq3 SheltonSq3

SheltonSq3 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq4 SheltonSq4

SheltonSq4 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq5 SheltonSq5

SheltonSq5 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq6 SheltonSq6

SheltonSq6 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq7 SheltonSq7

SheltonSq7 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq8 SheltonSq8

SheltonSq8 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSq9 SheltonSq9

SheltonSq9 Shelton SqElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSqErieCoSavingsBank1 SheltonSqErieCoSavingsBank1

SheltonSqErieCoSavingsBank1 Shelton Sq Erie Co Savings BankElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSqErieCoSavingsBank2 SheltonSqErieCoSavingsBank2

SheltonSqErieCoSavingsBank2 Shelton Sq Erie Co Savings BankElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSqErieCountyBankBldg SheltonSqErieCountyBankBldg

SheltonSqErieCountyBankBldg Shelton Square Erie County Bank BldgElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSquare1 SheltonSquare1

SheltonSquare1 Shelton SquareElkStBusinessDist
SheltonSquare2 SheltonSquare2

SheltonSquare2 Shelton SquareElkStBusinessDist
SistersHospital SistersHospital

SistersHospital Sisters HospitalElkStBusinessDist
SnowballsRestaurant SnowballsRestaurant

SnowballsRestaurant Snowballs RestaurantElkStBusinessDist
SouthParkBotanicalGardens SouthParkBotanicalGardens

SouthParkBotanicalGardens South Park Botanical GardensElkStBusinessDist
SouthParkConservatory-Botanical-Gard SouthParkConservatory-Botanical-Gard

SouthParkConservatory-Botanical-Gard South Park Conservatory Botanical GardensElkStBusinessDist
SouthParkOLV SouthParkOLV

SouthParkOLV South Park OLVElkStBusinessDist
StJosephsCathedral StJosephsCathedral

StJosephsCathedral St Josephs CathedralElkStBusinessDist
StPatricksCathedral StPatricksCathedral

StPatricksCathedral St Patricks CathedralElkStBusinessDist
StarTheatre StarTheatre

StarTheatre Star TheatreElkStBusinessDist
Statler Statler

Statler Statler HotelElkStBusinessDist
StatlerArborDiningRoom StatlerArborDiningRoom

StatlerArborDiningRoom Statler Arbor Dining RoomElkStBusinessDist
StatlerArborRoom StatlerArborRoom

StatlerArborRoom Statler Arbor RoomElkStBusinessDist
StatlerBallRoom StatlerBallRoom

StatlerBallRoom Statler Ball RoomElkStBusinessDist
StatlerDutchGrill StatlerDutchGrill

StatlerDutchGrill Statler Dutch GrillElkStBusinessDist
StatlerEnglishTapRoom StatlerEnglishTapRoom

StatlerEnglishTapRoom Statler English Tap RoomElkStBusinessDist
StatlerLobby StatlerLobby

StatlerLobby Statler LobbyElkStBusinessDist
StatlerPalmRoom StatlerPalmRoom

StatlerPalmRoom Statler Palm RoomElkStBusinessDist
StoneHood-Awing StoneHood-Awing

StoneHood-Awing Stone Hood AwingElkStBusinessDist
SummerSt SummerSt

SummerSt Summer StElkStBusinessDist
Telephone%26IroquoisCars Telephone&IroquoisCars

Telephone%26IroquoisCars Telephone & Iroquois CarsElkStBusinessDist
TheAuditorium%26StMarys TheAuditorium&StMarys

TheAuditorium%26StMarys The Auditorium & St MarysElkStBusinessDist
TheAuditorium1916 TheAuditorium1916

TheAuditorium1916 The Auditorium 1916ElkStBusinessDist
TheChildsPlace TheChildsPlace

TheChildsPlace The Childs PlaceElkStBusinessDist
TheOrleansFerry TheOrleansFerry

TheOrleansFerry The Orleans FerryElkStBusinessDist
TonawandaNiagaraSt%26Canal TonawandaNiagaraSt&Canal

TonawandaNiagaraSt%26Canal Tonawanda Niagara St & CanalElkStBusinessDist
TonawandaSheridan-plaza1953 TonawandaSheridan-plaza1953

TonawandaSheridan-plaza1953 Tonawanda Sheridan Plaza 1953ElkStBusinessDist
TonawandaWurlitzer TonawandaWurlitzer

TonawandaWurlitzer Tonawanda WurlitzerElkStBusinessDist
TownCasinoLiberace TownCasinoLiberace

TownCasinoLiberace Town Casino LiberaceElkStBusinessDist
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Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com
Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com

Ed Little: Great friend, great broadcaster

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

The many Faces of Ed Little By Steve Cichon November, 2004

ED LITTLE spent an astonishing 62 years on radio, nearly all of it in Buffalo and Rochester. His awe-inspiring career took root in 1938 when he stepped in front of the microphone at WEBR as a child actor with a grown-up voice. Later he played many parts on stage and on the air with the UCLA Campus Theater troupe.

ed-little

During World War II, Little carried a wire recorder aboard B-29 bombing missions over Japan and delivered the play-by-play description for later playback on NBC.

Joining WEBR as a music personality post-war, he soon became host of the late-night Town Casino broadcast, interviewing every megastar of the 1950s—from Danny Thomas and Tony Bennett to Johnnie Ray and Rosemary Clooney—at that storied nightclub.

During 1958-64 he lit up the night airwaves at KFMB San Diego, then returned to Buffalo for an eye-opening career shift—becoming the newsman during Joey Reynolds’ nighttime romp on WKBW.

Following 14 years as the afternoon news anchor at WBBF Rochester, Little in 1981 joined the news team at WBEN, where his trademark delivery continued to add a sense of distinction to that station’s aura until his retirement in 2000.

ed-81-2

Ed in the Press… Click to read MORE

edbooth

ed-outsideHe was one of my best pals ever… The late, great Ed Little. He was a WBEN newsman from 1979-2000, was a newsman at KB on the Joey Reynolds Show, and hosted a show live from the Town Casino on WEBR in the early ’50s. He started in radio in the 30s as a child actor, and also flew in bombers over Japan in WWII, recording his play-by-play of bombing runs to be played back later on nationwide radio.

He could sometimes be a pain to work with 🙂 but he NEVER had a bad word to say about anyone, and always had plenty of change to buy you a 25¢ cup of coffee from the vending machine in the basement. Judas PRIEST, indeed!

ed-81-1
Ed Little 1923-2001

Buffalo’s 1520 WKBW Radio: WNY’s great contribution to 20th century pop culture

BUFFALO, NY – It’s funny the way memories begin to haze. Strictly from a Buffalo point of view, in the late 50’s and early 60’s, KB was one of many stations cranking out the music and antics that made for great rock n’ roll radio.

Stations like WBNY, WWOL, WXRA, and later WYSL and a host of others were capturing the imaginations of young people in Buffalo. Tommy Shannon first made girls swoon at WXRA Radio, from a location way out in the boonies. The studio was on rural Niagara Falls Boulevard, in a location which soon would be the home of Swiss Chalet for the next 50 years. WXRA later became WINE, where Hernando played host.

hernadowine
Hernando, on a WINE promo– with a microphone flag edited from WXRA to read WINE. Buffalo Stories archives

 

Tom Clay, one of many disc jockeys to use the name Guy King on WWOL, was arrested after his playing ‘Rock Around the Clock’ over and over again, while perched atop a billboard in Shelton Square. Traffic was snarled for hours in what was considered “Buffalo’s Times Square,” and is now just considered the MetroRail tracks in front of the Main Place Mall.

wwol-shelton-sq
Shelton Square, featuring The Palace Burlesk and WWOL Radio. The block where these buildings stood on Main Street is now a grass-covered park. The Ellicott Square Building, to the right, still stands and gives reference to the location. Buffalo Stories Archives

If you tuned to WBNY in the late 50s, you were likely to hear the voice of Daffy Dan Neaverth, Joey Reynolds (right), Fred Klestine and Henry Brach. At WBNY, Neaverth would pull a rooftop like event similar to Guy King’s, throwing candy out to passersby. Neaverth, perhaps with his boyish good looks and demeanor, evaded arrest for his stunt.

Joey Reynolds
Joey Reynolds

hounddoglorenzAs many of the smaller stations in Buffalo were churning out rhythm and blues music all day, at night, for Buffalo and the entire eastern seaboard, ‘the Hound Sound was around.’

George “Hound Dog” Lorenz, the Godfather of rock n’ roll radio (not just in Buffalo, but PERIOD) first plied his trade in Western New York at Niagara Falls’ WJJL, as early as 1951. By the mid 50’s, Lorenz’s hip daddy style, and the fact that he was spinning records from black artists, made him an institution.

The King and The Hound, Memorial Auditorium
The King and The Hound, Memorial Auditorium

Ironically, the man who brought Elvis to Memorial Auditorium was out at KB when the station went Rock n’ Roll full-time. Lorenz wanted nothing to do with a Top 40 style format. While inspiring many of the changes that came to KB and many other stations around the country, the Hound stayed true to his style, and founded WBLK Radio; where he continued to uncover and spotlight new artists, both in Buffalo, and to a syndicated audience around the country.

KB broadcast to the white area on the map.
KB broadcast to the white area on the map.

Despite a pioneering spirit and great imaginative programming, each of those true rock n’roll pioneer stations had unique problems. Either they weren’t well financed, or had daytime-only signals so weak that they couldn’t be heard throughout the city and all the nearby suburbs.

Enter WKBW Radio, soon with the corporate backing of owner Capital Cities (now THE DISNEY CORPORATION, by the way), and its monstrous 50,000 watt signal. With an eventual 50% of the marketshare, KB quickly blew all of the much smaller competitors out of the water. Half of the audience was listening to KB. Never before, and never since, has a radio station been so dominant in Buffalo.

Before Top 40 came to KB, Stan Barron hosted the Morning Clockwatcher show, live each morning outside the Main Street studios.
Before Top 40 came to KB, Stan Barron hosted the Morning Clockwatcher show, live each morning outside the Main Street studios.

On July 4, 1958, Futursonic Radio was alive on WKBW. The rock n’roll era had arrived on a respectable, long established Buffalo radio station. When station manager Al Anscombe first convinced the Reverend Clinton Churchill to make the switch to Top 40, initially, the station was stocked with out-of-towners at the direction of the man who’d established WBNY as the city’s Top 40 leader, program director Dick Lawrence.

But eventually, a base of homegrown talent sprinkled with some of the most talented people from around the country, KB built an unprecedented following in Buffalo and around the country. Most of the names already mentioned here made their way to KB, and many reading this might not know or remember they worked elsewhere.

As often happens, over the last 50 years, for better or for worse, people who remember Guy King or the earliest Tom Shannon or Daffy Dan Neaverth shows, will think they heard those things on KB, forgetting those early pioneering rock n’roll days. If you watched Elvis shake his hips on Ed Sullivan for the first time, and you then listened to Elvis on the radio– It wasn’t likely KB, even though your memory might tell you otherwise.

The Disc Jockeys of WKBW. Left: Fred Klestine, Dan Neaverth, Jay Nelson, Jack Kelly, Doug James, Bob Diamond, Tom Shannon
The Disc Jockeys of WKBW. Left: Fred Klestine, Dan Neaverth, Jay Nelson, Jack Kelly, Doug James, Bob Diamond, Tom Shannon

Many who played a part in making those smaller stations great feel slighted by the fact that KB has swallowed up the collective memory of the early rock n’roll era; but it’s no slight on those great stations and the folks who worked there: It’s more a testament to the incredible juggernaut that KB was. Henry Ford didn’t invent the automobile, he was just the first to make the same car available to everyone.

With its clear-channel 50,000 watt signal, KB was heard all over the eastern half of North America. Anyone who worked at KB in its heyday has stories. The Joey Reynolds Show was a resounding Number 1 in Buffalo. But 370 miles away in Baltimore, the show showed up in the ratings as number 4. The late newsman Ed Little would remember being in the room as packages containing female lingerie were opened; sent from Maryland by an obviously big fan. Don Yearke, known as Don Keller the Farm Feller back in the early 60s on KB, was recognized along with his KB Litter Box by a fan in Southern Pennsylvania.

Program from the night Joey Reynolds and Fred Klestine wrestled the Gallagher Brothers at Memorial Auditorium.,
Program from the night Joey Reynolds and Fred Klestine wrestled the Gallagher Brothers at Memorial Auditorium.,

Starting in the mid 50s, and running through the mid 70s, its fair to say cumulatively, that nighttime KB disc jockeys like George “Hound Dog” Lorenz, Dick Biondi, Tommy Shannon, Jay Nelson, Joey Reynolds, Sandy Beach, and Jack Armstrong enjoyed more listeners on a single radio station during that clear-channel time in the evening, than any other station in the country.

For that reason, KB owns a special place not only in Buffalo’s pop cultural lexicon, but also for thousands and thousands of fans, who just like the ones in Buffalo, fell asleep with their transistor under their pillow, wondering where the hell Lackawanna was.

The proof is in a quick search of WKBW on your favorite search engine. People from all over the country, and not just Buffalo transplants, have built websites dedicated to keeping the memory of WKBW alive. It’s a part of Buffalo’s past of which we should all be proud.

Listen to WKBW!

WKBW 1958

Narrated by then-KB Radio newsman Irv Weinstein, this piece reflects the KB staff from it’s first year as a Top 40 station. It starts with The Perry Allen show, with an Irv Weinstein KB Pulsebeat Newscast… with some of the great writing and style Irv would become known for in Buffalo over the next 40 years. You’ll also hear from Russ Syracuse, Johnny Barrett, Art Roberts, and Dick Biondi.

WKBW 1963

Narrated by Irv Weinstein, Instant KB was actually released on a single-sided album sized record for distribution sponsors on the local and national level. You’ll hear snippets of disc jockeys Stan Roberts, Fred Klestine, Jay Nelson, Dan Neaverth, and Joey Reynolds at work, followed by a Henry Brach newscast, and a quick excerpt from Irv Weinstein’s documentary “Buffalo and La Cosa Nostra.” Many KB commercials and contests follow.


WKBW 1972

The famous Jeff Kaye produced and narrated look at KB in 1971, with jocks Danny Neaverth, Jack Sheridan, Don Berns, Sandy Beach, Jack Armstrong, Bob McCrea, and Casey Piotrowski, with Kaye’s thoughts and insights on each in between. First appeared on album form from the industry periodical “Programmer’s Digest.”


More photos from the Buffalo Stories archives

Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com
Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com

The Mound in the Meadow: Buffalo’s Tomb of the Unknowns at Delaware Park

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

BUFFALO, NY – The village of Buffaloe was, in 1814 described by one visitor as “a nest of villians, rogues, rescals, pickpockets, knaves, and extortioners.”

When the British burned Buffalo, it was a small village of log cabins, with tree stumps strewn in the streets. It’s difficult to imagine the Buffalo of 200 years ago, but suffice it to say, the the area that is now Forest Lawn cemetery, the Parkside neighborhood, and Delaware Park, then known as Flint Hill, far outside the tiny village, served as a home base for American troops invading British Canada during the early part of the War of 1812.

Roughly half of those garrisoned here never made it home.

While the detail of the story follows, and is illustrated in the articles shown to the left, it’s enough to know that basically, after several failed attempts to invade Fort Erie by crossing the Niagara, a decision was made that troops would spend the winter of 1812 at their home base at Flint Hill.

These were volunteers, mostly from places like Maryland, Virginia, and Southern Pennsylvania. They came to Buffalo in the summer time, with their southern-styled thin linen uniforms. They had open ended tents in which to sleep, and very few blankets. No woollen winter uniforms.No boots. Food was scarce this far out on the frontier. When sickness spread through the camp, called a “dreadful contagion” by the newspapers of the day, soldiers began to succumb. Quickly.

Given the rocky soil of the area, the fact that is was frozen solid in the harsh winter, and the fact that so many were dying so quickly, men were buried in graves around a foot deep on the edge of the camp. In the spring, Dr. Daniel Chapin, upon who’s land they were camped, dug up and reburied all 300 men in a single trench, in an easy to dig meadow in the middle of his expansive backyard.

Chapin’s home was at what is now Main Street and Jewett Parkway; his backyard, Delaware Park. He buried the men in the middle of what is now the golf course, and planted willow trees to mark the spot.

When 80 years later, the willow trees began to die, a marker was placed on a boulder, in the middle of what was then the Park Meadow.

Since then, the hallowed spot, and the sacrifice made by those men to defend our nation have slowly been forgotten; especially as the nation’s first public golf course opened as that game began to sweep the nation just before the turn of the century.

In the 1920s, flappers used the cannons for playful photo backdrops (see left). By the 1940s, “The Cannons” were a well-known and well trodden night spot for teenagers looking to imbibe away from the watchful eyes of grown ups.

Ironically, by the late 60s, when the infamous Park Meadow Bar at Parkside and Russell was filled beyond capacity, the overflow crowd often went to the actual park meadow, with a 6 pack or a case to drink the night away.

At some point, the cannons disappeared. Sometime during the 1970s. Maybe something as simple as a parks worker sick of mowing around them, or the parent of one of those drunken youths making noise after he was “innocently” injured by one of those muzzleloaders. (If you know what happened to those cannon, let us know!!)

By the late 1990s, renewed efforts by area historians Michael Riester and Patrick Kanavagh began shedding new light on the War of 1812, and the Parkside area’s roll in it.

A Flint Hill marker was placed at the corner of Main and Humboldt through the hard work or Patrick and Michael. Now, along with fellow historian Steve Cichon, they are trying to call attention to Buffalo’s Tomb of the Unknowns, as the bicentennial of the War looming.

I dedicate it to the memory of those who, during the War of 1812, died from wounds and disease, and whose remains find here repose; who left home and friends, to repel the invasion of a foreign foe; to defend our hill sides, valleys and plains, and who feared not death in defense of the flag. I dedicate this memorial, which will for ages mark their final resting place, to their honor and memory.

May their noble example and this tribute to their honor and memory prove an incentive to future generations to emulate their unselfish loyalty and patriotism, when called upon to defend their country’s honor, and if need be die in defence of the flag, the glorious stripes and stars, emblem of liberty, equal rights and National unity.

– Speech dedicating the Memorial, 1896

Below, you’ll find two different full accountings of what happened in the Parkside/Forest Lawn/Delaware Park area during the winter of 1812 which left about 300 American soldiers buried in a single trench mass grave, in the middle of what’s now Delaware Park golf course, without any real accounting of who was buried there.

cannon


On the penultimate Memorial Day before the celebration of the War of 1812’s centennial, an event was organized to remember the sacrifice of the soldiers who died at the mound in the meadow.

Coverage from The Buffalo News:

Better memorial sought for grave of War of 1812 dead  – Delaware Park site is largely unknown

The Buffalo News  |  May 29, 2011  |  Phil Fairbanks – NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Next time you’re playing the fourth hole at Delaware Park Golf Course, look down and say thanks to the 300 war dead buried there.

Better yet, stop and read the small plaque on a nearby boulder, the only physical reminder of the so-called Tomb of the Unknowns.

Unbeknown to most visitors, under the middle of the park’s sprawling green meadow lies a mass grave for American soldiers who died of disease and exposure during the War of 1812.

Because of the public’s lack of awareness of the grave, a small cadre of local historians is pushing for a better memorial of the “sacred site” and the men who made the ultimate sacrifice for a young country.

“It was like a punch in the face to find out about this,” said Steve Cichon, a local radio reporter and historian. “I just can’t imagine someone putting their life on the line for me and then being forgotten, even 200 years later.”

Monday, Cichon will join a group of volunteers in planting 300 American flags at the burial site as part of a Memorial Day ceremony.

The flags simply are a first step in a larger campaign by activists who think more needs to be done to recognize the grave site and the contributions of the men buried there, many of them volunteers from as far away as Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

“We’re trying to educate people,” said Patrick Kavanagh, a local historian. “No death is nice, but these men, and maybe women too, died a terrible death.”

The efforts to improve the memorial coincide with next year’s bicentennial of the war’s beginning and are rooted in a patriotic story of courage and sacrifice by young men ill- prepared for the winter of 1812.

“This is immensely important historically and one of the park’s hidden treasures,” Thomas Herrera-Mishler, president of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, said of the burial site.

These were American soldiers, who after failing in their attempts to cross the Niagara River and invade Fort Erie, fell back to what was then known as Flint Hill.

Their camp stretched from what is now Forest Lawn Cemetery to Jewett Parkway and Main Street, and included much of what became Delaware Park.

Equipped with warm-weather uniforms and inadequate tents and facing a shortage of food, the American soldiers soon found themselves falling victim to illness and eventually death.

“Some of them didn’t even have footwear, and they had summer clothing at best,” said Kavanagh. “It was just an incredible loss of life.”

One by one, they were buried in shallow graves because of the frozen ground and naturally hard soil. That spring that Dr. Daniel Chapin, who owed the land and lived nearby, dug up the bodies and reburied them in a single mass grave.

To mark the burial ground, Chapin planted willow trees. And when the willows died decades later, park officials replaced them with the boulder and plaque that remain there today.

“May their noble example and this tribute to their honor and memory prove an incentive to future generations to emulate their unselfish loyalty and patriotism,” Parks Commissioner David F. Day said in a 1896 speech dedicating the monument.

But future generations did exactly what Day said they shouldn’t do — they forgot.

Cichon says he has no problem with the golf course covering the grave site but thinks the monument to the men buried there should be more prominent. Not long ago, two old cannons and a flagpole also sat there.

“Can we get the canons back? I don’t know,” said Herrera-Mishler, “but we’re very open and welcoming to ideas.”

Herrera-Mishler is quick to note that the Conservancy’s master plan for the park calls for adding interpretive signs that document the park’s history and expanding foot trails so they reach the boulder and plaque.

For Cichon, Kavanagh and fellow historian Mike Riester, the boulder and plaque fail to adequately memorialize the tremendous loss of life that occurred that winter nearly 200 years ago.

“They died at a clip of seven or eight a day,” said Cichon, the author of a book on Parkside’s history. “People need to know that and pay reverence to it.”

A new memorial would mean everything to Riester, who has been working on this effort for 15 years.

“These men are still unknown and forgotten,” he said. “It’s like it didn’t even happen.

“I would like to leave this earth knowing this has been fixed, and that these men will always been remembered,” he said.

2011 event at The Mound in the Meadow

Money was raised over the following year, and a memorial was placed on Ring Road at once of the entrances to the Buffalo Zoo.

The story was covered in newspapers all over the world, including The New York Times and USA Today. Coverage in The Buffalo News:

Monument will honor 300 soldiers who gave their lives in War of 1812

Buffalo News, The (NY) |  May 6, 2012 | Phil Fairbanks – NEWS STAFF REPORTER

When Steve Cichon learned about the 300 war dead buried in the middle of Delaware Park, he said, it was like a punch in the face.

It also struck him that the small plaque on the fourth hole of the golf course, the only evidence of the mass burial site, was a grossly insufficient way of honoring the War of 1812 soldiers who died defending their country.

On Memorial Day, with the bicentennial anniversary of the war looming, Cichon will unveil the results of a campaign to right that wrong — a new monument to the American war dead once hailed for their “unselfish loyalty and patriotism.”

“It’s just great that it will finally get done,” said Cichon, a local radio reporter and historian. “And something would have been lost if we had waited until the 201st anniversary of the war.”

The new monument to the “Tomb of the Unknowns” will be located on Buffalo Zoo property near Ring Road and the zoo’s bison exhibit.

“One quick email and Donna Fernandes said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’ ” Cichon said. With the site locked up, Cichon turned his attention to fundraising, and he quickly raised enough to buy a discounted stone monument.

The discount came courtesy of Stone Art Memorial, a Lackawanna monument company that, like the zoo, wanted to help. Cichon also persuaded Paul Broad, a local concrete contractor, to help build a base for the monument.

“It’s been a real grass-roots effort,” said Cichon. “I raised money by haranguing all my Facebook friends.”

More than $1,500 later, he is ready to unveil what he and a small group of advocates have spent years lobbying for — a more suitable reminder of the sacrifice made by the 300 men who were ill-prepared for the winter of 1812.

They were American soldiers who, after failing in their attempts to cross the Niagara River and invade Fort Erie, Ont., fell back to what later became known as the Flint Hill Encampment. It covered an area from what is now Forest Lawn to Jewett Parkway and Main Street, and it included much of what is now Delaware Park.

Equipped with warm-weather uniforms and inadequate tents and facing a shortage of food, the American soldiers soon fell victim to illness, disease and eventually death.

They were buried in shallow graves because of the frozen ground and naturally hard soil, but that spring, Dr. Daniel Chapin, who owned the land and lived nearby, dug up the bodies and reburied them in a mass grave.

To mark the burial ground, Chapin planted willow trees. When the willows died decades later, park officials replaced them with the boulder and plaque that remain in place today.

“May their noble example and this tribute to their honor and memory prove an incentive to future generations to emulate their unselfish loyalty and patriotism,” Parks Commissioner David F. Day said in an 1896 speech dedicating the monument.

Unlike the old monument, a plaque on a boulder in the middle of the golf course, this memorial will be highly visible to anyone walking the park’s Ring Road.

It also provides visitors with an easy view of the original plaque and boulder, at the site where the soldiers are actually buried.

“It’s an ideal location,” Cichon said of the new site outside the zoo. “It’s also the right thing to do.”

Photos: 2012 Dedication of new memorial on Ring Road

Buffalo News editorial, from Memorial Day 2012:

Remember the sacrifices – Take time to honor the men and women who have made our freedoms possible

Chances are, if you spent any time planning for this weekend, it was to make a tee time, get the pool ready for the summer or buy provisions for a cookout of grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.

We’ve long treated Memorial Day as the unofficial kickoff to summer ? a last-Monday-in-May, guaranteed three-day weekend ? while forgetting why we observe the holiday.

But it’s not too late, even if you just take a moment today to recognize the sacrifices made by those who died at far too early an age in the service of their country.

For more than two centuries, families from this area have sent off to war teenagers and young adults, some not old enough to legally drink, only to see too many of them return in a coffin.

This year marks the bicentennial of the start of the War of 1812, which saw bitter fighting here, including the burning of Buffalo and other Niagara Frontier villages.

Some 300 soldiers in that war died while camped in what is now Delaware Park. They are buried there in a mass grave.

So it is fitting that a memorial to the “Tomb of the Unknowns” will be unveiled today, near the Buffalo Zoo, by Steve Cichon, a local radio reporter and historian who led the effort to better recognize the 300.

For the past year, Buffalo Niagara has joined the rest of the nation in marking the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, our nation’s bloodiest war.

It’s only fitting that our attention turns back to Fort Sumter, Antietam, Gettysburg and Appomattox, because Memorial Day traces its origins to Decoration Day, a holiday established in 1868 to honor the dead from that war.

But we don’t have to look to the history books, or stoop to peer at the fading words on a long-dead soldier’s crumbling tombstone to recognize the sacrifices made in the name of the United States of America.

This is the first Memorial Day observed since the withdrawal, in December, of the last U.S. combat troops from Iraq, where 4,486 American servicemen and women died since that war began in 2003.

We continue to wage war in Afghanistan, where Americans have served since October 2001, making it by far the lengthiest war in U.S. history.

The American death count for that conflict is nearing 2,000, and coalition forces will continue to press the fight against the Taliban there through the end of 2014, President Obama and his NATO allies said last week.

We will leave Afghanistan as we left Iraq, without declaring victory, mourning the dead and, while hopeful, worrying what will happen after we’ve departed.

Unlike in previous conflicts, the general public hasn’t been asked to make much of a sacrifice during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so the burden has fallen disproportionately on the servicemen and women and their families.

But we can take this one day to make a gesture to honor those who paid for our freedom with their lives. Display the flag, attend a Memorial Day ceremony, tend the grave of a fallen veteran or take your children to a parade ? but spend a few minutes explaining why we’re having a parade today.


parksidecover

From: The Complete History of Parkside by Steve Cichon (2009)
Chapter 2: Parkside Goes to War

Erastus Granger had been at Flint Hill less than a decade; the Plains Rangers less than five years when the War of 1812 broke out. The Parkside/Flint Hill area played several prominent roles in that conflict. Flint Hill was an encampment and training ground for soldiers preparing to invade Canada. It was also a sanctuary when the village of Buffalo was burned to the ground. Given the nature of war and brutal Buffalo winters, the area also served as a burial ground for hundreds who never made it home.

Throughout much of the documentation about the War of 1812, the Flint Hill Camp was described as “Camp near Buffalo.” This was explained in Peace Episodes on the Niagara (Buffalo Historical Society, 1914).

“In 1812, the Army of the Frontier went into winter quarters at Flint Hill, with Scajaquada creek as a convenient water supply.” Barton Atkins, the great chronicler of history of this period, wrote about the encampment in Modern Antiquities: The camp extended on Main Street from the present Humboldt Parkway northerly to the lands of Dr. Daniel Chapin… and westerly to the head of the Park Lake, on lands belonging to Erastus Granger. On the Main-street front of this old camp-ground stand several venerable oaks, relics of the old camp. The one directly opposite the Deaf and Dumb Asylum is distinguished as the one under which a row of soliders kneeled when shot for desertion in the spring of 1813.

The camp spread from what is now Forest Lawn to near Jewett Parkway along Main Street, and stretched as far back as the Delaware Park Lake. The shooting mentioned was Buffalo’s first execution. As of 1914, one of the old trees that bore witness to the capital punishment still remained in the backyard of 24 Florence Avenue (corner of Crescent.)

Flint Hill, along with the rest of the Niagara Frontier, was a hotbed of activity early in the war as a planned launching point for the invasion of British Canada, and as it was Indian Agent Granger’s job to keep the Native Americans neutral. The Buffalo Gazette of June 2nd, 1812, reports Granger met with the chiefs of the Six Nations, at which time they acknowledged no desire to enter conflict between the US and Canada.

By early August however, after the rumor spread of the British and their Indian Allies gaining control of Seneca-owned Grand Island, Seneca chief Red Jacket told Granger that the Seneca Warriors wished to join the conflict against the British and “drive off those bad people from our land.” As his correspondence from the time shows, Granger spent much of the ensuing year walking a tightrope, trying to make both the Indians and the powers in Washington happy.

The most complete meetings of chiefs in many years was held again on Main Street at the Granger farm in September, and this time the Senecas, the Onondagas, and the Cayugas voted to “take up the hatchet on behalf of the United States.” Those who volunteered their services at the council agreed that they “would go home as soon as the council fire was extinguished, arm and equip themselves for battle, and return to Buffalo.”

Though it was the continued hope to keep the young men of the Six Nations neutral, given the fact that “within a fortnight, between two and four hundred savages” would be in Buffalo ready to fight, President James Madison was forced to allow Granger to accept the services and organize the warriors of the Six Nations.

Still, there were many stops and starts in the Iroquois joining the war effort. Several times, after being asked to assemble, native warriors weren’t used. After nearly a year of “dancing” between native chiefs and Washington bureaucrats, the two sides kept in alliance by the constant work of Granger, it was Granger’s safety that ultimately had the Indians take to arms in combat.

They finally entered the conflict when their friend, Erastus Granger, was in peril. The Canadian British put a price on his head, and had Flint Hill… yes, modern day Parkside… marked for destruction. Judge Granger received word of this on July 10, 1813, and sent word to the greatest Seneca warrior of his time, the old chief Farmer’s Brother. Granger’s longtime compatriot, who fought in both the French and Indian War of the 1760s, and the American War of Independence, had received a medal from George Washington for his service. It was also “from Washington’s lips” that came the name “Farmer’s Brother,” by which the chief would be known for the rest of his days.

A man of at least 80 years old in 1813, Farmer’s Brother traveled from his hut in the Indian village in today’s South Buffalo, to what’s now the Parkside neighborhood, with warriors in tow, ready to fight. The Indians readied for war at the Granger home on Main Street. James Granger wrote an account of the night in his 1893 book Granger Genealogy. The chief and his followers arrived at 11 o’clock, and the night was spent preparing for the coming fray. Bullets were molded by the great fire in the kitchen (of the Granger Homestead), messengers hurried into the neighboring village for arms and ammunition, and the Indians were banqueted on unlimited salt pork prepared by Mrs. Granger’s own hands.

After over a year of waiting to join the conflict, the Senecas would finally join the war. Granger, led by Farmer’s Brother and the Senecas followed Guide Board Road (North Street today) to Black Rock. There, they met with General Porter, who decided to initiate an offensive against the British along the shores of the Niagara River.

The Senecas prepared for battle in a ritual never seen by the American troops assembled at the spot. They took of all of their clothes; stripped down to their breechcloths. Granger and the Senecas were on the right side of the line, regulars in the middle, white volunteers to the left, ready to take on the British. At the order of General Porter, the Indians leapt forward with a yell that startled both their enemy… and their allies. Within minutes, the enemy had retreated. The Indians had even rushed into the water to pull soldiers from their boats as they paddled in retreat for the safety of the Canadian shore. The victory was complete. Buffalo, Black Rock, and Granger’s Flint Hill Estate were safe, for now, due mostly to the tenacity of Farmer’s Brother’s men.

Because of its location, both high in elevation, and a relatively safe-yet-close-enough distance to Black Rock, Flint Hill had become an important meeting place for the military leaders both the United States and of the Six Nations (now Five Nations, with the Mohawks fighting along side the British.) Captain George Howard of the 25th Infantry spent some time at the Granger place recovering his strength and health. He wrote home to Connecticut on June 6, 1813, that he had met many of the famous chiefs of the Six Nations, including Red Jacket, Parrot Nose, Bill Johnson, Young King, Farmer’s Brother, and Silver Heels.

The Burning of Buffalo

Five months after that first battle, in December, 1813, by now Col. Granger and 83 Seneca Warriors under his command again responded to a British attack on Black Rock, but this time, they were forced to retreat when so many other soldiers fled from the line. Granger returned to his home, several miles away, to relative safety. As hoards of men retreated, and the lines of protection broke apart, the British marched up Niagara Street from Black Rock to Buffalo, and over the course of the coming days, laid torch to all but a handful of buildings in the village of Buffalo.

As the British and their Indian allies made their way towards Buffalo, the women and children of the village moved north up Main Street in an obviously harried fashion. Though many fled as far as Clarence Hollow and Williamsville, many dozens sought refuge and stayed safe in the home of Judge Granger on Flint Hill, and in the homes of the Buffalo Plains. As mentioned in the previous chapter, it is noted in several histories, including Studies of the Niagara Frontier, that homes on the Buffalo Plains, like that of Zachary Griffin, were not burned because, “the Indians in their course of destruction with musket and firebrand were too much overcome with liquor before they reached this house to do any further damage.”

In fact, none of the buildings as far north as current day Parkside were burned as the British and their Indian allies left Buffalo a pile of smoldering timber. It made the area, especially Granger’s place, a location where many women and children took up semi-permanent residence, while the men who weren’t taking to arms took to rebuilding the village. Encampment at Buffalo

Picture Delaware Park, all along the Scajaquada Expressway, over the Park Meadow and golf course, all the way up to Main Street filled with tents, bonfires, and soldiers milling about. As early as September 1812, over a year before the burning of Buffalo, General Alexander Smythe had planned to use Buffalo and Black Rock as a staging ground for an invasion of Canada; many of his troops, particularly Pennsylvania volunteers under the command of General Adamson Tannehill, were camped and drilling at Flint Hill.

Smythe was an interesting character, if not an effective General, or even a buffoon. His actions (and inactions) make it apparent that he felt that inspirational writing and speeches could surmount instilling discipline and training his men, many of whom were not professional soldiers, but volunteers; signing up only as the Union was in peril. Smythe was written of by Frank Severance in Episodes of Peace on the Niagara (1914): He was… often ridiculous, and has been remembered… chiefly because of certain bombastic proclamations which he issued during his short career in Buffalo and vicinity. Historians… have written of him only in a vein of amused contempt…. calling him “supercilious, dictatorial, impertinent.” (and) “indecisive, puerile and cowardly.”

The folly and incompetence of General Smythe made his troops rambunctious. During the fall and winter of 1812, many citizens of the Buffalo area were alarmed to find their fields and barns being plundered by Smythe’s hungry or simply bored soldiers. William Hodge, Jr. wrote about one series of incidents in Recalling Pioneer Days: Once several fat sheep were put into a horse stable, among the horses, just at night to be dressed the next morning; but when morning came they were gone. They had been taken a short distance into the orchard, and dressed, or butchered and carried off to camp. At last some of the soldiers were caught at this work. They were taken to their camp, and delivered up to the officers for punishment; but to this the officers were not disposed. This rather exasperated some of the inhabitants, who asked the commanding officer what they should do to the soldiers if they were caught at any more of these depredations. He said, “Shoot them, shoot them down the rascals.”

After this a number of the young men of the town kept watch at night. Of this group Velorus Hodge was one and they kept watch one night at the bridge of Granger’s creek, Main street. (This is roughly the intersection of Main Street and Jefferson Avenue.) After a while the one on guard outside discovered eight soldiers crossing the bridge, and hailed them. They answered, “What businesses have you to stop soldiers on the march?” and then a pistol was fired by one of them. The guard returned the fire. This started out those in the house; they sallied forth and all fired at the soldiers giving them an effectual peppering with shot.

Five of the soldiers fell to the ground and three making their escape. Of the five four were wounded by the shot; the fifth fell to save himself from being shot. These five were marched into camp the next morning and delivered over to the commanding officer, who approved of the course taken by the citizens. This put a check upon the stealing and plundering for quite a while.

Granger’s Creek is today Scajaquada Creek. The bridge talked about, though well hidden, still goes over Main Street near Jefferson. Plans to Invade Canada Hatched in Parkside

Plainly, his troops hated him. General Smythe wrote many verbose and bombastic proclamations to his troops, and verbally delivered several more, most of which won him “the derision of friend and foe.” He was known as “Alexander the Great” and “Napoleon the Second.” Plenty of his hot air was blown in preparation for his plans to invade Canada.

Those plans were set into motion on November 28, 1812. Smythe had as many as 8,000 men champing at the bit. He had been building, collecting, and fixing boats by the dozen for crossing the Niagara River at Black Rock. At this point, Smythe’s rhetoric had worked, whipping his men into a frenzy, ready to spill across the river at Black Rock for the glory of the union. Trumpets played Yankee Doodle Dandy, further lighting the fires under the men on a cold winter day, with wind and snow blowing off the Niagara River. An early morning crossing of 420 men in 21 boats were met with musket fire as they approached the shore to the south of Fort Erie. What happened next was the final straw for Smythe’s men. What happened… was nothing.

Wrote Frank Severance in Episodes of Peace on the Niagara (1914):

From sunrise to late afternoon, his army was embarking- the enemy on the other side of the river, in constantly-increasing numbers, looking on at the show. General Smythe did not appear at all, leaving the details to his subordinates. For hours the troops shivered in the boats, some of which, stranded on shore, filled with snow and ice. Late in the day, when at length everything seemed ready for a grand movement across the stream, General Smythe issued an amazing order: “Disembark and dine!” Disgusted and angered, the whole force was at the point of rebellion.

Two more days of similar commands to climb aboard boats… spend the day in the tiny wooden craft, freezing along the Niagara River shore in late November Buffalo weather, and then never leaving that snow and ice- filled shore.

After having been “whipped into a frenzy” days before, some men smashed their muskets against trees in disgust, and many of those who didn’t ruin their guns made mutinous use of them, firing in the direction of Smythe himself. Legend has it that musket ball holes filled General Smythe’s Flint Hill tent by the end of that third night. Of the 1700 Pennsylvania volunteers camped at Flint Hill, 600 deserted in a 24 hour period. General Peter Porter wrote an article in the Buffalo Gazette calling Smythe a coward for refusing to move forward with the planned invasion. The two fought a duel with pistols, but both shots were errant, neither hitting the other.

Between his officer colleague and the angry soldiers under his command, Smythe had survived perhaps dozens attempts on his life over a two week period, and had had enough. On December 17, 1812, within days of his three failed attempts at invading Canada, and, fresh on the heels of gun fire pointed in his direction from both a fellow general and his own men, Smythe would leave Buffalo and Flint Hill for his native Virginia. The Army Register states that he was “disbanded.” But the soldiers who lived through the rest of the winter of 1813 on Flint Hill had not yet seen the worst of it all. A horrific lasting monument to the war, still in Parkside, but little known, had yet to be created. Buffalo’s Tomb of the Unknowns

Enlist your imagination once again. Picture living in Buffalo, in November and December, in open-ended tents, wearing linen uniforms, and having only very few, if any, blankets, coats, socks and boots. It was these conditions in Parkside in 1813 that yielded the mass, virtually unmarked grave that thousands of Western New Yorkers unknowingly drive by each day as they commute by Delaware Park on Route 198.

Up until the time of Smythe’s abortive campaign to invade, the mostly Southern soldiers all lived in mere pup tents. In Buffalo. In the winter. Once the offensive proved a failure, they were ordered to build huts for the winter, but most were slow to comply. The troops stationed on Flint Hill were mostly from Pennsylvania, and even further south, and showed up to Buffalo, in autumn, in their linen uniforms. Now winter had arrived, but more appropriate uniforms had not. Many Buffalo, Flint Hill, and Buffalo Plains families took in soldiers, but the village was just too small to accommodate the great number of troops wintering here.

Food supplies were unreliable to the front in Buffalo, and food that arrived was often rancid. Colonel Widner, Smythe’s second in command, stationed at Fort Niagara, had been experiencing the same conditions to the north. He reported in a letter to his commander in at Flint Hill, “We’re starving at this end of the line for bread.” The conditions were same at the camp that ran through what is now Forest Lawn Cemetery, along Main Street to the north, and into Delaware Park.

It is among these demoralized, starving, freezing troops that a “Camp Distemper,” described as a “dreadful contagion” broke out. The following account comes from an American prisoner of the British, and pays eyewitness account to what the winter of 1812-13 was like in Parkside:

That the enemy have about 3,000 troops one mile and a half in rear of Black Rock, under camp at a place called Judge Granger’s, where the General (Smythe), his aide-de-camp and several officers of rank live.. their camp is unhealthy… they die from eight to nine daily… the dead.. are put into holes two or three of which are made every day, and into each put two to four dead men. The doctors say the disease is as bad as the plague. The patients are first taken with a pain in the head, and in an hour-and-a-half or two hours they invariably die. Besides this disease he mentions their being afflicted with pleurisy, dysentery, and measles.

The Buffalo newspapers of the day daily listed the names of the dead, until the numbers became too great; eventually the Army stopped releasing the names. The home towns, listed next to the names, show, once again, that these men, from places like Baltimore, southern Pennsylvania, and Virginia, would have likely had a difficult time acclimating to Buffalo’s winter climate, even without the starvation and disease that was present. From the Buffalo Gazette, on December 22, 1812: The FEVER, which has made such dreadful havoc among our soldiers and citizens, continues to rage. The Physicians are taking unwearied pains to ascertain the character of the disease and to prescribe an effective remedy for it. Bloodletting is generally fatal in violent cases.

It wasn’t just soldiers who contracted this illness. While the causes of many of their deaths are lost to history, it’s a fact that many residents of the Buffalo Plains and Flint Hill died during this time. Among those who passed that winter were Samuel Atkins, the first Plains Ranger, and Parthenia Chapin, the wife of Dr. Daniel Chapin.

Whether Mrs. Chapin died from one of the many illnesses sweeping through the camp or not, it is certain that she knew of the suffering first hand. It was on the outskirts of the Chapin property that the several daily shallow graves mentioned above were dug. As any gardener in Parkside knows, Flint Hill derives its name from the rocky soil abundant in the area. This is also apparent to anyone who drives the Kensington Expressway; and sees the solid rock that was blasted through near the Scajaquada Expressway interchange.

While digging graves by hand would be a challenge in good weather, these graves, again two or three per day, were being dug in the difficult frozen ground of winter. Often times, they were no more than a foot deep. Dr. Chapin offered his land for the burial, and tavern owner William Hodge was pressed into service to make coffins for the dead. Records say he crafted 300 pine coffins to be used for burying the soldiers who died while encamped on Flint Hill. Written in Buffalo Cemeteries (1879):

The troops of General Smythe remained at Flint Hill until the following spring. During this time there prevailed among them a typhoid epidemic. Deprived as they were of comfortable hospitals, and a sufficient supply of medical agents, it carried off about three hundred of them. They were put into plain pine board coffins, furnished by William Hodge Sr., and temporarily buried near the south line of the Chapin place; but the rock came so near to the surface that their graves could not be more than about a foot in depth.

The ensuing spring they were removed some distance, to the north side of the farm, where the ground was a sandy loam and easily dug. Leave to bury them there being given by the respective owners of the farms, Capt. Rowland Cotton and Doctor Daniel Chapin, they were deposited directly on the dividing line between these farms, in one common grave. Doctor Chapin planted two yellow willows, one at each end of the grave, which have become large trees, and are yet growing. The grave itself remaining undisturbed to this day.

The grave was to be known in coming years as “The Mound in the Meadow,” with those willows coming from clippings of a yellow willow taken from Daniel Chapin’s yard. The willows lasted on the site until at least 1896, when on July 4th; a boulder was placed on the site of the grave, with a marker attached. It’s worthy to note that among those dead might not only be US soldiers, but perhaps servants who died while attending to the sick, and perhaps even prisoners of war- Canadian and British being held captive who met the same horrible fate as the Americans.

Aside from the boulder in the middle of the golf course, the mass grave of 300 American Soldiers, fallen in wartime service, goes unmarked, and unremembered, having been largely ignored for the last 100 years. Plans to properly mark the spot and honor the dead have come and gone over the last two centuries; you’ll read of those plans as the story continues.

As the spring of 1813 broke, and Chapin and Cotton were giving proper burial to the dead, some of those soldiers who had survived the horrible winter began to think pacifist thoughts, and wanted to leave while the getting was good. The commanding officers made an example of several soldiers who tried to desert. As a previously included account spells out, these deserters were knelt in a row and shot in front of several oak trees along Main Street near, generally near what is today Florence Avenue. Their bodies were then hanged from the trees to dissuade any further desertion from the ranks at Flint Hill.

Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com
Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com

Irv, Rick & Tom and the sights and sounds of Eyewitness News

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

BUFFALO, NY – When Irv Weinstein, Rick Azar, and Tom Jolls teamed up in 1965, The Irv, Rick, and Tom Pageit’s probably fair to say that more people would have been watching Channel 4’s test pattern than the news on Channel 7. But by the time Rick Azar retired in 1989, the three had not only become the longest running anchor team in history, but also gained an iconic status unparalleled for any other triumvirate in television news history.

For me personally, Irv, Rick, and Tom have been a part of my life as long as I can remember. My dad and I watched the news together every day. My mom tells anyone who’ll listen that “IRV TINE-TINE” was among my first words, and I would run around the house singing my own version of the Eyewitness News Theme (ba-ba-BA, BA-BA, Badabadaba, ba-ba-ba-BA-BA, BADABADABA!).

When they went into the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2000, I snuck behind the stage to get a photo with the greatest triumvirate in the history of Buffalo. They had no idea who I was. Ten years later, I wrote a book about them.
When they went into the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2000, I snuck behind the stage to get a photo with the greatest triumvirate in the history of Buffalo. They had no idea who I was. Ten years later, I wrote a book about them.

stevegrandmaCommander Tom and his pals Davey and Goliath kept me quiet and entertained, and left me having a great desire to have a red jacket with yellow epaulets. And then there was the time my Grandmother nearly passed out when we all met Rick Azar AND Mike Randall at the Broadway Market one Easter… “He’s so handsome, He’s so handsome,” Grandma repeated over and over.

Eyewitness News Audio

Click this cover to buy a copy of Steve's book on Irv, Rick, and Tom!
Click this cover to buy a copy of Steve’s book on Irv, Rick, and Tom!






Some of the people, places, and stories of Channel 7 through the years…

Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com
Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com

John Otto: Hold the Phone!

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

 This page first appeared on staffannouncer.com in 2004, and was last updated May 21, 2014.

Weekly vintage John Otto airchecks from buffalostories.com
Weekly vintage John Otto airchecks from buffalostories.com

In celebration of John Otto’s 85th birthday, and mindful that it was 15 years ago this year that your congenial co-communicator signed off, we introduce several hours of John Otto recordings unheard since the day they were first broadcast in 1998.

It’s truly one of Buffalo’s greatest broadcasters at his finest: John Otto, broadcasting live from the Tralfamadore Cafe on the night he was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

John talks with and interviews dozens of our city’s finest broadcasters, and they pay tribute to him– on the radio, on the telephone, at long last.

And the more to come sign is up– As we draw nearer the 15th anniversary of our-operator-on’s last show, we will present dozens more recordings from the 1950s through 1999 in this space. We’ll get to that in as soon as it takes to tell it– in the meantime, enjoy that Hall of Fame day broadcast below, and hold the phone.

John Otto played many of his own sound effects on the show… You could often hear him fumbling for the right cart as someone asked to guess the voice, or Joann the Just would call– of course, the trumpet was necessary to announce her presence. Here are a few of the sound effects “Your operator on” would play– taken directly from the broadcast carts which he himself used on the show.

otto-cart-label

John spent most of five decades on Buffalo radio, and his show was introduced by various jingles and production elements through the years. Several of these were given to me by the late Ben Bass, who aside from sending 30 years as a disc jockey himself, was also an engineer on the Otto show in the 1970’s.

Finally, here are some clips of the man himself– These were saved at the radio station by many of John’s producers through the years, including Mike Maniscalco, Brad Riter, Greg Bauch, Ben Bass, and others. They are mostly short, entertaining John Otto clips on pop culture and bad callers– others are just a taste of how John sounded on the air. The last clip is 46 minutes worth of a show– enjoy!

Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com
Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com

New: The Weekly Otto & Ben Bass Jingle of the Week

By Steve Cichon | steve@buffalostories.com | @stevebuffalo

The holidays are bringing the first installment of several new features on Buffalo Stories.com. Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll regularly be sharing from several categories in our expansive audio archive.

Weekly vintage John Otto airchecks from buffalostories.com
Weekly vintage John Otto airchecks from buffalostories.com

The first is “The Weekly Otto.”  With at least 48 hours worth of John Otto shows on tape, plus many more interesting audio clips from his own personal audio collection, there should be plenty of material to keep us going for quite a while providing regular audio looks back at one of Buffalo’s all-time favorite intelligent men of the people and most missed voices in the night, on the radio, on the telephone (at long last, don’t you know.)

Another soon-to-be regular feature is The Ben Bass Memorial Jingle of the Week.

Jingles from the collection of the late Ben Bass on buffalostories.com
Jingles from the collection of the late Ben Bass on buffalostories.com

Buffalo Radio good guy Ben Bass passed away unexpectedly in 2014. Ben was often irascible and difficult to deal with– but he had a heart of gold, and was always doing what he could for others. Aside from 40 years as a broadcast engineer, radio disc jockey, and ham operator, Ben was also a great collector of commercial and radio station jingles.

Upon his death, a handful of Ben’s friends got together to buy up as much of his jingle collection as possible– it’s a veritable history of Buffalo radio. This archive includes jingles, production pieces, and station IDs from the 1950’s through the 2000s from dozens of Western New York– many of which it’s almost certain that Ben had the only remaining copy. Stations big and small… Jingles good and bad… We’ll be offering regular segments from more than ten hours worth of jingles from Ben’s collection.

Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com
Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com

We’ll also be repackaging classic Staffannouncer.com pages here on Buffalo Stories.com. I started working on Staffannouncer.com in 2003, at a time when many of Buffalo’s pop culture treasures weren’t even mentioned on the Internet.

It’s hard to imagine typing “Irv Weinstein” or “AM&A’s” into Google and getting no results, but that’s the way it was.  Staffannouncer.com was my way to fix that.

I built a great 2004 website from code, by myself. A dozen years later, the look and some of the information needs some updating. I’ll be taking care of both of those things as I migrate all of the still-relevant pages and information from Staffannouncer.com here to Buffalo Stories.com.

The Complete Legend of Haseoke

Grainy video apparently shows Dominik Hasek “singing” the hits
SPOILER ALERT: Not Really

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

In the dark back room at a Radio Station in Buffalo, New York, Steve Cichon, the producer of the Mike Schopp Show, found a dusty box of tapes labeled “Dom–Karaoke.” After viewing a few tapes, it was obvious that these tapes were, indeed, of Dom doing karaoke. As the “curator” of the Haseoke Archive, Steve chose a tape to play each day on Mike’s show. 

Reflections as Hasek’s Jersey is Retired, January, 2015

Buffalo, NY – Today is a day about legacy.

Dominik Hasek, arguably (should read CLEARLY) the most talented man ever to don a Sabres sweater, will see his number -39- hoisted into the rafters of the First Niagara Center this evening. (Most Talented Sabre and Greatest Sabre are two different ideas, but I’ll save that for another day.)

Hasek’s career in Buffalo and my career in radio started at about the same time. As a teenaged radio producer, I was at Sabres morning skates when John Muckler was being asked about Grant Fuhr or Hasek starting.

By the end of the ’90s, when the Sabres were making deep playoff runs, I was a semi-regular at game day skates and in the post-game dressing room first for WBEN, then for Channel 4.

That’s Dominik Hasek brushing by me as he abruptly leaves a press conference in the Sabres dressing room at Marine Midland Arena in 1998.

It could get pretty emotional after a big game. When the Sabres lost the 1998 Eastern conference Finals in Game 6 to the Washington Capitals, I walked into the room just as Rob Ray punched out the glass door of a convenience-store-style drink cooler/fridge. Donald Audette sat in his locker stall, jersey off, pads on, sobbing uncontrollably.

One of the great things about that team was their emotional investment. It takes magic to win in sports, and that Sabres team had it. They had that intangible something– everyone feeding off of one another, all on the same page with the same goals.

Creating and fostering that magic is the fleeting task that every coach and front office tries to accomplish in athletics. It’s that rare and impossible-to-predict atmosphere that is the most difficult part in creating a successful team. Finding talented players is the relatively easy part.

That Sabres group was made up of a lot of guys touched with that rare magic but most had little talent. Domink Hasek, of course, was the talent, and it was from him that the magic flowed. But just as he was a like a brick wall in the net, he was like a brick wall in the feng shui of the spirit of that team.

Watching it up close, there were little signs. Literally. Like the one in Hasek’s dressing room stall which read like something a third grader would post on his bedroom door. “DO NOT TOUCH EVER” said the sticker above a pair of nail clippers hanging on the wall near Dom’s pads. It’s unclear whether actual tomfoolery or just the active prevention of tomfoolery precipitated the sign, but it wasn’t really in line with the aura of boyish fun surrounding that team.

By 1999, I was a TV sports producer on the Stanley Cup beat. My job was to watch morning practice, and get in the lockerroom and ask the questions that sports reporters ask. Hasek was one of the “must talk to” players. His “treatments” right after practice usually meant he wouldn’t speak in a press conference, which meant 20-30 reporters, producers, and cameramen surrounding Hasek’s stall waiting for him to come out. His “20 minute treatments” would sometimes take more than an hour, but the whole gaggle had to be ready. Dom wouldn’t wait for people to get into position. Sometimes, he wouldn’t speak for more that a minute or two. If you weren’t ready, you missed it.

I have always done impressions. By this point, you could have heard me on the radio doing “Johnnie the old tyme hockey guy” (who suspiciously sounded like John Muckler), Gary Bettman, and John Butler.

Sometimes spending a half hour on one knee waiting for Hasek to come out, I can clearly remember doing quiet Hasek impressions– lips pressed close to the microphone I was holding ready for Hasek. I was just loud enough so that the videographers I was working with, usually Jeff Helmick or Scott Swenson, could hear it in their earpieces but no one else could.

Those impressions continued in the car and back at the station, and often involved a liberal sprinkling of classic Hasek terms like “groin”, “butterfly” (the sprawling move which he had a hard time doing because of his groin injury), and “I nono”, which is how it sounded when he started most sentences with a negative headshake and the words “I don’t know.”

domonstageA few years later, impression refined, I was working at WNSA Radio and The Empire Sports Network producing the Mike Schopp Show. Our stations were owned by Rigas Family, who also owned the Sabres. Once, we were supposed to have a St. Louis Cardinals beat writer on, and he stiffed. On the air, Mike asked if Dom could come on and talk about the Cardinals, so only identified as “Dom,” I did the interview with Mike. I knew very little about the Cardinals, which made it even better.

Hasek was still a Sabre at this point, and Mike and I were told to never have “Dom” on the show again. But as luck would have it, he was soon traded, and the ban was lifted. Mike had the lyrics of “Lady Marmalade,” the LaBelle classic which was enjoying a resurgence with a Christina Aguilera cover on the charts.

“What would it sound like if ‘Dom’ was doing karaoke and sang ‘Lady Marmalade,'” asked Schopp. “That would be like ‘Haseoke,'” said program drector and sports update guy Chris Atkins. Haseoke was born.

I’d produce a “Haseoke” clip for Sabres game days, first with Schopp, then Howard Simon. As “the curator of the Haseoke archive,” I would help introduce whichever clip I had “found” that day. When I left WNSA and moved over to Entercom, Haseoke appeared again regularly with Schopp and The Bulldog on WGR. In the beginning, they were mostly just “Dom” trying to sing and doing a poor job of it. As it evolved, “Dom” started to fill his songs with hate for the Sabres, and would often sing a song where the lyrics could be bent into cheering for whoever the Sabres were playing against.

Once Hasek retired, new Haseoke songs would only pop up when Hasek was in the news for something.

In truth, Haseoke was born of my frustration and dislike for Hasek as a guy. He might have played up an injury because he hated the coach. He roughed up my good pal, the late hockey writing legend Jim Kelley. He was arrogant. He made me wait on one arthritic knee just because he could and he wanted to eff with reporters.

I know I wasn’t alone in my feelings. I once had a brief, smiling conversation with Darcy Regier about Haseoke. He started it, and he )was smiling. While Marty Biron was the Sabres starting goalie, I talked as Dom with Biron– LIVE on the air– and told him how terrible he was and the Sabres were. Marty loved it.

That was then. I’m far more removed now, but I’m glad to see that Hasek appears to be a bit more level-headed and even likable these days. Even if they were both faking it, was nice to see Hasek and Ted Nolan enjoying a conversation together earlier this hockey season. Hasek of 15 years ago couldn’t have been bothered to fake such a thing.

The fact he seems a bit more humble and likeable has let the steam out of my desire to “curate” any new Haseoke tapes. But as I wrote to open this piece, today is about legacy.

As Hasek is justly being remembered as worthy of having his number retired, I might be remembered for this. I know for many Buffalo sports talk show fans, I’ll forever be linked with Dom. In fact, over a 20 year broadcasting career, despite covering Hurricane Katrina and plane crashes and big trials and big snow & ice storms and winning awards for reporting and journalism, Haseoke might be the only thing I’m remembered for, if anything at all.

If my legacy is making people smile…. I no-no… I’m happy for it.

The scary sounds of Halloween on WKBW: 5 hours worth of K-Big talent on display

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

BUFFALO, NY – In the 1960s and ’70s, Buffalo’s WKBW Radio billed itself as “one of America’s two great radio stations.” Never was that more on display than on Halloween night.

This blurb appeared in a Geneseo newspaper during the week leading up to Halloween in 1968. The masterful promotional folks at KB knew that by sending out this warning--with hope of it being published, that people would flock to hear, as Jeff Kaye puts it in the intro to the 1971 version of the dramatization, "what all the hubhub was about." It's the 1960's version of "don't click on this link." (Buffalo Stories Photo)
This blurb appeared in a Geneseo newspaper during the week leading up to Halloween in 1968. The masterful promotional folks at KB knew that by sending out this warning–with hope of it being published, that people would flock to hear, as Jeff Kaye puts it in the intro to the 1971 version of the dramatization, “what all the hubhub was about.” It’s the 1960’s version of “don’t click on this link.” (Buffalo Stories Photo)

While Program Director Jeff Kaye might be best remembered for that deep resonant voice which he used like Horowitz on a Steinway, he was also perhaps the greatest producer and writer– that is to say, the greatest radio mind– of the generation.

He found superb vehicles not only for his own talent, but also put the stars of KB in situations where they could shine brightest. These Halloween productions are brilliant examples. The writing and production stands up almost 50 years later, and gives the listener a true sense of the talent that went into “playing the hits” on KB.

Most of these recordings played several times through the years, starting in 1967 and running through the late 70’s.

You hear the voice, writing and production of Jeff Kaye; the engineering and production of Al Lafler, Dan Kreigler, and many others; the voices and writing of Dan Neaverth, Jim McLaughlin, Don Berns, Stan Roberts, Sandy Beach, Jack Armstrong, Shane Gibson, Joe Downey, Ron Baskin, Henry Brach, Jim Fagan, Don Lancer, Irv Weinstein, and others.

Three different versions of the war of the Worlds appear. The primary difference in each is the news guy, disc jockey and the music at the start of the show. Sandy Beach was in the original broadcast in 1968, Jack Armstrong was in the 1971 version, and Shane in 1973. In 1974, Jeff Kaye became the afternoon drive host on KB’s competitor WBEN, effectively ending any future reworking of the “covering of the invasion” half of the show– which remained mostly unchanged through the different broadcasts.

LISTEN:

Jeff Kaye, Dan Neaverth, Stan Roberts and the K-Big DJs added gasoline to the “Paul is dead” fire with “Paul McCartney is alive and Well… Maybe?”


Jim McLaughlin introduces Halloween 1973, and reminds you…Don’t turn around.


Dan Neaverth narrates People… places… things.


Jeff Kaye narrates with the KB Players in The Darkness.


Dan Neaverth narrates The Bed.


Jeff Kaye narrates with the KB Players in The Monkey’s Paw.


Jim McLaughlin narrates Vampires.


War of the Worlds 1968: The original broadcast featuring an intro by Dan Neaverth, Joe Downey-KB Radio News, and Sandy Beach- KB Radio Music.


War of the Worlds 1971: The broadcast featuring an intro by Jeff Kaye, Joe Downey-KB Radio News, and Jack Armstrong- KB Radio Music.


War of the Worlds 1973: The broadcast featuring an intro by Jim McLaughlin, Ron Baskin-KB Radio News, and Shane!- KB Radio Music.


Read the coverage of the scare created by the 1968 and 1971 broadcasts from the Associated Press, as printed in the Lockport Union Sun-Journal.