By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo
After having spent 125 years “reaching great heights,” the Lower Main Street area was deemed a “dormant area” by the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce in 1929.
Lower Main Street, 1929
Just as this week’s plan for the North Aud site were designed to part of the larger redevelopment of the whole area, the city’s 1929 plans for the same exact spot were made “with a view of fitting them into a picture of the larger metropolitan area.”
The 10 main engineering points considered for the 1929 plan for the area now known as Canalside were:
-Providing highway connections between downtown, the Peace Bridge and the lake shore
-Removing train tracks to give better vehicular access
-Create a train station that served both boat docks and streetcar service lines
-Bring more streetcar patrons to increase business activity
-Provide easily accessible bus terminals
-Use land to “highest economic capacity,” deciding between train tracks and parking facilities
-Connect South Buffalo directly with the rest of the city
-Connect the West Side directly to the Elk Street Market (today the site of the Seneca Creek Casino)
-Connect the Sea Wall Strip and the Hamburg Turnpike
-Take consideration of increase in property values with each improvement
-Many of these same goals, outlined nine decades ago, are echoed in new plans for the Aud site as well as improvements of the Skyway.
Lower Main Street Plans, 1929
