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Memoir oftheBuffaloPlains William F . Rogers and Richard H. Zander

MAP 1. 18 6 6. Th e northeast sec tio n o f Buffa lo is dist inguis hed by such landma rks as th e Bu f falo Plains, Main S tree t, Forest Lawn Cem e tery, and "Conjaquadie 's Cree k" ( /l O W Scaja quada Cree k ). Th e Jewett and the R ussell fam ilies already own m uc h land in the [u ture "Parhside" area. From "New T opograph ical A lias of Erie Co., Ne w Yo rk , " S tone & S tewart , Phil adelph ia.

The Buffalo Pl ains, a large area of limey soil and ca lcareous rock out­crops in the northeast section of the city of Buffalo, was a un ique natural area valued by local botanists and naturalists of the last century. This one -time h aven of orch ids an d gen­tians now lies beneath such develop ­ments as the Trico plant at Jewett Parkway, the Mai n Street campus of the State University of New York at Buffalo and the " Pa rkside" residen ­tial neighborhood skirting Delaware Park . Botan ical ch ecklists and social­h istorical data bear wit ness to this transition .

The term " Buffalo Pl ains," once used to den ote a lar ge land tract , was carried on in the name of a rail­

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MAP 2. 18 72. Delaware Parh and its Lake app ears, and Main Stree t is "macadam ­ize d." Th e blach do ts alo ng Main Street represe nt ex is ting hou ses in th e Plains. From "A tlas of the Ci ty of Bu ffa lo , Erie Co ., New York," C.M. Hophins & Co ., Philadelphia.

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road sta tion , then as a post offi ce des­ignat ion, an d present ly is relegated to h istory.

The hist orical record detailing habitat change begins wi th David F. Day , a founder of the Buff alo Society of Na tura l Science s and a botanist with great enthusiasm for the area 's natural treasur es. The Plains was of special importa nce to Day and hi s con temporaries. He descr ibed it in 1882 in hi s " Plants of Buffalo and its Vicini ty" :

"That porti on of the city which lies east of Delaware Street and north of Sca ja uqu ad y's Creek. of­fers to the botanist a field of no littl e attrac tion . It ear ly acqu ired the name of 'Bu ffalo Pla ins.' Here,

throughout an extensive area . the corn iferous limestone, occupy ing a position almost horizon ta l, ap­proaches very near the surface. In places , the rock remains uncovered. But , notwith standing the fact th at the soil is very shallow, th e region was once we ll-wooded ; and is still the home of some of the most in­teresting plants, rarely se ~n in other por tions of our district. . . . Its Sylva, also , has its pecu liarit ies. Here, alone, we have met Quercu s Muhlenb ergii, Q. prinoides and Ulmus racemosa. Nowhere else. wit h us, have Quercus alba, Q. obusiloba and Q. macrocarpa ap ­peared so abundan tly." At the time Day wrote th is. the

Plain s was a mosaic of farmland and wooded groves ( maps I & 2), Bu t a port ion ad jacent to Delaware Park was alr eady bein g cons idered for res­ident ial development. By 1915 it had become the Parkside ne igh bor hood , wit h bou nd aries of H umboldt Park­way and Amhe rst Stre et (south and nort h) , Mai n Str eet (east ) , Parkside Avenue and Delaware Par k (west ) ( ma p 3) . "Parkside" was just the first of many residential devel opm ents that event ua lly smothered the Plains (map 4 ) .

The history of the process that ex­tended the city's neigh borhoods into the countrys ide was researched by stu dents of Professor Michael Fr isch 's Urban H istory course at SUNY/

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MAP 3. 188 0. Th e Buffalo Plains is still present as op en space p en etrated only by two railways and Main, Colvin, and Amherst Streets. Jewett Parkway , east of th e Park , is only in th e planning stage . Corne lius Creek is still present along Bird Street (no w Hert el A venue). From "B eer's Atlas o f Erie Co. , New York, " New York .

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Buffa lo. T heir storv of Parkside was ai red rece nt ly in aspecia l two- ho ur seg men t of \ VBFO 's Ru ffa lo Social H istory Project.

T he studen ts found that th e la nd tha t wa s to becom e Par kside was held by two owners at the time su b­di vision bega n . O ne of them. E. R Jewett, h ad bough t his la nd in the 1RGOs. H e su bdivi de d h is es ta te in 1880. lay ing ou t streets in curv ing path s th at echoed the out line of 0 1'1­awa re Park (ma p 3 ). The subd ivi­sions wer« sold to pr i ' [1 te ind ividua ls and to land company specu la tors . Head ing the two major fir ms-s-Pa rk ­side Land Co . and Pa rksid e rmp rove­111 e11 1 Co.- we re busin essme n who saw heal thy fJn ~ ltl Ci ,,1 pr ospects in

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th is quas i-suburba n de velopmen t. Jew ett Pa rk way was the first

residentia l st reet esta b lished in the crea tion of the Par kside ne igh bor­h ood . It s fine homes and lar ge lots set the tone for the rest of the devei ­op ment. O th er streets and h omes were buil t on a sca le less gra nd , bu t st ill reflected the aura of Jew ett Park ­wa y. Bu ild ing had commenced at th e turn of the century and in only 15 year s the hu ndreds of houses rhat line Pa rksid c's streets were complet ­ed . T here was "no one far from th e sound of h a m mers." according to In Blat ti . WBFO sta ff mem ber a nd pr0 ­d ucer of th e Buf fa lo Socia l Hisrorv Project.

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the ir market resea rch well , insuri ng a ra nge of hou sing and lot sizes th a t spanned the in tend ed ow ners' asp ira­tions and incomes. Lots on Jewett Parkway ave raged 80' x 250' ; on Humbold t Parkway, 50' x 175'; on G reen field Street , 30' x 130'. From the begin n ing, the Pa rkside area drew resid en ts from the established eth n ic communit ies of Buffal o . Ther e was a cu ltura l m ix both ethnica lly a nd socio-economics IIy- peo ple em ployed as builders, pr in ters, ch emis ts, den ­tists, and elect r icia ns lived side- by ­side.

The SUNY studen ts drew th eir inf orma tion from building per m it and sewer records a t C ity Hall. [ro m insu ra nce com pa ny atl ases and from

MAP 4. 1893. In th e tim e o f 13 years, th e streets of th e Parkside neigh borh ood have been laid ou t. Th is and resid ential developments surro undi ng th e "Erie Coun ty Poorhouse " have begun to fill in th e area of th e Bu f falo Plains . Corn eliu s Creek is apparently only a se we r line. From "A tlas of th e Vicinities of th e Cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York," a.M. Hopkins & Co., Philad elphia.

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in terviews with resid ents of Par kside. The botan ist has a less exten sive in­format ion base to dr aw on to describe the flor al changes tha t have occur red with the growth of the city. In the case of th e Pla ins . developmen t dr as­tically a ltered this unusual ha bita t. The characteristic oak groves of a cen tur y ago ar e no more. Some few of the ori ginal oak trees do survive, bu t most of the rar est na tive plants have been d isplaced by lawns and gardens.

Of the native species reported for the P la ins by Day in 1882, five have not been collected a t a ll in this cen ­tury and llIay now be ent ire ly absent in ou r ar ea. With some ch anges in na mes suice D ay's time, th ese ar e :

Aplectrum hy emale, Pu tty-root Orchid

Desmodium marilandicum, Smooth Small - leaved Tick Trefoil

G eniiana. puberula , Downy Gentian G. quinqueiolia. Stiff G entian Scirpu s clintonii . Clinton' s Club­

ru sh. Sixteen other species are now rare,

represen ted by survivi ng populations lar gely in limeston e ar eas east of Bu ffalo or in the N iaga ra Fall s re ­gion . Adlumia [ungosa, Allegheny Vine Arabis glabra, T ower C ress Asclepias tuberosa, Bu tterfly-w eed Cirsium pumilurn , Pasture Thistle Euorujm us at rop urp ur eus, W ah oo Geranium carolinian um , Carolina

Crane's -bill Heliantheinum caruulense, Frostweed Lechea oillosa, Ha iry Pin weed U nu m oirgin ianu m, Slender Yellow

Flax !VI yosotis veni a. Ea rly Forget -me-not Polygala sen ega . Seneca Snakeroot Ranunculu s [ascicularis. Ea rly

Buttercup Rhus glabra, Smooth Sumach Spirantli es gracilis, Slender Lady's­

tresses Orch id

Suiertia caroliniensis, American Co lum bo

Viola rafinesquii, American Field Pansy

The na tive flora in most parts of th e Plai ns is lar gely exter minated .

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MAP 5. 1915. The remaining land once known as the Buffalo Plains is almost entirely residential. The Poorhouse has become th e County Hospital and this will in turn be replaced by the University of Buffalo. The naturalist must seek else ­where for the rare native plants that once graced the Buffalo Plains.

Thanks are given to the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society for p ermission to reproduce maps from their collections.

Floristic studies mad e by biology stu­dents a t Rachel Carson Co llege of SUNY/ Buffalo in recent years have turned up none of the rare species. The are as studied were the remain ­ing open spaces along railroad tra cks th at pass thr ough the Plains. It is possible th at everyday disturbance, dr ain age and che mical sprayin g for weed con tro l h ave ext irpa ted the remnant species of Day's favori te botan ical hau nt.

It is signi fican t that only six of the species mentioned above are pro tect­ed by New York State Law . Many of the rare nat ive species once pres­en t in the Plains are now found only east of Buffalo along the limestone escar pment through the towns of

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Cl arence and Newstead , or north int o the Niagara Falls region. These areas are now in turn undergoin g extens ive developm ent, bu t preserva ­tion of remaining populati ons of rar e native species through protection of habitats is still possible.

The Buff alo Plains va lued by Da y succumbed during an era wh en Buf­falonians began to move out from the centra l city to more spacious sur­roundings. Government sho wed on ly a perfunctory in terest in housin g and pract icall y none in hab itat preserva­tion . T oday 's situation may not be mu ch different. As shown by Zand er (\ 976 ) , there are no adequate sanc­tu ari es established to pr eserve the limey habi tat and associated ra re na ­

tive plants th a t remain in th e Niag­ara Frontier region after residential and industrial developm ent of the Plains . Partial preservati on of th e rare nat ive flora is a goa l yet to be accomplished.

LITERATURE C ITED

Day, David F. 1882. The plants of Buffalo and its vicinit y. Bull. Buf ­falo Soc. N at. Sci. 4 :65-254 , map .

Zander, R. H. 1976. Florist ics and env ironmenta l planning in W est­ern New York and adjacen t O n­tario: Distribution of legally pro­tected plants and plan t sanc tuaries. Occ asional Papers of the Buffalo Soc. Nat. Sci. No. 1.