 |
 
|
| Photograph 14 |
 |
|
This spectacular view of downtown Buffalo shows the intersection of Erie Street with Lower Terrace sometime in the late 20's or early 30's. There is so much to see in this photograph that its hard to pick a starting area to talk about. The little wooden depot is the station that the New York Central built when it opened it's Belt Line around the city -- it was known as the Terrace Street Station. St. Joseph's Cathedral is to the right and City Hall is directly behind it.
Right in the middle of the forground is a crossing shanty that a man would sit in and wait for trains to arrive. When one came by, the man would lower the crossing gate to stop cars from crossing in front of the train. (Right now the gate is in the raised position.) The parking lot is right where Lower Terrace is situated now and the tracks and the station are located right where the on ramp to the Skyway starts. WNED TV is now located just behind where the parking lot is. The tracks crossed Erie Street, went along the Terrace, then veered off to the left and ran down the center of Church Street before they finally met up with the main line that exists now along route 190 and the Niagara River. If the tracks were still there they would run right in front of the Hilton before they turned left after the parking lot. They ran right past the Buffalo Gas Works. |