Mixed feelings of anger and anticipation came over me as I sat and waited for almost 10 or more minutes for the email to come down. Let me tell you that when it finally did, I almost jumped out of the skin. I was so excited by the photograph I saw that I had to share it with the viewers of this site.

This image shows the old Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad depot (their first in Buffalo) located at the corner of Main and Ohio Streets. This area was considered the outskirts of the Canal District and because of its relationship to the Canal, the depot saw a lot of traffic on a daily basis. The view is one I had never seen before. The photographer is actually standing in the middle of Main Street looking up toward the Marine Trust Company Building which is the large structure in the back of the image.

The Lackawanna Railroad had a very colorful history in Buffalo. They were incessant with demanding the right to lay their track wherever they saw fit and were very crafty in the way they did it. It was not an uncommon site to see a dusty cobblestone street traversed by pedestrians and carriages on one day and see the same street lined with railroad tracks by the time people got up the next morning! The Lackawanna always claimed "squatters rights". Because of this practice, the area surrounding the depot became extremely dangerous as most of the streets were clogged with railroad and trolley tracks. In fact, a trolley can be seen approaching the corner way in the distance of the photograph. The foot of Ohio Street, to the left of the photograph, was where the passenger yard existed. The outbound tracks ran right down the middle of Ohio Street.

This depot served the Lackawanna until 1915 when the Railroad opened their newer passenger station and freight complex right at the foot of Main, on the Buffalo River. This newer building served the Railroad until 1963 when they merged with the Erie Railroad and moved all operations out to Sloan, New York -- near Cheektowaga. The depot was then left to rot, but that's another story completely.

The photograph was sent to me by Mike Miranda who said that his grandparents were from Italy and could not speak or read much English. When his grandfather went down to the depot to ask for a job, the Irishman at the D. L. & W. wrote down the last name as Morano. Many members of Mike's family worked for the D. L. & W. under that name until his father retired in 1965. It didn't become an issue until he had to find someone to vouch for the fact that Carmen Miranda and Carmen Morano were one in the same. Click on the image of the depot above you will see a much larger image. You will also see different views of the structure as well. Please note that because of the sheer size of this image, the new window will be optomized for a display of 800 x 600.

Thank you very much to Mike Miranda for sending me this photograph!