In celebration of 15 years of sharing and community, in gratitude for 4 years in our forever home at 2626 Main Street, and in anticipation of our staged renovations of that welcome shelter over the next several years, The Tool Library would like to offer a small series of reflections on our neighborhood and our building.
The Past . . .
- Long before European settlers reached this area it was the homeland of the Seneca Nation and their fellow members of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) League of Indian Nations. A sundial in Forest Lawn Cemetery marks the spot where legend has it their native chiefs would convene “Councils in the Oaks,” and in 1826 famous Seneca orator Red Jacket eulogized Eustus Granger, one of the first European settlers in this area.
- “Flint Hill” was the name of the Granger property that extended up from what is now Forest Lawn along what is now Main Street. In 1813, when the British attacked and burned both Buffalo Creek and Black Rock, refugees streamed into what is now the Parkside neighborhood to settle, and American troops were bivouacked—and often died of illness—during the
harsh winter. - In 1825 the Erie Canal reached Buffalo and triggered the explosive growth of the city. In 1832 North Street was its border, but what is now Main Street stretched up along the Great Iroquois Trail from the village of Buffalo Creek to “Williams Mills” (Williamsville) as a path of overland trade.
- As late as 1880 the area soon to be known as Parkside was still mostly farmland. But “The Meadow at The Park” (Delaware Park) was the central feature of Frederick Law Olmsted’s design of a glorious unified park and parkway system for the city, and in 1883 the creation of the Belt Line Railroad (with stations at Main St. and at Starin) described a
larger border for it. - The 1901 Pan-Exposition marked the electrification of the city and drew some 9,000,000 visitors. After its exhibit halls were taken down, the neighborhoods to the north and east of Delaware Park were thoroughlysurveyed and many homes erected.
- The land on which the Tool Library sits was originally part of the Holland Land Company survey. Early owners of the property included Wilhem Willink and Joseph Ellicott. By 1900 our building appears on city maps and tax rolls. [Insert Photo #3.]
harsh winter.
halls were taken down, the neighborhoods to the north and east of Delaware Park were thoroughlysurveyed and many homes erected.
For more information, see Buffalo Architecture and History, https://buffaloah.com; Steve Cichon, The Complete History of Parkside, Buffalo, New York, and the historical markers along Main Street between Willowlawn and Humboldt Parkway.
