A couple of weeks ago, as I drove on the 198 near Forest Lawn, I lamented to myself (again) about the loss of the once beautiful Humboldt Parkway. Yes, I do have occasion to use the controversial, but also well used highway that split our Delaware Park (and indeed a thriving neighborhood) through the middle. As do, I suspect, a lot of Buffalonians who wish the highway were still a beautiful ‘bridle path’ that ambled through the park and over to MLK Park.
But that’s not what I am writing about today. Suffice it to say that if the Scajaqada were torn out tomorrow, and returned to its former glory, I would rejoice right along with all the principled people who refuse to use it today. But for now, I occassionally need to, and do, use it. Just like I will when it’s returned to a tree lined two lane city street. (Hope!)
But on this day, it was the homes on Agassiz Circle that I was thinking about. Specifically the ones near Medaille College. Who lives along there now? And how does their view differ from the way it was back in the day? Curious, as usual, I decided to take a closer look.
Let’s Begin
As I left the house to head over to Agassiz Circle, I mentioned to my husband that I didn’t think I’d be able to continue my urban hikes posts through the winter because people are generally indoors at this time of the year. And let’s face it, the people I meet along the way are what makes these posts interesting.
Happily, I was wrong. On this hike, I met and spoke with four residents of this neighborhood who were friendly and willing to chat. Take a look.
The Homes on Burbank Terrace and Burbank Drive
I started this urban hike at the corner of Meadowview Place and Burbank Terrace.
Burbank Terrace
As I entered the street, this is the first home I saw. Just my style. Love everything about this house. I always marvel at how some homeowners get the color just right. The color of this house is perfect. Not fussy with the trim – just all one color and it looks like a classic craftsman style home. I especially love that the windows appear to be original. Love it.
As I start to move on, the homeowner comes out on the front porch to talk to me. Her name is Brittney (I apologize if that’s not the correct spelling) and she’s very friendly. I explain why I’m taking pictures on her street. We talk about her home, about the neighborhood, and about the cemetery. She tells me there have only been two owners of this home. And I believe she is correct. Well, two families that is. The first owner was A.J. Brady Jr, who worked for Brady Bros., which was run by his father and uncle, and was a lumber business located in North Tonawanda. His daughter Mary Louise was the previous owner to Brittney and her family. So two families.
Brittney invites me to the backyard to see their view of Forest Lawn and to take photos. The backyards are very small along this stretch. Here, it’s about having the wide open space of the cemetery on your border. Brittney says that her kids know Sarah Jones very well. At my look of confusion, she explains that Sara’s is the closest grave to their backyard. She speaks about Sarah almost affectionately. I find this to be very sweet, but also very realistic. It teaches children that death is a part of life. We’re all going there; am I right? Why shouldn’t we talk to our kids about it?
Moving On
Brittney also tells me that this home, below, was built on a bet. Apparently, the people who built it had it designed to fit into this tiny piece of property, because people bet it couldn’t be done. I think they did it very well. No yard here at all, just the wide expanse of cemetery out back.
I love this neighborhood already. Thanks Brittney!
As I walked away from Brittney’s home I took one more photo of it, and another of this one, below, when I met up with Patrick, who was walking his dogs. I handed him my card, and explained what I was doing. He seemed okay with it, but his dogs were definitely not interested in talking to me, so we continued off in opposite directions.
Patrick later emailed me and we’ve had a few back and forths, discussing the neighborhood and Buffalo in general. He loves living in the neighborhood. And why wouldn’t you?
More Homes
After walking to the end of Burbank Terrace, I turned around to head over to Burbank Drive. It was then that I met up with Jeff, and his super sweet dog, Trixie. She’s 15, but certainly doesn’t act her age! She’s a beautiful girl, isn’t she?
Jeff and I talked about how much he loves living on this street, he’s been here for 23 years. Everyone I meet mentions that everybody knows everybody in the neighborhood. I like that.
Burbank Drive
As I head on to Burbank Drive, I see a lovely Cape Cod. I have never seen this particular use of wrought iron on a porch, but I like it so much, I wonder why it’s not done more. I think this is one of the best Cape Cod style homes I’ve ever seen. It’s larger than it appears in my photo. It’s the kind of home that is grand, without being massive. Does that make sense? If there is such a thing, it’s a grand Cape. This is one that makes me think that I wish it were summer. I’ll have to come back.
There are a few more houses along here, but the owners expressed an interest in privacy, and always wishing to be respectful, I will not share photos of those homes. The homeowners were friendly, mind you. Just private, and I can understand that.
I decided to take a break at this point and head over to Medaille before starting up again on Agassiz Circle.
Medaille
The photo above is the main building of Medaille College, which is the former building that housed Mount St. Joseph’s High School.
As I walked towards Agassiz, the first home I saw was this one, below. This home is gorgeous. I love the little balcony above the front door. And the bay windows are really pretty.
It doesn’t, however, have it’s own address. It is (obviously) the office of admissions for the college though, so it probably shares the address of the college. It’s beautiful.
The Driscoll Home
Then I came to this house.
It was once owned by the Driscoll family. Daniel A. Driscoll was a member of Congress for four terms, beginning in 1908. He went on to serve as postmaster in Buffalo from 1934-1947. To that date, only one had served a longer term, Erastus Granger, who was our first postmaster.
Upon his retirement from government work, Daniel returned to active, full-time management of the family business, the Driscoll Funeral Home at 1337 Main Street, founded by his father in 1861. He was also the president of the Phoenix Brewery Corporation since its organization in 1934.
Driscoll was reportedly quite a character, was known for his quick wit, had a soft spot for Ireland, (his parents both arrived here from Ireland as small children) and was apparently not fond of the mortuary business. He never married, and passed away in the home (above) in 1955, after an illness of several months. He was 80.
Moving Along the Circle
The next few homes are stunners as well. This first one is lovely with that sunroom above the carport! Would love to sit out there on a sunny afternoon.
Here, below, I love the tile roof, and those low slung arched windows that match the arches on the porch.
This home, below, just sold in December of 2020, and interior photos can be seen here. My photo doesn’t do it justice. There is a storage Pod in the driveway presently which I tried to avoid in the photo. It appears to be a well lived in, lovely (large) home.
A Sad Story for Such a Beautiful Home
This home, below, is a quintessential city home, is it not? It’s got a sad story connected with it though. In 1933 the Albert Abendroth, Sr. family lived in the home. Their son, Albert, Jr. (19) attended Canisius College, and because he did well with his studies, his parents gave him a new car.
Shortly thereafter, on May 31, 1933, Al (as he was known) took the car, and along with his friend William (Bill) Shepard Jr. (18) headed over to Long Beach, Ontario, Canada, to a Canisius College class picnic.
At the picnic, the two headed out into Lake Erie in a canoe and were never seen again. The canoe was found during the search for the boys. It is presumed the two drowned. It is unclear whether their bodies were ever found.
In a cruel twist of fate, amid massive search efforts the day after the accident, there were reports that the boys were found alive, and were being brought into Detroit by a freighter. The families, and indeed the whole of Buffalo and Long Beach, Ontario, rejoiced!
But when the freighter arrived, the stunned crew knew nothing of the disappearance of the boys. The freighter did not even have radio equipment on board. (?) It would be June 23, before the obituary for Albert Jr. would show up in the Buffalo Evening News.
Nevertheless…
The home is beautiful and has been very well maintained. There is even a little free library out front, which you know I love. Note the wrought iron and glass crescent moon hanging above the library. Sweet.
And this amazing, gorgeous home!
Meadowview Place
This street was aptly named. When these homes were built their view was of a beautiful wood that overlooked the meadow side of Delaware Park. In fact, the view was Delaware Park. Let me tell you what I mean.
Before Humboldt Parkway was torn out and the 198 was put in, the Parkway ambled off to the northwest through Agassiz Circle and straight into what is now the Parkside entrance to Delaware Park. The parking lot at that entrance was much the same as it is today. The Parkway then veered off to the left and continued to amble through the park, over Delaware Avenue and along Hoyt Lake.
So, you see, Meadowview Place used to border Delaware Park. Now it is cut off from it. Essentially, all the space between Meadowview Place and Meadow Drive (what we all now call Ring Road) was a thinly wooded area, and meadow. Below is a view from Meadowview over into that parking area I just mentioned. Picture it, without any roads in between.
Must have been lovely.
The Homes
The homes are fantastic. Even with the 198. They’re mostly set back aways from the street, so there’s plenty of room.
Here’s the view from these homes, below. Not too bad in the middle of a Friday afternoon; I only see a couple of cars.
Then I came upon this home, below. It reminded me of one of the Sears homes that I found over on Tillinghast. But the dates don’t match up. This one was built in 1900, and Sears didn’t start selling kit homes until 1908. Boy, it really does look like one!
I keep thinking on this hike, I’ll have to come back to see this neighborhood in the summer when everything is in full bloom!
This one is lovely as well.
Perhaps the Most Interesting Home in the Whole Neighborhood
This home, below, probably has the most interesting story in the neighborhood. It looks like such a nice family home. And I’m sure it is. But it was not always the case, depending on your opinion, of course. I happen to revel in the history of this house. The audacity is awesome! Read on.
Back on January 4, 1933, there were two arrests made here for the illegal possession and manufacturing of, you guessed it, liquor and intoxicants. Remember this was the prohibition era. Harry H. Hall, owner of the home, and Joe Saco, renter of the ‘barn’ were both charged. Federal agents staked out the house for three weeks prior to the arrests and observed the business comings and goings during what was probably the busiest season for sales, the holidays.
Wonder if they waited until after the holidays to raid the place in order to let people have a good holiday (the customers, I mean), or would the charges be ‘greater’ with proof of so many sales? We’ll never know. But the scope of production was incredible. The government estimated that 500 gallons of 150 proof alcohol was being produced here daily. Daily! Moonshine anyone? Wow! That is a lot of booze!
How did they come to know about it, you ask? They smelled the mash while driving by one day. How could you not, with that much in production?
The ‘barn’ was built into the side of a hill. The upper floor held an apartment and lockers for the wealthy Buffalonians who rented riding horses from Mr. Hall. The horses were kept in the basement level where the still was kept and were brought up to the riders. The renters of the horses would have no idea that there was a large still in the lower level, unless they recognized the smell of the cooking mash.
The Operation
It was apparently quite the operation. There were seven vats that held 2,000 gallons each and one 5,000 gallon vat. Wow! The contents of the building, including 12,800 gallons of mash, and 2,000 gallons of syrup, and other distilling equipment were seized and taken to a government warehouse. Wow!
I believe the photo below is the “barn”. The road dead ends at this building. From the 198 a stone wall is visible on the side of a hill, constituting one wall of the lower part of the structure.
It is unclear if either of the two men arrested were found guilty or served any time. Mr. Hall maintained that he merely rented the “barn” to Mr. Saco. But he was the one renting the riding horses. How could he have not known?
Pretty interesting story, eh? Well, read on for another one.
Rock Stars on Agassiz?
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention this because it’s pretty cool.
In one of my conversations with Patrick, he mentioned that Gregg Allman and Cher stayed on Agassiz Circle back in the mid 70’s. Allman was going through rehab here at BryLin at the time and the couple, along with Chaz (Chastity, at the time) and the couple’s son Elijah Blue, stayed for several months. I knew they were here back then, but I didn’t know they lived on Agassiz Circle while they were here.
On a personal note, the doctor who treated Allman was the brother-in-law of a friend of mine (I am aware that this statement is so Buffalo!). My friend loaned the couple a crib for Elijah Blue, who was a baby at the time. Can you imagine? Loaning a crib to a mega star like Cher?!
You can read a very interesting story about Allman and Cher’s time here in this Buffalo News Article. It confirms they were living on Agassiz, but I still don’t know which house. Anybody?
Also, while reading about it, I found another article about Gregg Allman playing a concert for Canisius High School while the couple was in town. It’s a great story, and is from the Buffalo News as well.
My Impressions
So happy I looked into this area! I’ve been wondering about it for quite a while now, and I ended up meeting some pretty nice people on this urban hike. I saw a lot of beautiful homes, and learned some more about our city.
I love the history here. From the story of a family who lost a beloved son, to an interesting postmaster, to bootleggers!
I’ll admit the story of the Abendroth family hit close to home for me, having lost a family member in a similar way, complete with a 5 day search. I know the devastation a death like this causes a family. So my heart really went out to the Abendroth family while reading about it.
But, I have to also admit that I did not expect bootleggers in this neighborhood. As I said before though, the audacity of that crime was amazing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seemed like a big operation. 500 gallons a day! Literally taking place just steps from the Buffalo Parks Labor Department, which I believe to have been there at the time. And even if it wasn’t there yet, anybody could have wandered up to it from Delaware Park, because remember, there was no 198 at the time! Oh Buffalo.
When I take these urban hikes, I always choose a neighborhood because of the homes. But on every hike, it always ends up being about the people. I met some really nice ones on this hike. And found some great stories about Buffalo as well.
Like I always say, take a walk Buffalo! You’ll see more of our city on foot than in a car any day! And you just may make a friend or two!
**Get the book! They make great gifts for family and friends (or yourself!). Click here or on the photo below to purchase yours!
Nice start to the article with an oxymoron, block, circle. Interesting writing style. 😀
I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you!
Ellen, It may interest you to know that there was a 125′ Coast Guard Cutter named Agassiz and she was homeported at Cape May, NJ when I was stationed there in the mid sixties. It was named for Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807-1873), an eminent paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and naturalist who taught at the University of Neuchatel and later Harvard University. I imagine that the circle’s name has the same person as inspiration. The cutters were designed for trailing the “mother ships” along the outer line of patrol during Prohibition. They were constructed at a cost of $63,173 each. They gained a reputation for durability that was only enhanced by their reengining in the late 1930’s; their original 6-cylinder diesels were replaced by significantly more powerful 8-cylinder units that used the original engine beds and gave the vessels 3 additional knots. All served in World War II,. The Agassiz was decommissioned in October 1969 and transferred to the Merchant Marine Academy. Here is the webpage with a picture and more information.
https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Assets/Water/All/Article/2147597/agassiz-1927-wsc-wmec-126/
Wow! Thanks so much for the info Uncle Chris! So interesting! I assume the circle was named after Jean Louis as well. Thanks for reading – and writing!
It may also interest you to know that Agaissiz was a polygenesist.. He believed and wrote papers teaching that Black people were a different and inferior species than White people. They (and Native Americans) descended from a “different Adam”. Using Science to defend his beliefs, White people have hair and Black people have wool. I learned this reading “Stamped From The Beginning” by Ibram X. Kendi. Ironic that the circle is named after him and the Squajaquada Expressway (Native American name) was a racist construction to separate Whites from Blacks. Hopefully, that is not why the area was named after him. I always thought it had to do with him being a biologist and the nearby zoo. Elam Jewett was gifted with 2 deer which he kept on display in his meadow which later became the zoo.
Anyway, hate to be negative, but truths should not be hidden. I really enjoy your articles. I do a lot of walking myself and refer to it as my “urban hikes” also. Thank you for all that you share!
PS Check out Greenfield St. I live in paradise!
Woah. I read a little bit about him, but I did not see anything like that! Thanks for sharing. I’ll check out Greenfield Street… 🙂
Beautiful neighborhood! I believe there are some double homes. I’d love to rent a flat in one of them!
I believe you are correct! Hope you find one!
Thanks!
Wow, Ellen! This story brought back so many memories, This area was part of my paper route during the early 60’s. I delivered the Buffalo Evening News to most of these houses and I still can recall some of my customers names. For example, the beautiful white house after what we used to call “The Litte Mount” was owned by the Kovariks. The brick house next to it was owned by the Stengels and I could go on, but I won’t bore you. The people in this neighborhood were very kind to me especially in the winter – often invting me in for hot chocolate.Thank you for bringing back a flood of good memories and please check out Greenfield Street as I grew up there at good old number 72.
I’m so happy you enjoyed the post! You are the second person this week to suggest I check out Greenfield Street…gonna have to get over there!
Thank you for sharing your story, and for reading!
Thank you, Ellen, for your very interesting article about Agassiz Circle and the surrounding neighborhood. My family and I are brand new Buffalonians (although we have family here and have been visiting for decades), and a new friend sent us your article, since you took a photo of our house (with pod in driveway). I’ve been doing a little research into the area and neighborhood, and your piece is a wonderful accompaniment to the info I’ve gathered. My husband and I can certainly verify that we’ve felt the friendliness of our new neighbors. And I had a good laugh when you referred to our place as “well lived in.” We’ve barely moved in, and just emptied the last pod this past Wednesday. Can’t wait to get settled!
So great to hear from you. Your home is beautiful! I’m glad you enjoyed the post, and you have certainly found a fantastic neighborhood! Welcome to Buffalo!
Welcome to Buffalo! Also I could be wrong but I believe the Driscoll house is also where Cher and Greg Allman stayed while they were here.
Thanks for being so welcoming! You might be right about where Cher & Gregg Allman stayed…I’ve gotten conflicting info though, so maybe we’ll never know for sure!
Thank you for this article! The home at the end of Meadowview was owned by my grandparents, Elmer and Margaret Keller. They likely bought it right after the liquor arrests (which I had never heard of). They owned it until the late 70’s when my grandmother passed away.
That house and the one next to it were connected at one time…I believe it was used by nuns.
Very interesting stories! Great neighborhood….
Thanks for sharing your story! Very interesting…nuns?! Wow, this area never ceases to amaze me! Thank you for reading, Terry!
If you look between the two homes, there used to be the remnants of a concrete section extending from the building next to my grandparents that remained from the connecting hall.
I’m not sure if it’s still there or what type of structure it was….but the homes were apparently connected at one time.
Interesting! Thank you!
I’ve been gone from Buffalo area for some time but will always consider it my ‘hometown’. I was born and raised in N. Tonawanda but live now in Dallas. I just wanted to say I enjoyed your article very much as I love history and have studied architecture. It’s a shame I now learn more about Buffalo history than when I lived there. I look forward to checking out more of your posts.
What a fun article! Thanks so much for visiting us. I’ve been here on Meadowview Place for about 30 years now and I love it. I wish I would have had a chance to visit with you. Come again Ellen and keep the urban hike series coming. Much appreciated.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Lynn. I’ll be back in the summer, everyone’s been so welcoming! Thank you for reading!
Hi Ellen, It is Pauline Bumbalo Fugazzotto writing again. When I was born,my family lived a 2 Agazzi Circle. I was the 5th born of the 9 children born to Thomas and Edith Bumbalo. My father was a well known Pediatrician in Buffalo for many years. He also chaired the Pediatric Department at the Erie County University Hospital . I can remember looking out my bedroom window at night and being fascinated by the blue colored Christmas lights on the house across the circle where the Mayor of Buffalo lived. Of course this was before the thruway was put in and the parkway was destroyed!!! That was when my father moved us to 354 Lincoln Pkwy. It was such a shame that Buffalo’s beautiful park and parkway system were destroyed. You are wonderful to bring attention to our CIty’s beautiful history. After I married, my husband and I spent our first two years in an upper flat on Parkside Ave. across from the zoo! Love your website! Pauline Bumbalo Fugazzotto
What a great spot that must have been to grow up! Thank you for sharing your story, and for reading. I appreciate it more than you know.
Woo hoo! Thank you for writing about and sharing our beautiful neighborhood! Growing up here was magical. Definitely come back in the summer when everything is in bloom, we need a redemption for our brown gardens!!
I’m looking forward to coming back in the summer! It’s going to be gorgeous! Thanks for reading!
Great story. I went to Medaille and Canisus. I knew some of the history of the area but learned a lot more from your article. Thanks, I enjoy your blog. Alice
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading!