Did you ever stop to think how Buffalo’s streets were named? I bet that you never knew the history behind each naming – I certainly didn’t and never thought much about it one way or another. Until I learned of a fascinating website called Buffalo Streets that tells the tale of each street name, and the important people who did enough in Buffalo to warrant having a street being named after them.
Start the biggest brewery around, and get a street named after you. Elude the burning of the British… get a street named after you. Grow the first wheat in Buffalo, and get a street named after you. While the naming of the street’s is of interest, it is the detailed accounts found on the website that are truly fascinating.
Sometimes something as commonplace as a street sign warrants nothing more than swinging a right or left. With the help of this website, your directionals will be far more advanced as you navigate the city’s history via a roadmap of street signs that have been broken down into informational waymarkers that you can identify with.
Since July, 2011 history enthusiast and urban planner Angela Keppel has been compiling a street index of all of her research findings. Today those findings contribute to an excellent resource for anyone who is curious about the historic composition of many of our city streets.