West Side street names a matter of history

By Sashana Campbell and Andrew Manzella
Bengal News West Reporters

What's in a name?

If it’s a street name on the West Side, it may consist of a rich history of trade, family legacy and geography.

Many streets were named after early landowners, family and friends or for political purposes that had  nationalistic underpinnings to them.

Porter Avenue, as an example, was named after Peter Porter, who was one of the Village of Black Rock’s founders. Anything north of Huron Street to Riverside neighborhood was considered to be the   Village of Black Rock. 

"Buffalo at that time  had a series of large country estates,” said Dana Saylor, a professional historical researcher in Buffalo. “A lot of the names are related to the estates of the people who founded the city or had a lot of money.”

According to Saylor, the Porter family, who settled on Niagara and Breckenridge Street, lived on the land where Rich Products now resides.

Fargo Avenue was named after William Fargo, who was a former mayor of Buffalo and one of the owners of Wells Fargo Bank, according to Chris Hawley, a Buffalo urban planner at City Hall.

“He owned the estate that Fargo (Avenue)  bounds, so I’m sure that when the estate was broken the street was named Fargo,” Hawley said.

A video primer on street names in Buffalo: 

According to Hawley, in the 19^th century, a lot of family-owned lots were farms that took up several blocks. Saylor said those families would break up the land and sell it off during immigration waves or population booms.

“They named them after whatever they wanted to name them for. Sometimes they would name them after sons or daughters, good friends or business partners,” Hawley said.

One example is Breckenridge Street, which was named for one of Porter’s in-laws from Kentucky.

In an article published in The Courier Express newspaper, changes to street names started occurring in 1826 around Buffalo when highway commissioners decided to wipe out unwieldy names.

Saylor said Niagara Street used to be called Shimmelpenninck Avenue and was changed in the early 19th century.

A number of streets on the West Side are also named after states, like Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Virginia and Connecticut.

Hawley said naming city streets after states is an urban tradition across the United States.

“Probably every early 19^th century city has it,” Hawley said. “We were a very early republic at the time so reinforcing our patriotism and sense of nationhood was very important in place names throughout the country.”

Another reason was the early surveyors of Buffalo, who were responsible for a lot of modern street names throughout the city, were workers from the State of New York.  This is why so many other state names were used.

“Often, when streets were officially named, the reason was not recorded in the minutes of the common council,” Hawley said.  “Many streets were named, and now it’s a complete mystery as to why.”