Kenilworth Park Race Track
1902 - 1908
The Buffalo Racing Association constructed the Kenilworth Race Track in 1902
at the corner of Kenmore Avenue and Niagara
Falls Boulevard. The Association's president was Charles F. Dunbar; Bronson
Rumsey was First Vice-President; William Hengerer
was Second Vice-President; Dr. Charles Cary was Third Vice-President; Henry
C. Jewett was also a First Vice-President.
The project architect was Leo E. Denslow. The track was built by George V. Hankins
of Chicago.
The Racing Association constructed a 1-mile track, a grandstand designed for
4,000 and a clubhouse in the style
appropriate for entertaining well-to-do racing fans. The decor displayed the
colors of the Association: green, white, and deep
orange.
The track opened August 30, 1902 with a much-publicized "Derby." Special
admission fees of only $1 for the grandstand
were in effect and six races were run for a total purse of $8,000. To read all
about that day, look here.
The race track offered betting both trackside and off-track, which proved to
be the cause of its demise. In 1908, the
New York State legislature passed the Agnew-Hart bill outlawing racetrack gambling.
The race track, then owned by
a single investor, closed. The land was eventually developed as residential
housing tracts which it remains today, as
highlighted above in the shaded area.
Note: Reference materials included information
from the Buffalo Times newspaper and John Percy's "Town of Tonawanda"
book (part of the Images of America series).