The Central Wharf as it looked in 1880, a few years before its removal. Image source: Library of Congress
Buffalo's waterfront became built up with warehouses, transfer facilities and offices in the early days of the settlement without a plan developed by governing bodies. Indeed, the metropolis was not incorporated until 1832. In 1837, the young city rebuilt the Central Wharf as a public thoroughfare; the planked 'street' between the buildings and wharf's edge was called Front Street. |
View from the river,
1872. The canal boat in the foreground is the William Newman, one of the first steam-powered canal boats. William H. Newman, for whom the boat was named, was a Buffalo businessman whose business at Main and Dayton street supplied railroads, steamships, machinists and manufacturers. Image source: Picture Book of Earlier Buffalo.
The original wooden buildings gradually were replaced by three and four story brick buildings which featured exterior galleries and verandas. Warehouses and transfer facilities occupied the first floors; offices of major city businesses occupied the upper floors. For an excellent perspective on the vitality and local color of the Central Wharf times, see John Conlin's article in the Spring 2002 Heritage Magazine. Copies are still available for sale. |
2010 view of the same location.
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(Click on any above to view a slideshow of the Central Wharf site over time.) The Central Wharf's days came to an end in 1883. The Board of Trade, which moved into Wharf in 1862, built its own building on Seneca Street in 1882. This allowed the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad to purchase the wharf, raze the buildings and construct its freight warehouse. This presence on the former Central Wharf remained until 1965 or 1966 when the structures were razed. In 1979, the Buffalo Naval and Servicemen's Park (now the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park) utilized the area and the wharf frontage for their ships and exhibit building. In the past several years, as development of the Central Wharf began, this park was shifted north along the river to permit excavation and rewatering of the Commercial Slip. |
In 2010, the Central Wharf land was furthered developed with the recreation and cobblestone paving of Prime, Lloyd, Hanover, and Perry Streets. The 1000-foot long strip of land once the center of the city's business life, continues to evolve. Special thanks to historian Ron Dukarm for information on the railroad's occupancy of the former Central Wharf. |