Belt Line Talk Saturday at the Broadway Market

ss-december2013 copy2

The Second Saturday lecture series continues at the Broadway Market this weekend. Chris Hawley will be giving a talk on the Buffalo Belt Line in the Market’s community room starting at noon.

Some history of the Belt Line:

Before the present day automobile age, there was an age in America where the general population of cities relied on public transportation as a means for commuting to work or visiting friends on the other part of town. In order to function in society, one relied on transportation that was shared by all those living in the city, from the affluent to the working class.

In 1883, when the City of Buffalo was affluent yet still relatively small in size, a new railroad was installed by New York Central Railroad. It was needed in order to transport goods produced by the booming industry of Buffalo to the many consumers that relied on the wide variety of manufactured goods and raw materials. At its height, the railroad encircled the City of Buffalo and connected to the railway system as a whole in America.

This railroad was called the Belt Line railroad because it formed a belt around Buffalo. In its approximate thirty-year existence, the Belt Line Railroad had a tremendous impact on the development of industry and the development of Buffalo’s neighborhoods that can still be seen to this day. The Belt Line railroad gradually faded out of existence after World War I as a result of a loss of business due to competition from trolley lines and automobiles.

You can read more about its history here—> http://buffaloah.com/h/belt/

The Broadway Market’s website—> http://broadwaymarket.org


Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.