The Central Terminal is visible from almost everywhere in East Buffalo’s Polonia neighborhood. My bedroom window in my family home on Ashley Street faced the Terminal when growing up. The building was there when I went to bed at night and when I got up in the morning. Couple that with the active sound of trains 24/7, it was an experience I appreciate more now than when I was young.

In some of the photos I take of the neighborhood now, I try to capture the feeling of how the Terminal is a large part of the urban landscape of East Buffalo’s Polonia. It is always there looming.

These photos were taken from the steps of Saint Adalbert Basilica. I hope they give a sense of what I mean. I am also sure a lot of you remember this similarly.

(click on images to open full view gallery)


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4 thoughts on “Photos: Central to Everything

  1. I grew up on Houghton St. in the 1960s and also saw the Terminal over the neighbors’ roofs. Now our house is gone, but the Terminal remains as a watchtower for the neighborhood. I love that building.

  2. Thank You, thank you for the pix of “The Depot” as we knew it.
    So many memories;I was born on 39 Houghton Street, about 5-600 yards from the Terminal (on Lindbergh Drive) and grew up on Sweet Ave and like you, it played a v.large part in my growing years. e.g., playing baseball on “Black Diamond”, cheek to cheek with the main Terminal car park.
    The final photo in the series, showing the street and homes, is my favorite `cos it shows the scene as I remember.

    Dziekuje wam Bardzo !

    franek

  3. I grew up living in Club Romway..1334 Broadway @ Rommel St. From that corner, Lincoln Playground, 44 Playground, St.Joachims, the hills while sledding in, “The Fields”/behind Schmarback, Rommel, & Person Sts., the Central Terminal always loomed as a symbolic landscape of the old neighborhood. Also, the steeples @ St.Stans-always a hazy backdrop to Central Terminal-which also bore the #17 NFT bus back in the day, which ran up Braodway to downtown,for 15 cents), partially sharing the route with the #4 bus. Lots of memories.

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