At the time that the grounds of what is now Delaware Park were being laid out, the land to the north was primarily farmland. In addition to his plans for Buffalo parks, Frederick Law Olmsted also drew a plan for a residential neighborhood immediately adjacent to Delaware Park, then called simply “The Park”. The details of who commissioned the plan is a bit murky.
In 1874 several investors reputedly formed a Parkside Land Improvement Company with the intention of creating a residential neighborhood adjacent to the park. I say murky, because there is no mention in the city newspapers of such a corporation being formed; indeed, the name “Parkside” first appears in the Buffalo newspapers in 1884. Olmsted prepared his first plan of “Parkside” either in 1874 or 1875. The residential district also appeared on the Buffalo parks plans Olmsted exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.
A detailed ward map of the city published in 1880 still showed the area as open grounds. Frederick Law Olmsted drew further “preliminary” plans for the proposed residential community in 1881. At least three undated variations of the street plans were created, apparently in response to requests to maximize the number of building lots. Former Park Chief Engineer George Kent Radford, by then an Olmsted associate, was assisting with the project. Radford sited the streets and dividing up the frontages into building lots. In 1881, the intended community and the paths of its streets appeared on a map published by Matthews, Northrup & Co. entitled “Olmsted’s Sketch Map of Buffalo”. In 1884, a full map of the city, also by Matthews, Northrup & Co., included the area and its streets.
Neither the Frederick Law Olmsted papers nor the Olmsted archives clarify who requested the plans. However, the various maps do show the ownership of the lands within the bounds of the project prior to construction. Listed tract owners in 1880 and 1884 included Elam R. Jewett, Bronson C. Rumsey, Dexter P. Rumsey, Washington Russell, William Dorsheimer, William H. Glenny, William H. Abell, Anthony Smith, and a few others with smaller plots.
Actual development began in 1885. On 7 April, the Main Street and Humboldt Parkway Land Association was formed. Also in April, a group of investors initially calling themselves the Parkside Land Association was formed; on 1 October they were formally incorporated as the “Parkside Land and Improvement Company”, with a valuation of $120,000. The latter advertised shares to the public at $100 per share, which were rather quickly fully subscribed. Soon after, the company completed the purchase of a 75 acre tract from Elam R. Jewett and Washington Russell, bounded by the park, Main street, Amherst street and Jewett avenue. The first seven streets in the future neighborhood were laid out following the Olmsted plans. They were being graded by November of that year, and created 350 building lots. The Main Street and Humboldt Parkway group was slightly more advanced in sales activity. Their 40 acre tract ran from the park to Main street, and from Humboldt Parkway up to Jewett avenue. The same early streets continued though their property, which held 187 building lots of which 20 had already been sold. The associate was formed at the suggestion of Jacob Morgenstein, a real estate broker. Both tracts were represented by Longnecker and Morgenstein, real estate agents, of Buffalo. The agents began to market the combined area under the title “Highland Parkside”. They aggressively marketed the property, utilizing full page newspaper advertisements, free train transportation to view the lots, free lunches, skill contests for youngsters with gold coin prizes, and a pair of absolute auctions for a set number of building lots at a time. For the larger of those two auctions, 400 lots were offered, and a nationally known real estate auctioneer brought in to conduct the sale.
[To be added soon: Villa Park.]
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