Reprinted with permission as a public service by the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier, now the Preservation Buffalo Niagara


Houses of Worship: A Guide to the Religious Architecture of Buffalo, New York
By James Napora
Table of Contents

Germania IV
MAP

As the population of the city continued to grow at the close of the nineteenth century, people began to settle further from the downtown core. Continuing their eastward push towards the city line, the area along Genesee, east of the Belt Line Railroad, became home to a substantial German community. No longer the home to recent immigrants, first and second generation Germans developed the area.

The large tract of land east of the intersection of Genesee and Walden was the first to be developed by the Buffalo Land Company. Wasmuth Avenue, named for the developer Caroline Wasmuth, a partner in the company, remains a testimony to the work of one of the city's earliest woman developers.

By the mid 1880s, the Walden/Bailey area no longer contained the open farmland it had just ten years previous. Paul Goembel, a German immigrant, arrived in Buffalo in the 1840s. Upon his arrival, he purchased a large tract of land west of the intersection of Genesee and Bailey from the Holland Land Company. From his home at Broadway and Spruce Street, he would travel to the country to tend his farm, providing animals for his slaughterhouse and meat market on Chippewa and Franklin Streets. In the 1880s, he cut Goembel Street through the center of his farm, opening the land for development.

During the same period of time, Henry E. Briscoe began developing a large tract of land on the east side of Bailey. One of the first settlers in the area, he built his home at 28 Briscoe in 1880. A flagpole, which stood in front of his home, was originally capped by a bronze eagle carried by the Fenians during the Battle of Ridgeway. Working with Joseph Gavin, Lawrence Wex, Val Hoffman and Dennis Conners, he developed the land east of the New York Central tracks between Walden and Doat Streets.

Frederick Boehm arrived in Buffalo from Bavaria in the 1880s to work for Hersee and Company, manufacturers of fine furniture. While employed there, he acquired a tract of land near the intersection of Genesee and Bailey. Around 1900 he began to farm this land. After a successful growing season, the prices brought for produce plummeted, prompting him to convert his barn into a home. The following year, he built another home next to it and within ten years had constructed over 400 homes in the area.

Fred W. Jehle, a dealer of poultry, butter and eggs at the Washington Market, accumulated extensive land holdings in the area by the age 30. Owner and developer of much of the land in the Schiller Park area, he sold the city the land on which the park is located. Long a center of German leisure, the park is best noted for its annual Oktoberfest celebrations.

Running along the eastern border of the park, Sattler Street was originally part of the farm owned by the John G. Sattler, founder of the department store. Around 1904, he developed his country estate for housing.

Prior to 1907, the area north of Schiller Park remained as open farmland. Andrew Domedion, who operated a celery farm there, began to develop this section adjacent to Pine Hill. His initial attempt to construct homes on the street which bears his name met with financial failure, as by 1907 he was able to construct only eight dwellings. But with the passing of time, the population soon reached and passed the area, spreading further east into the suburban areas of Pine Hill and Cheektowaga.


© 1995 James Napora
Page by Chuck LaChiusa with the assistance of David Torke
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