Deerhurst Park: you won't believe it's the Town of Tonawanda

3830 Views 13 Replies 4 Participants Last post by steel, May 1, 2007

elmwood

Discussion Starter · May 1, 2007

WARNING: SUBJECT MATTER INCLUDES PHOTOS OF A SUBURB OF BUFFALO. IF YOU'RE THE KIND OF PERSON THAT GETS MORE GROSSED OUT BY THE MENTION OF THE WORD "AMHERST" THAN A POSTER-SIZED PHOTO OF GOATSE, STAY AWAY.

Okay ... I took these photos today. I'll add commentry later; I just got back to Cleveland. Click on the photo or visit the Cyburbia Gallery (http://www.cyburbia.org/gallery) to see the full-size image. The reduced size photos really don't do the houses justice.

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xzmattzx

· #2 · May 1, 2007

These are near the city limits of Buffalo, correct? My grandma's uncles built many of the houses in the area just north of the Buffalo city limit.

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Sabretooth

· #3 · May 1, 2007 (Edited)

My girlfriend's cheapskate boss lives in and around that area (Devonshire). Site of what was possibly the most boring Christmas party this world has ever seen (and during a Sabres-Leaves game no less).

What's worse is that the street looked like it belonged in Cheektowaga by virtue of the sheer volume of holiday lighting (his house in particular).

Definitely nice houses though. Sort of like the "poor man's" Nottingham.

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elmwood

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 1, 2007

xzmattzx said:
These are near the city limits of Buffalo, correct? My grandma's uncles built many of the houses in the area just north of the Buffalo city limit.

Very close. They're just north of the Kenmore village line, about a mile north of the City of Buffalo boundary.

Like much of the Town of Tonawanda, Deerhurst Park was platted in the 1920s, with streets, sidewalks and even some houses built. The depression hit in 1929, halting development for several years. Some houses were built in the late 1930s as the economy recovered, but World War II struck, and development halted yet again. Building resumed in the late 1940s, and the development reached buildout in the early 1960s.

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xzmattzx

· #5 · May 1, 2007

Cyburbia said:
Very close. They're just north of the Kenmore village line, about a mile north of the City of Buffalo boundary.

Like much of the Town of Tonawanda, Deerhurst Park was platted in the 1920s, with streets, sidewalks and even some houses built. The depression hit in 1929, halting development for several years. Some houses were built in the late 1930s as the economy recovered, but World War II struck, and development halted yet again. Building resumed in the late 1940s, and the development reached buildout in the early 1960s.

I think my ancestors built many houses in Kenmore as well. They built all along Delaware Avenue, Elmwood Avenue, and the side streets in that area.

I was unaware that the neighborhoods had names in the Town of Tonawanda. I never saw signs indicating neighborhoods or names on maps or anything. I always thought it was very strange that sections of houses between major roads never evolved into neighborhoods or at least gave themselves names for indentification. You wouldn't happen to know if the area inside of the triangle formed by Eggert, Brighton, and Niagara Falls Boulevard has a name, would you? My grandparents live in that area.

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elmwood

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 1, 2007 (Edited)

The Town of Tonawanda never really had long-established and named hamlets like Amherst and Hamburg. It was mostly farmland until the 1920s; during the boom, most of the town was subdivided in anticipation that growth in North Buffalo and Kenmore would quickly spread north. Didn't happen until the 1950s, though, so most of Tonawanda looked like this for around two decades.

The named Tonawanda neighborhoods that I know of are:

Deerhurst Park: area around Colvin Avenue, north of the Village of Kenmore.
Ivy Lea: along Colvin Avenue, north of Deerhurst Park, south of Sheridan Drive
Kenilworth: northwest of Kenmore Avenue and Niagara Falls Boulevard
Lincoln Park: southwest of Sheridan Drive and Niagara Falls Boulevard
Green Acres: north of the 290, west of Niagara Falls Boulevard

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xzmattzx

· #7 · May 1, 2007

Cyburbia said:
Tonawanda never really had long-established and named hamlets like Amherst and Hamburg. The named Tonawanda neighborhoods that I know of are:

Deerhurst Park: area around Colvin Avenue, north of the Village of Kenmore.
Ivy Lea: along Colvin Avenue, north of Deerhurst Park, south of Sheridan Drive
Kenilworth: northwest of Kenmore Avenue and Niagara Falls Boulevard
Lincoln Park: southwest of Sheridan Drive and Niagara Falls Boulevard
Green Acres: north of the 290, west of Niagara Falls Boulevard

Lookiong at maps.live.com to see these places on a map, I now see some areas marked with these names. Lincoln Park obviously is in the Lincoln Park area; Kenilworth is marked with a dot, as is Green Acres (as Green Acres Valley). Deerhurst Park is not marked, but other places do seem to be marked: Ellwood Park, Grover Cleveland Terrace, etc.

On another note, why are there so many roads in Buffalo and Tonawanda that end in "hurst"? I don't recall ever seeing that suffix used anywhere else, except for one old subdivision in Brandywine Hundred down here near Wilmington (called "Deerhurst").

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elmwood

Discussion Starter · #8 · May 1, 2007 (Edited)

I've noticed a few more "[something] Lea" street names in suburban Buffalo compared to many other cities. Don't get me started on the Catholic street names in Cheektowga, or the "[something] Troy" and "[something] Del" names in Amherst.

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Sabretooth

· #9 · May 1, 2007

Troy Del Way?

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elmwood

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 1, 2007

Sabretooth said:
Troy Del Way?

Troy Del Way, Mar Del Way, Cid Del Way, Char Del Way, Dan Troy Drive, Troy View Lane ...

Cheektowaga has Madonna Lane, Loretto Drive, Parish Road, St. Paul Court, St. Lucian Court, St. James Road, St. Bonafice Drive, St. Felix Avenue, Barnabas Drive, Christian Drive, and Rosary Boulevard. Cheektowaga is also filled with streets that have elderly and "Appalachian" womens' names, and a huge assortment of German ethnic names.

"I live at da corner of Steiglmier and Blick der."
"Well, I'm at da corner of Balbach and Pienkofer der, offuhda Unionroat."

Another great Cheektowaga intersection: Billy Joe Way and Tammy Lane.

Really, there's a huge difference in the feel of Cheektowaga's street names compared to those in Tonawanda and Amherst.

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Sabretooth

· #11 · May 1, 2007

Even the streetsigns themselves are different.

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steel

· #12 · May 1, 2007

I always thought this was in Kenmore. Is part of it in Kenmore? A friend of mine grew up in this area in one of the more expensive sections. The interiors are very nice.

The problem with the suburbs is not that they are outside the city it is the mode in which most are built and since most have been built post wwII the standards have been much lower than this area.

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elmwood

Discussion Starter · #13 · May 1, 2007

steel said:
I always thought this was in Kenmore. Is part of it in Kenmore? A friend of mine grew up in this area in one of the more expensive sections. The interiors are very nice.

The problem with the suburbs is not that they are outside the city it is the mode in which most are built and since most have been built post wwII the standards have been much lower than this area.

It's immediately north of the Kenmore village limits.

One great thing about Tonawanda was the result of land speculation in the 1920s - a traditional grid of streets with few cul-de-sacs, dead ends or pods.

I think Deerhurst Park must have had an architectural review committee and strict architectural standards. There's almost no examples of typical Buffalo-style middle/upper middle end housing from the era there; no frame four-squares, Dutch Colonials or semi-bungalows. The strict design standards in the high-end 1920s-era developents seem to be lacking in newer subdivisions in Buffalo's 'burbs. $500K for houses with no side walls, a false facade with vinyl siding on the sides and rear, and generic contractor-grade asphalt roofing shingles? No thanks.

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steel

· #14 · May 1, 2007

Cyburbia said:
It's immediately north of the Kenmore village limits.

One great thing about Tonawanda was the result of land speculation in the 1920s - a traditional grid of streets with few cul-de-sacs, dead ends or pods.

I think Deerhurst Park must have had an architectural review committee and strict architectural standards. There's almost no examples of typical Buffalo-style middle/upper middle end housing from the era there; no frame four-squares, Dutch Colonials or semi-bungalows. The strict design standards in the high-end 1920s-era developents seem to be lacking in newer subdivisions in Buffalo's 'burbs. $500K for houses with no side walls, a false facade with vinyl siding on the sides and rear, and generic contractor-grade asphalt roofing shingles? No thanks.

I just looked up some prices in that area. They are running in the mid to low 200K's for some fairly plain 50's-ish models. That is respectable for the Buffalo market. I did not get any hits on Doncaster. That street probably brings in much higher prices. You will find some very nice houses throughout this whole area. Look at Argon and the surrounding steets for some similar stuff. The houses don't start to get boring until you get around St. Joes High School.

Whats his name filmed part of Buffalo 66 across from St. Joes for use as the parent's house. If you know that movie you can see the effect he was trying for.

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