Sunday, August 8, 2010

Why is it called - "MILITARY ROAD"?

    Because it was Built 209 years ago by soldiers.  One of the first roads
 in the country planned for military purposes by the Federal Government

Military Road, The long Arching Line From 
Lewiston to Black Rock

       In planning the national defense after the revolutionary war, the new federal government realized the need of a military highway extending straight through from the top of the Lewiston escarpment to the bluff at Black Rock, on which a large fortification was planned to guard the entrance to the Niagara River. The Military Highway would replace the old Portage Road which followed too closely the winding course of the Niagara River.  
    Thus was Military Road conceived by the federal government, and in 1801, General Moses Porter, commander at Fort Niagara, was ordered to use his troops to build it.  The troops did not like the order, but they went to work with a will, and in 1802, the right of way for the road had been cleared. It was a tremendous undertaking for the soldiers because the road was cut straight through the forests and cleared over treacherous swamp lands.  Bridges were built at Tonawanda, but work ceased on the road surface when the state and federal authorities disagreed.  The argument lasted seven years, and it was not until 1809 that New York State gave $1500 for the project and the road was completed.
    The large fort proposed at Buffalo was never built, although a small one was built in  Black Rock in 1807 and enlarged into Fort Tompkins in August of 1812. It was at the top of the bluff at the bend in Niagara St.  About the only use the "military" road got during the War of 1812, was when the American General McClure fled over it to Buffalo in the winter of 1813, leaving Fort Niagara to take care of itself against the British invasion he had caused by burning Newark (Niagara on The Lake).
      By 1820 Military Road was overgrown with weeds and bushes, and only sections of it were used by local farmers.  It was not until 1832 that the surface of the road was cleared and repaired, and it became a generally used state highway.  Few modern motorists speeding over its smooth surface, know that it was originally hewed out of the forests by soldiers axes, and for specific military purposes.

  .
On center Median, Sheridan Drive at
Military Road.


1010 Niagara Street


Friday, August 6, 2010

It's a Byrd! It's a Plane!........

Buffalo Evening News - August 29 1928

NEW BUFFALO-MADE BYRD PLANE LEAVES
---------------------
Bernt Balchen Pilots the Aristocrat on Flight to New York
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Admiral Richard Byrd
    The newly christened monoplane, "Aristocrat", made in Buffalo by the General Airplanes Corporation for the Byrd Antarctic Expedition, took off Wednesday for New York, with Bernt Balchen, transatlantic flier and chief pilot of the expedition, at the controls. G. Maclean Gardner, General Airplanes factory manager, was the only passenger.  The plane, painted a bright green and with the words "Byrd Antarctic Expedition," vivid on its sides, was towed to the airport Tuesday and groomed for immediate departure.  The Propeller which did not arrive from Detroit via plane until late in the afternoon, forced postponement of the takeoff until Wednesday morning.
    When the blade had been mounted by mechanics under the direction of John D. McPhail, a former Fokker chief field mechanic, the plane was wheeled out of the hanger. After a short warming, Balchen  entered it and started it down the runway for a short test flight.  It slid gracefully into the air within 70 ft of it's starting point....  The order was placed with the Buffalo firm, following a report by Balchen on a similar model which he flew on its test flight six weeks ago. Mr. Gardner which supervised building of the plane, also supervised construction of the machines which carried Byrd to the North Pole and across the Atlantic.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Hey ABBOTT!!

Abbott (right)  & Costello

In 1930, Harry Abbott was known as "Silk Hat Harry Abbott" and headlining a song and dance review at the local Gayety Theatre. Lou Costello was doing a comedy act on the same bill. There they met John Grant, Mutual Burlesque chain executive.  He persuaded Bud Abbott to include Lou Costello in his Revue. After many great  performances in Buffalo, they became known as "ABBOTT & COSTELLO"!

Gayety Theatre - Huron &  Pearl St.