Dart Street in Buffalo; So Who Was Dart?

Joseph Dart

  No Buffalonian could be more deserving of having a street named in his honor than the late Joseph Dart, inventor of the grain elevator. For Mr. Dart refused to patent his invention, preferring that it should be his gift to humanity. His spirit of service and humanitarianism would have been remarkable at anytime, but was especially so back in 1842, when his invention brought on the response, "Dart, I am sorry for you; I've been through the mill, it won't do, remember what I say: Irishmen's backs are the cheapest elevators ever built." 

  Dart Street runs from Forest Avenue to Letchworth Street. (See map at bottom) It's godfather, Joseph Dart, was born at Middle Haddam Conn. in 1799. In 1821 he came to Buffalo, then a village with a population of 1,800. He became a partner of Joseph Stocking, in the hat, cap and fur business, and took his work so seriously that he learned to speak the Indian language in order to trade with the braves of the Six Nations. His store on the Southeast corner of Main and Swan Streets, was the first place an Indian visited when he came into town. Chief Red Jacket dropped in frequently. He trusted Dart, enough to leave valuables with him while he did business elsewhere in town. 

Marker on Buffalo River near Erie Basin Marina

   In 1830 he married Dotha Dennison of Norfolk Conn. They were the parents of seven children. They lived on Swan, South Division and Erie Streets successively, when each was in it's heyday. In 1858 Dart bought an ample house on the NE corner of Niagara and Georgia Sts.  For several years, Mr. Dart was a pioneer lumber dealer here. Keenly interested in the progress, culture, and religious life of this city, he was an originator of the Buffalo water works, a founder of the Buffalo Female Academy (Buffalo Seminary), and  a member and loyal supporter of the Buffalo Historical Society. His greatest legacy which eventually was adopted in ports throughout the world and  revolutionized commerce everywhere, was the Grain Elevator.  

The moveable marine leg, a conveyor belt with evenly 

spaced buckets, extends into the hold of a ship to unload 

grain. The main basis of Joseph Darts Invention, a 

moveable leg run by steam with attached storage bins.

Elevator at far right is the Bennett which replaced

the Dart when it Burned in 1863.

  His story In Joseph Dart's own narrative: "It was not until the 1830's that grain in any considerable quantities, began to pass through this place to the markets of the East; and in 1835 the entire annual receipts were only one hundred and twelve thousand bushels. From that time, however, there began to be a very rapid increase, rising from a half a million bushels in 1836, to nearly two million bushels in 1841; an increase of 400% in five years. It seemed to me as I reflected on the amazing extent of the grain producing regions of the Prairie West, and the favorable position of Buffalo for receiving their products, that the eastward movement of grain through this port, would soon exceed anything the boldest imagination had conceived. "It seemed very clear to me that such an increasing trade demanded largely increased facilities for it's accommodation at this point.

  "Already, with near two million bushels received in 1841, unavoidable delays in the transshipment at this port were frequent, and were the occasion of much vexation and expense.  Up to this time, the universal method of transfer was to raise the grain from the hold of the vessel, in barrels, by tackle and block, to weigh with  hopper and scales swung over the hatchway of the canal boat, or carry it into the warehouse in bags or baskets, on men's shoulders. This method, even at this present day(1865), is largely in use in the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston, which illustrates the force of habit; as a small army of men may be seen with baskets on their shoulders, unloading vessels, at immense cost of money and time, to say nothing of pecuniary loss.
  Only ten or fifteen bushels were commonly weighed in a draft; and the most that could be accomplished in a day, with a full set of hands, was to transfer some 1,800 to 2,000 bushels and this only when the weather was fair. On the average one fourth of the time was lost by rain or high winds. In these circumstances, I determined in 1841, to try steam power for the transfer of grain for commercial purposes." 

Buffalo Harbor about 1850 - Dart Elevator Tall
Tower Along Waters Edge, View from Lighthouse

  "Predictions of failure were somewhat freely expressed. I believed however that I could build a warehouse of large capacity, for storage, with an adjustable elevator and conveyors, to be worked by steam; and so arranged as to transfer grain from vessels to boats or bins with cheapness and dispatch. Amid many difficulties, discouragements and delays, I began the work of erecting the building on Buffalo Creek, at the junction of the Evans Ship Canal, in the autumn of 1842.  ...I believe it was the first steam transfer and storage elevator in the world. It was the first successful application of the valuable invention of Oliver Evans to the commercial purpose for which it is now extensively employed. "My experiment from the very first working was a decided and acknowledged success." 

A Modern Marine Leg in Action

  "The storage of the first elevator was 55,000 bushels, it's capacity was trebled three years later. During the twenty two years that have elapsed, the rapidly increasing receipts of grain have made demand for increased facilities for transfer and storage. There are now (1865) twenty seven elevators, besides two floating elevators, with a capacity altogether fully six million bushels, and capable of moving in a single day more than the entire annual receipts in this port at the time my elevator was built." The Dart Elevator burned in 1863 and was rebuilt immediately as the Bennett Elevator.

   Buffalo soon after became the greatest grain transfer port in the world, holding the title for over a hundred years. By 1899 Buffalo had about 52 grain elevators including four floaters and transfer towers and developed into the third largest port in the world in terms of tonnage. It was Darts innovation that spearheaded this revolution of progress in Buffalo from a small village in 1825 to the third largest port in the world in 1899. It's basic principles still in use in Buffalo until 2003 when the remaining elevators were converted to accommodate self-unloading vessels.  
   Joseph Dart died in 1879 at the age of 80. Five of his sons and daughters survived him. His only direct descendants living in Buffalo(1938) are his granddaughter, Mrs. Frederick C. Gratwick (Dotha Dart), and her three sons and two daughters. 

Dart Street - Right Center of Map (click to enlarge)

Grain Elevators As They Were: Part One, two and three.

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Fort Sumter Falls - Buffalo Responds 1861

Buffalo Morning Express, Friday April 19, 1861 

SUMTER 

Written Expressly for the Express 

--------------------------- 

I thought of Sumter all the night; 

Of those beleaguered few 

Who stood up nobly in the fight 

For loyalty and freedom's right,  

Against the recreant crew. 

I saw the chain of rebel bands 

Surround that sacred fort; 

I saw five thousand traitor's hands, 

Red with hot hate, their foul demands 

With blustering armies support. 

I saw five thousand on the shore 

Less than one hundred fight! 

I heard a cowards cannon roar, 

And shot and shell relentless pour 

Destruction through the night. 

I saw might vanquish right, and then 

I heard the miscreants brag 

Of "Victory," when those starving men, 

Shut up within a fortressed pen, 

Were forced to drop their flag. 

O, State, which patriots once did claim,  

How is it with thee now? 

False to thy country and thy name; 

Henceforward let the curse of shame 

Be branded on thy brow.                  

M.U.C.

           Buffalo Morning Express Saturday April 13, 1861

Fort Sumter Early 1861

    By reference to the telegraphic news, it will be seen that the traitors have at length carried their threats into execution, and have commenced hostilities against the government. Our reports are of course from rebellious sources and may not be reliable. This much, however, is evident. The first blow has been struck by the Secessionists. Their treason has been carried into practical effect. Fort Sumter has been assaulted, and perchance captured, and the gallant band hemmed in there have been cut to pieces by the traitors. We trust, however, that the next intelligence will bring tidings of a more favorable character. We hope to hear that Anderson and his handful of men have been able to hold out and sustain themselves against their assailants until succor could reach them. It now becomes the government to bestir itself, and prepare for the coming storm.  Let it at once make ready to resent this insult to it's dignity and chastise the aggressors with a severity that will vindicate it's power and it's supremacy. There is no middle ground now. War is declared, and it remains for the people to decide whether treason shall prevail or the Government shall triumph. 

The Prayer at Fort Sumter, Dec. 27 1860

   We may next expect to hear that an assault has been made upon Washington, and perhaps that the Government has been driven from the Capitol of the United States...Of this the President is fully advised, and has availed himself of such means of defense as are at his hand. Nothing but a vast superiority of numbers, however can possibly overcome the government troops and surrender the archives of the nation into the hands of traitors.

  But it is no time now for speculation. We have been brought to the sober realities of civil war, and it behooves every citizen to consider well his duty to his Government. Either the federal power or the traitors must triumph in this conflict.  Which shall it be? Shall the flag of treason be covered with victory? Let the people of the Empire State answer for themselves. Let New England speak. Let the Keystone of the Federal Arch put forth her voice. Let the teeming West and Northwest decide whether our Government will be reduced by a band of traitors, and the Union dashed in pieces by these offensive miscreants who have not only defied,  but insulted and assaulted the Federal Government.  There is work for patriotism to perform. There are sacrifices to be made by those who love their country and respect the Union, the Constitution and the laws.    

   The Government must be sustained at all hazards. The Southern braggarts must be made to bite the dust, no matter at what cost.  They have opened the war--let it be pushed upon them until they sue for peace, under the promise of future submission to the Government.  It were far better that the entire population of the rebellious states should be annihilated than that treason should enjoy a single triumph over the federal power. Let the people of the North arouse and go forth in mass in defense and protection of the government.

Buffalo Morning Express Friday May 3, 1861    Help the Volunteers -- Today at 4 p.m. four companies of volunteers leave Buffalo for Elmira. They are no holiday troops, but go for the war under a two years enlistment. Mostly poor men, they leave in great need of the common necessaries of life. Their officers have exhausted their means in providing for temporary wants, and our citizens should turn in today, each with little supply of necessary clothing and comforts, and see that these men go off in a condition credible to the city whose name they are to bear for good or ill.

Sgt. Helmes of the NY 107th

  Supplies of all kinds, shoes, stockings, clothing, blankets etc., may be sent to either of the following gentlemen at the Court Street Armory:  Co. A-- Capt. Drew; Co. B-- Capt. Layton; Co. B-- Capt. Hayward; Co. D-- Capt. Thomas.  Any help for these should be put forward today, prior to 2 or 3 o'clock p.m. They are hard fisted and courageous men, inured to hardships and are sure to make a fighting regiment that will do our city credit in the field...

 Any full volunteer company, inspected by Gen. Scroggs, will be ordered off immediately to Elmira. There is not a doubt about this. Those that seek service can find it in that direction. If the 74th is to stay, let the companies now so well organized and offersered in it be transferred to the Volunteers. 

    Once more we appeal to our citizens to help the volunteers. They need it. Six additional companies of 77 men each, must be organized before Buffalo has a regiment of it's own.  Turn in men and make a hard, tough, fighting regiment, such as Buffalo should furnish!

Buffalo Morning Express May 1861

A SOLDIERS TEAR

Upon the hill he turned

To take a last fond look,

Of  the valley and the village church,

And the cottage by the brook;

He listened to the sounds,

So familiar to his ear,

And the soldier leant upon his sword

And brushed away a tear.

Beside the cottage porch

A girl was on her knees,

She held aloft a snowy scarf,

Which fluttered in the breeze;

She breathed a prayer for him-

A prayer he could not hear-

But he paused to bless her, as she knelt,

And wiped away a tear.

He turned and left the spot-

Oh, do not deem him weak,

For dauntless was the soldier's heart,

Though tears were on his cheek,

So watch the foremost rank

In dangers dark career-

Be sure the hand most daring there

Has wiped away a tear.

T.H. Bayly

Also Read: HAMLET OF TOWN LINE HEADS SOUTH IN 1861(click here)

         

Establishing Buffalo in 1758, Joncaire or Indian, or Both?

   Some histories tell us that the first white settler to build within what is now the city of Buffalo was Chabert Joncaire, who established a settlement on Buffalo Creek in 1758 under the orders of the Governor of French Canada. Chabert Joncaire was neither white nor  Indian. He was the son of the famed Louis Thomas de Chabert, a Frenchman of illustrious lineage, and a Seneca Indian woman.  

  The Sieur de Chabert was called Joncaire, and to distinguish himself from his son, the son was known as Chabert Joncaire. Because the Senecas only inherited from the mother, the younger Chabert was regarded by the Senecas as an Indian, and not as a Frenchman. The Sieur de Chabert, who came to the Niagara region in the early days of the French, had great influence with the Indians--an influence that played a most important part in establishing French control of the Niagara.  His son, Chabert Joncaire, had even greater control over the Indians, and through his relationship with the Seneca's he made it possible for the French to build Fort Niagara when permission to do so had previously been refused both the French and the English. With Fort Niagara being completed in 1726 and dominating the mouth of the Niagara, the French had plans for another fort at the Lake Erie entrance to the river, and that is why Chabert Joncaire was sent to Buffalo Creek to establish a settlement in 1758.  

  Chabert reported that he had built “a shed 100 feet long, of pine; a barn, 100 feet, with cedar timbers… a stable, a dwelling, 45 feet; a shop, 20 feet, for the blacksmith; a storehouse 25 feet long; a second barn nearly finished.”  Horses were used to plow and till the fields.  Corn, tobacco and hay were cultivated within an area of one half mile by three fourths of a mile. A year later Fort Niagara fell to the British, and Joncaire's project at Buffalo was abandoned until the Holland Land Company opened up this region for settlement in 1799.

   

  

It Is Our Heritage: Respect It, Care For It, Use It!

Commentary: Why Not Here?  

Quaker Square Inn - Akron Ohio

   Just a few driving hours away from Buffalo in Akron Ohio lies one of the best examples of grain elevator re-use when the option of grain storage is no longer viable. They had one grain elevator in Akron near downtown and after it closed there was a grand transformation to the site. Demolition, a Buffalo tradition? Of course not, they put it to good use and made a first class hotel out of it. Currently, The Quaker Square Inn at The University of Akron. (click for website)

   I have stayed there three times and slept in a silo! This hotel is very impressive, steeped in tradition of the Quaker Oats Company who had a mill to go along with the elevator. One doesn't come away thinking this an interesting hotel inside a grain elevator, the reaction is more like, "this is a magnificent hotel!" And this is by no means the only example of this type of re-use. Since this was built there have been many similar reconstructions into living space in grain elevator and related mill buildings around this country and around the world.  What does all this have to do with Buffalo? Plenty.
   One doesn't have to go back too far in the local news to find the subject of grain elevators. Defended by preservationists, historians, scholars and ordinary people from Buffalo and around the world, the grain elevators here have taken an uncalled for hit over the last few years while the City threw away grand opportunities for needed redevelopment in the interest of creating another parking lot! I don't see too many tourists flocking to Buffalo to see our historic parking lots! But tens of thousands have flocked to Buffalo to see the grain elevators over the years. The Industrial Heritage Committee, Inc. has been conducting their classic Historic Buffalo River Tours to sell out crowds for 29 seasons, attracting and educating people from all over this country and the world. 

Quaker Square Inn - Akron Ohio

  The Connecting Terminal Elevator across the Buffalo River from downtown and the Saskatchewan Pool Elevator on the outer harbor would be ideal candidates for hotel development with incredible views of the lake and downtown. This is especially true now that Fuhrmann Blvd. has been rebuilt with a whole new infrastructure. Tourists going to Niagara Falls would stay in Buffalo just to say they slept in a silo!  We have had out of town developers who were interested in doing a similar development here as in Akron, but were driven out of town by the politics in WNY.     I'm not saying make every elevator into a hotel, but that is the obvious place to start for certain ones. There are a number of the elevators still in service storing grain including one that has just re-opened recently.

  The GLF/Wheeler/Agway elevator complex on Ganson St. on the other hand, is an ideal location for a working grain elevator museum to commemorate the grain elevator and milling history of Buffalo and the world. Have you ever been in a grain elevator and witnessed the monstrous marine leg descend into the hold of a ship to extract the grain? It is a site to behold that has not been done any where in the world for the public that I know of.  It would have an actual grain ship docked at it's side for unloading. People would experience first hand a better understanding the scale of engineering of these structures and what it took to manage the hundreds of million bushels of grain a year that passed through these incredible buildings. You can't experience that from a book or computer. The Wheeler elevator itself is one of a kind structure, made of concrete but on the unique design of the old wooden elevators. It is definitely worth preserving for there is not another elevator like it. This is Buffalo's history and legacy, what tourists want to know about, they've told us so. 

Saskatchewan Pool Elevator on Outer Harbor 
 Ideally Situated for a Hotel Project

  There are many other ideas and examples which I do not have space to elaborate on now but will publish in booklet sometime this summer to be available on the Historic Buffalo River Tours. Buffalo's History is it's future, it is the easiest and most logical path to take for redevelopment. We have more than enough history to be proud of on our waterfront to share with others.  Remember, many of the beautiful mansions and classic architecture we hold so dear on our Delaware and other Avenues, were built on the backs of the grain elevator and flour milling and other commercial industries on Buffalo's Harbor.
   Buffalo was the birthplace of the grain elevator, the largest grain handling and flour milling port in the world for most of it's history. The greatest grain flow in the world was down the Great Lakes through Buffalo's grain elevators to the east coast for export. Buffalo's elevators have literally fed the world. But we treat them with the adage, "yeah, but what have you done for us lately?" Respect for ones heritage is the first step towards the re-growth of this area. History is Buffalo's future. Properly respected and done with care we can combine history with a living environment that is uniquely Buffalo, and a destination attraction for tourists.  

Jerry M. Malloy

For information on the Historic Buffalo River Tours click on: 

http://www.buffaloindustrialheritage.com/  

Editor:

  The Wheeler Elevator is one of the most significant of Buffalo’s waterfront elevators. Its design is unique among the elevators here in Buffalo. It was an early concrete elevator but took the design characteristics of the old wooden structures from the previous century. There are no conveyor systems on top as in the modern concrete elevators. All the grain coming in from the marine tower was spouted directly into the bins.  The bins themselves are all open on top, something you will never see in a conventional concrete elevator. These features are  exclusive to the Wheeler and an important transition example in the evolution of grain elevator construction from wood to concrete, one which needs to be preserved. 

   Observing the elevator recently, the main problem is the corrugated iron on the marine tower which could either be removed or repaired. As far as the elevator is concerned, an independent engineer should be brought in to ascertain it’s structural integrity, and not be left up to a demolition company, of all things, to make that assessment. Concrete holds up a lot better than most people think over the years.

   The reasons given for demolition is safety with an eye on expansion of the business. That is all well and good and usually a refreshing concept in the Buffalo area, and normally I would applaud their efforts. But prior to purchasing the original parcel of land I feel safe to say that they were well aware of the elevators existence, and future expansion was not suitable or easily done on this parcel. Buffalo abounds with open land suitable for the type business they have. It was not necessary or advisable to purchase the land next to the elevators (or on the water for that matter) then complain about the neighbors and lack of room.

    A better plan for them now, would be to look for a location elsewhere in the city which is suitable for expansion and future needs. Purchasing that original site likens to someone building a house near an airport then complain about the noise to the town and airport owners for the next ten years. It was a poor business decision, in my opinion, to locate there on Ganson Street, and not only that but wasting a water side location totally unnecessary for their type of business. That I might say is a City Hall failing to even allow it to be there. 

    The Wheeler and GLF feed mill complex  is an intricate part of our industrial heritage and a key link in future waterfront planning which is now going on. It would be a great complex for highlightng Buffalo’s grain handling and milling histories with incredible views of the waterfront from above. People in power to make decisions in Buffalo need to be aware that all the elevators in the city are individually different in many ways, and form a unique museum as a whole, of world wide significance, even as they stand today. 

    Careful planning and patience with these structures will create a tourist attraction unlike any other in the world when linked together showing the evolution of these structures in history. This will bring more tourism dollars and prestige to the city for generations to come and far surpass anything that this company could offer in jobs or tax dollars. Although we thank them for doing business  in the city, they can be elsewhere in the city and offer the same potential, if not more, for jobs and tax dollars as on Ganson Street.

Jerry Malloy    

The Industrial Heritage Committee, Inc.