Turkeys Leave Country, Spending Holiday Overseas!

Turkey May Be Rarity on Thanksgiving Table, 

But You Can Be Thankful It's in Good Hands

Courier Express September 18, 1943

  There are 68 more days until Thanksgiving, and you can do your worrying about that turkey during the last 41. The first 27 days, or until October 15th, you can spend being thankful that the turkey you might not get will go to our boys overseas. This about sizes up the situation. Some time ago the government slapped a two-way freeze order on the national turkey crop.  It froze the sale of the birds until it can buy up 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 pounds needed by the armed forces, and it is now freezing the birds for shipment overseas.
Turkeys remaining after Uncle Sam has his share, will be allocated for civilian use.

   While October 1st is the date set tentatively for relaxing the freeze order, Buffalo poultry dealers heard at their national convention in Chicago this week that, to date, the government has bought only 5,000,000 pounds. They figure the quota will not be completed before mid October at the latest. What are the chances of getting a Thanksgiving turkey? One leading Buffalo poultry dealer said yesterday that "we can't even think of that possibility yet." A "sprinkling" of turkeys may come through after October 15th, and by the time Thanksgiving rolls around on November 25, there may be enough to go around, he said. But he made it clear that everything is up in the air now.  One of the poultry dealers who attended the Chicago convention said it was reported there while the nations poultry crop this year, is the largest on record, turkeys are down 10 percent from last year.

  With the government's 1943 holiday turkey order much larger than last year, and on a smaller crop on which to draw, the prospect of enough turkeys to supply the civilian demand is extremely slender, this dealer said.  

  On the other hand, he pointed out, with the biggest crop of poultry of all time, there will be a choice of substitutes for the Thanksgiving piece de resistance. While poultry is rather scarce right now, it is expected to start coming to market in quantity when the poultrymen bring in their young flocks from the range and begin liquidating old stock to make room. "By early November, and until over the holidays, the poultry supply should increase by leaps and bounds," this dealer added.  The small local turkey grower heads a priority list of consumers reasonably sure of having turkey to eat on Thanksgiving.

  Next in order of reasonable sureness are his consumers of long standing, many of whom have had their Thanksgiving and Christmas orders in since last year.

   Although the turkey grower with flocks of up to a few hundred birds is subject to the freeze order, the government has not called on him so far. Buying in such huge quantity, it has to depend chiefly on the big western turkey ranches. Still another factor in the local small turkey growers favor, is that his birds are not due to be ready until a few days before the holiday. Uncle Sam wants birds that are ready now, so they may be frozen and shipped in time to reach their far-flung destinations before the holidays.

Land Girls on an Essex turkey farm round up the 

turkeys for the last time. December 23, 1944

Courier Express Nov. 14, 1943

   Home used to be the only place to get a  real old fashioned Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the trimmings. This year it may be the only place you can't. Speaking of old fashioned Thanksgiving dinners...It's what the soldiers at Fort Niagara will down at their noonday meal on November 25, and is typical of the fare to be served that day at all the service posts in this area.  "We expect to have two shifts of cooks working all night before Thanksgiving"...said Capt. Harry Betts, food service officer at Fort Niagara. "Our Thanksgiving menu calls for 2,300 pounds of turkey." 

The only men at Ft. Niagara not sure of having turkey for Thanksgiving are the 10 percent who will be home on furlough.    

   Turkey to the tune of 40,000 pounds is being readied for the Naval Training Station at Sampson, largest of the service camps in the Buffalo area. Smaller military posts in the area all are building their holiday menus around turkey. These include Camp Curtiss Air in Cheektowaga, Camp Bell in Niagara Falls, the aviation students at the University of Buffalo and Canisius College, the M.P.'s of the Second Service Command, and the anti-aircraft crews.  

Woman Land Army Trainees
 Carrying Turkeys

  There is just one drawback to the whole Thanksgiving show as far as the men are concerned. With few exceptions, Thanksgiving will not be a holiday. They will have the usual hour to eat the holiday meal and enough work afterwards to work it off. The Military Police guarding Italian war prisoners at work in Western NY canning factories will have to take pot-luck unless they work out of an army post such as the one at Attica. Guards stationed at such posts as the Heinz plant at Medina, are fed at the plant Cafeteria, and take whatever is offered.

  None For Prisoners

   Asked if the Italian war prisoners--some 800 of them are working in the Buffalo area--would have turkey for Thanksgiving, Col. McDowell said: "With thousands of Americans having to go without turkeys this year so our men in the armed forces could have them, my guess would be, no."

Courier Express November 17, 1943

Roast Chicken Joins Turkey in the "IF" Class

Dealers Fear Supply May Not Fill Demand

  If your all through worrying about the turkey that you can't have for Thanksgiving, and you'll settle for a nice, fat roasting chicken, you can now start worrying about getting that nice, fat roasting chicken.  While Buffalo poultry dealers expect a fair supply of chickens for next weeks holiday, they also anticipate a demand all out of proportion to other years, as a result of the acute turkey shortage.  They fear that no matter how many birds they get, the supply will be too small to go around.  As to the OPA cracking down on certain dealers who, it charges, "have deliberately corralled the turkey market in this territory," these dealers enquired yesterday: "What turkey market?"               

 Defends Buffalo Dealers    

   "You've got to have the merchandise before you can corner the market on anything," said one.  "If there are any turkeys in Buffalo, outside of the exception to prove the rule, I'd like to know it." Harley T. Jones, a poultry buyer for Hickman, Coward & Wattles, Niagara Frontier Food Terminal, returned yesterday from a buying trip to the midwest, where, he found few turkeys available at ceiling prices. "But I bought all the chickens in sight, and they weren't too easy to find either.  We are laying in about three times as many chickens as we ordinarily do, as we expect the demand to be tremendous, with families going in for two or three chickens in place of the one turkey they would have bought."

OPA Official Explaining New Rationing Procedures

   A spokesman for the Will Poultry Co., 1223 William Street, attributed the turkey and general poultry shortage to the fact that "the government froze turkey sales too long." They were frozen during August, September and October, he said during which time the packers usually dress and freeze their stock for the holiday market. As another result of the government freeze order, he said, birds not taken for the armed forces were permitted to get too big for the ordinary market. He reported one turkey farmer in Fredonia, who raised between 6,000 and 8,000 birds, has many weighing as high as 28 to 30 pounds.
  The Will Poultry Co. representative said that while his company will have more chickens than usual for the holidays, roasting birds will be fairly scarce. Fairmont Creamery, which expects to have 15-20% of it's normal allotment of turkeys, said yesterday, it's supply of chickens "will not be anywhere near what we'd like." We found, General Manager Ingraham said, "that chickens as well as turkeys are pretty scarce in the Midwest."
    Editor: So Everybody be thankful for what you have this Thanksgiving, whatever fare is on your table.  If you have little, be thankful for what it is you do have, there are others who have even less. If you have much, be thankful for the abundance bestowed on you, and give what you can to those who have less and help restore a balance and faith in Mankind. And always give thanks to those in our armed forces who are putting their lives on the line everyday, fighting, so we may all celebrate in peace.  
   

Leaving Home...

Buffalo NY 1942 - some excerpts from an undetermined local paper

When the Last of the Seneca Indians Left 

Buffalo 100 years Ago - 1842

  Buffalo was actually founded by the Seneca Indians in 1780.  They welcomed the white settlers who later forced them to sell their land rights in 1842 and move out of the city they founded, onto reservations they occupy today....

  One of the most difficult problems the founders of Buffalo had to solve, was getting the Seneca Indians to give up their land along Buffalo Creek. The first permanent settlement on the site of modern Buffalo was actually made by the Seneca Indians in 1780. On Buffalo Creek some three or four miles from it's mouth, the first Seneca villages were established during the Revolutionary War, after Sullivan's raid destroyed their old homes in the Genesee Valley. The proud and formidable nation fled, panic stricken, from their 'pleasant valley', abandoned their villages and sought British protection under the guns of Fort Niagara.
   Col. Guy Johnson fed the Indians from the British commissary at Fort Niagara during the winter of 1779-80.  British officers from Fort Niagara encouraged some 1,500 of them to settle on Buffalo Creek to plant these places, to lessen the burden and expenses at the Fort.  In this neighborhood was built a council house, at which councils and treaties of national importance were held. Associated with it are the names Young King, Farmers Brother, Red Jacket and other Native American celebrities. In this vicinity is the well known site of the Seneca Mission Church built in 1826 and abandoned in 1843. Indian Church Road runs through the old church yard and near the site of the building.

   The date of the beginning of settlement "was probably May or early June" of 1780. There had been no permanent abiding place there until that time. Soon after their arrival the squaws began to clear the land and prepare it for corn, while the men built some log-huts then went hunting. The Senecas at Buffalo Creek were under the leadership of Siangarochti, or Sayengareghta, and influential Chief, sometimes called Old King. His family alone raised seventy-five bushels of corn during that first summer at Buffalo Creek.

Map Showing Location of Buffalo 
Creek Indian Reservation

  After the Revolution, the Seneca title to the land along Buffalo Creek was recognized by the government, and the Seneca Village occupied some of the choicest land in Buffalo. As the white settlers continued to come into Buffalo, the Indians became a greater problem. When Buffalo began to expand with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, the Seneca Indians became a first class "headache" for the Village Fathers. Those remnants of the once mighty Iroquois had not taken too well to the white man's way of living...but the Senecas legally owned the land, and they would not sell or move.

  In 1838, a combination known as the Ogden Company began negotiations with the Indians in Western New York, and in January of that year, a council of chiefs was held in Buffalo.  How the Ogden Company got the various chiefs to sign away their land rights is a dark and shameful chapter in Buffalo History. Scandalous methods of bribery and intoxication where used, and many of the signers were not  recognized chiefs of the Senecas. The Ogden Company offered fabulous sums of money (which were never paid) and 1,820,000 acres of land in Kansas. The people of Buffalo were incensed over the way their Red neighbors were treated, and because of their opposition, the Ogden Company did not attempt to force it's questionable claims to the Indian lands.

The Great Seneca Orator - Red Jacket
1751 - 1830

  A committee of arbiters from Buffalo finally brought the dealings with the Senecas to a successful conclusion, and in May, 1842, the Senecas agreed to give up their land on Buffalo Creek and move to reservations set up for them at Cattaraugus and Allegany. The Buffalo arbiters saw to it that the Indians were paid a fair price for the land they gave up at Buffalo Creek, but the Senecas at Tonawanda flatly refused to deal with the Ogden Company or the arbiters. The government finally bought the entire claim of the Ogden Company and dealt with the Tonawanda Indians seperately.  

   True to their agreement with the people of Buffalo, the Senecas began to move out of Buffalo in 1842, and soon there were few of them left along the Creek. The land they once owned on Buffalo Creek has since become the heart of the industrial and shipping enterprises in Buffalo. 

     

  

George Adell Buffalo's Early Aviator - 1911

Buffalo News May 28 1929

Blazed Trail Over Niagara in 1911

----------------------------------------

Man Who Flew Spidery Plane over Niagara Still Hale at 72

In a Curtiss type biplane, which he built himself, George Adell, 72 of 142 Masten Street, made 

frequent flights over the Niagara River in 1911. Seated at the controls of the plane is Charles Mills, 

his partner in exhibition ventures.

   A Spidery looking contraption which made noisy and sometimes erratic progress through the air around Buffalo in the year 1911 evoked no little comment on the foolhardiness of it's sole passenger. Nevertheless the man that built that primitive airplane and flew it on the first flight across the Niagara River 18 years ago is still hale and hearty and as deeply interested in aviation as he was then.  He is George Adell, 72 of 142 Masten Street, an employee of the Lamson Co. of Boston for more than 45 years.  Back in 1872 when he was a boy in his teens in Auburn, he assisted an itinerant fakir to construct what would be known now as a helicopter.  His lifelong interest in aviation dated from that day.  

                                                                                                     It  Failed  to  Fly

Photo from my own collection of what may be Mr. Adell's plane
flying near Niagara River around Buffalo

   A portable steam engine was installed in the center of the platform and was surmounted by a huge propeller, which incidentally would not lift the clumsy ship, but proved a great drawing card for curious persons who were willing to pay money to see even an airplane that wouldn't fly.  Five or six years later entered into a partnership with a Professor Baldwin and the daring couple spent several months making balloon flights at county fairs.  The venture was a huge success until one summer day the valve in the envelope refused to function and they finished the flight from Auburn in a farmers apple tree ten miles away. That finished Mr. Adell's brief career as a balloonist.

Mr. George Adell

Built  First  Plane

   Mr. Adells interest in aviation, which waned somewhat after that disastrous experience, revived again after he moved to Buffalo in 1898, and when Orville Wright and Glenn Curtiss were experimenting, he decided to construct his own plane.  He secured plans for nine different types of ships for the percival Marshall Co. of London, England, and choose the Curtiss ship as the safest and easiest of operation.  At a cost of $2000 he built the machine in a shop in the Sidway Building in 194 Main Street. It was two years in the making.  After several brief but successful flights in it from the Country club grounds at Niagara Falls, he made the longest trip up the river to Fort Erie.

Photo from my own collection what may be Mr. Adell's plane
landing somewhere in or around Buffalo

                                                    Flew  Over  The  Cataract

 The decision to make exhibition flights when he took into partnership with him Charles Mills, an electrician aviator, who flew the machine over the Cataract for the first time.  They demonstrated in all parts of the state with only one accident.  In Binghampton one day Mills crashed from a height of 100 feet, breaking his collar bone and smashing the airplane. The dismantled ship is packed carefully in boxes in a warehouse in Tonawanda at the present time, but Mr. Adell has never lost his deep interest in aeronautics and is at present constructing planes of new and radical design.

Editors Note: Still looking for more information on this gentleman. If any one can provide more insight on Mr. Adell, please contact me.  The photo's are just an assumption on my part that they are of him.  They came from a collection I acquired from someone in the Buffalo area.  Any aeronautical  experts that wish to chime in on this feel free to do so. Thanks,  Jerry Malloy

The "House" of Invention

     First Car in England Built by a House From Buffalo!

Buffalo Times, February 22 1931

Harry A. House Jr.

   If that sounds a little strange, it's not.  Not if the house was Harry A. House Jr. of 42 Fordham Drive, Buffalo. He designed, built and drove the first automobile in England. His father is conceded by many to have constructed America's initial automobile, which alarmed the citizens of Bridgeport Conn., in 1866.  Retired now after 15 years as chief engineer of the former Wire Wheel corporation of America here, House works daily in a fully equipped machine shop in the basement of his home, perfecting ideas to swell his total of half a hundred patented inventions.

Got First License in 1897

   The first license that England ever issued, which bears his name, hangs in the club rooms of the Royal Automobile Club of Great Britain, to which both House and the Prince of Wales belong. The license was issued in 1897 at Somerset House where deeds and records are kept in London. It was larger than a present day birth certificate and bore the royal coat of arms. House and his father, Henry A. House Sr., went to England in 1889 to join Sir Hiram Maxim (machine gun inventor) in working out a flying machine. Wilbur Wright came to England at the time to view the invention.  Several trial flights ended disastrously and backers of the project eventually withdrew their support. The flying machine was abandoned by Sir Hiram and his two American helpers. 

Maxim's Steam Powered Aircraft -1890's 

Made Steam Driven Vehicle

  The elder House returned to the United States while his son remained in England and began experimentations on a self-propelled commercial vehicle. He evolved a steam driven machine which weighed a ton and a half and which was capable of achieving a speed of 30 miles per hour. The steam was generated by kerosene oil and a funnel led out through the top to carry out the heat.  A license had to be taken out before the steam auto could be operated generally on the roads.  There wasn't any form to cover such a situation, so one was hastily and elaborately devised.  It cost House two pounds (about ten dollars) to take out his first license.   

  The government became interested in the vehicle and as a experiment used it for Royal Mail Service. For Six weeks, Houses' automobile carried the mail from London to Riegate, a distance of 30 miles.  Sharply at 10 the steam car would chug off on it's mission while crowds gathered to see the horseless contraption make it's way over the bumpy roads.

Double Decker Comes Next

  Later house designed a double-decker car with a majestic funnel rearing from the top. This machine was taken to France. The inventor holds a gold medal and two silver for his earlier designs in automotive vehicles. The younger came to Buffalo and took up duties with the Wheel Corporation.  He became chief engineer and invented numerous wire wheel designs and processes for making them. He perfected wheel balances, a foot-lifting jack and auto accessories. During the course of his 19 years in England he was made Vice Consul at Southampton. Today he is 65 and still drives an automobile.

Henry A. House Sr.'s Automobile,
Bridgeport - 1866

  The senior House died in his Bridgeport home, at the age of 90, in December of 1930. He had invented mechanical devises for the airplane, auto and numerous other types of machinery. Altogether he was credited with over 300 inventions. The story is told in Bridgeport that a balky horse caused House Sr. to invent the first automobile. "Better no horse at all than one that balks," he said, according to legend, then he set about designing a vehicle to eliminate the cantankerous horse. 

Editors Note:  Hiram Maxim did actually achieve flight by accident although not "controlled." Just a few feet off the ground then crashed. He used lightweight steam engines.  The area he was testing at did not allow for full takeoffs. The steam engines, although powerful enough to lift the huge aircraft could not hold enough water for anything other than a short flight even if it could take off. Search: Hiram Maxim airplane, for details on his flight experiments in the 1890's. I am still researching the Henry A. House Sr. automobile in Bridgeport Conn. If anyone has information on any of the inventions mentioned in this story, please contact me by email.  

Thanks

Brodie's "Tin Hat"

He Made the World's "Most Famous Hat"

Local Genius Invented Many War Devices,

But None So Thankfully Received by 

Doughboys as the Famous "Tin Kelly."

Buffalo Times April 4, 1926

Canadian infantry of the 27th Battalion with
a Lewis machine gun and steel helmets

   It seems that there can't be much romance in hat making, ordinarily, and not if it's an ordinary kind of hat. John Leopold Brodie, No. 806 West Ferry Street, found romance in his creation however, romance and adventure in quantities to satisfy almost anyone. It was Mr. Brodie who invented the Tin Hat of war-time fame. To Mr. Brodie thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands allied soldiers owe their lives. Many of the doughboys with a streak of curiosity to peek over the top of a besieged trench, were saved from an army blanket and last post honors by the tin hat.

   Mr. Brodies' hat was first chosen by the British Government, and later by the United States Government, as the most efficient life saving hat of more than 40 models offered them. Tests proved that the hat was so constructed that it was practically bullet proof, and the cushioning cage inside, resisted the shock. Under service conditions it was found that the hat cut down on head wounds by 60 percent.    

    Mr. Brodie has many inventions to his credit. One was a chain steel visor attached under the tin hats and so arranged as to pull it down in front of the eyed for protection from shrapnel. Another war time invention was a message carrying rocket which could be set for a certain distance as the case might be, and save sending a man a man out under fire to a sure death. Also a face protector for tank operators, other were service smoke helmets and gas alarms, most of which saw a great deal of  active service in France.  He is also said to have developed the "stop and go" traffic light.

   He was born July 10th in Riga Russia and had an adventurous career. As a young man, Mr. Brodie  went to South Africa and was subsequently interested, as an owner, in the development of diamond and gold mines there, and eventually made a fortune in gold and diamonds at the Kimberly and Johannesburg treasure mines. For several of his years there he was closely associated with Cecil Rhodes. He returned to England and invented a chemical process for the manufacture of salt and engaged in that business until 1914. He is said to have refused a Knighthood in England and to have come to Buffalo just after the armistice to live, solely because his wife (Eleanora Thompson), wished to live in the city of her birth. Mr. Brodie for a number of years has been one of Buffalo's most distinguished citizens, richest of all local war millionaires and possibly the wealthiest man in the city. He received his U.S. citizenship in 1924.

   Although reticent about discussing the invention of the most famous hat in the world, he says he conceived of such a hat after statistics showed that about 750 out of a thousand wounded soldiers were suffering from head wounds.  One of the tests that Mr. Brodie put his hat through in order for the government to accept it from among 40 or 50 others,  was to put it on his head and allow it to be struck with a heavy steel bar.  He had so much confidence in  his invention that he was even willing to have the government inspectors shoot at the hat with a 45 caliber revolver while he was wearing it.  This was not considered necessary, however. 

   Mr. Brodie is asking a royalty for the use of his invention from the United States Government. So far he has received nothing but the heartfelt thanks from the thousands of American soldiers.  They didn't know who to thank for the hat when they were in the trenches, and they probably never will know, but they say thanks just the same.
   During the first year of World War I, none of the combatants offered steel helmets to their troops. The soldiers of most nations went into battle wearing simple cloth caps that offered virtually no protection from modern weapons. German troops wore the traditional leather Pickelhaube, also of little protective value.

    The Brodie helmet (also called the shrapnel helmet or Tommy helmet, and in the United States known as a doughboy helmet) was a steel helmet designed and patented in 1915 by John L. Brodie. The War Office Invention Department was asked to evaluate the French Adrian design but they decided that it was not strong enough and was too complex to allow quick mass production. The design submitted by John L. Brodie offered advantages over the French design as it could be pressed from a single thick sheet of steel, giving it added strength. The British Army first utilised the helmet in September of 1915 but it was not until the spring of 1916 that the helmet began to be issued to British troops in large numbers. It was first used in battle in April 1916 at St Eloi. Troops from other countries in the British Empire also used the Brodie helmet as did the United States when they entered the war in 1917. The United States Government initially purchased some 400,000 helmets from Britain.

Search Amazon.com for BRODIE HELMET

Editors Note:  For the record, newspapers in general do not always get every fact correct regarding subject matter (not a big surprise). There were  some conflicting minor biographical information in articles written at different times I found about John Brodie. If ever any reader has additional information regarding John Brodie, that may differ from what I have, feel free to bring it up to me, and I will take it into consideration. Thanks

Harvard Cup Football Packs It In - Sardine Style!

RECORD CROWD OF 50,988 SEES KENSINGTON WIN

LARGEST SPORTS THRONG IN CITY'S ANNALS JAMS 

CIVIC STADIUM FOR SCHOLASTIC GAME

Courier Express October 22 1948

Civic Stadium - Jefferson at Best Streets

   The largest sports crowd in Buffalo history-50,988-saw an alert Kensington High School football team, batter previously unbeaten Bennett, 26-8 last night in Civic Stadium, in the first Harvard Cup grid game ever contested under the lights.

   Civic Stadium ripped, rocked, roared and nearly burst it's concrete seams last night as the largest crowd ever to attend a local sports event,  jam packed the Best Street bowl to watch two high schools vie for football honors. The crowd figure was the official turnstile count as announced by James V. Carney, director of Civic Stadium and Memorial Auditorium. The previous all time attendance mark was set last season when the Buffalo Bills and the Cleveland Browns attracted 43,167 to the same stadium. School children of all ages, and adults too, took up every conceivable inch of space in the stadium which ordinarily seats 37,064, to watch Bennett High School and Kensington High school tussle it on the gridiron in the first Harvard Cup series game ever contested at night.

  A record Buffalo Sports turnout of 50,988, occupying every 

  seat in the steeply banked saucer and overflowing all around the 

  track and field, watched Kensington defeat Bennett, 26 to 8 in a 

  Harvard Cup Football game last night in Civic Stadium.

  C-E Photo

  The victory, achieved with surprising ease, was Kensington's third of the season and extended the defending Harvard Cup champions' unbeaten streak to ten over a two year span. Bobby Wilde, a brilliant, deceptive T-quarterback who amazed the huge throng with his ball-handling wizardry; Chris Frauenhofer, an explosive scat-back, Carl Wyles, a power-running fullback, and Jack Thompson, who turned in a magnificent performance at end, covered themselves with glory in the Knight's decisive triumph.

  As a lopsided moon looked down with no little wonderment, the high schools of the city unleashed all the noise and color they could conjure, and under an onslaught of bands, sirens, cowbells and shrieking voices, windows rocked in houses in three counties. Considered to be the greatest boost to high school football since the inauguration of the Harvard Cup series, the event had an advance sale of 50,057, and although no tickets were sold at the gate, dazed officials estimate that another thousand crashed the gates by fair means or foul.  Where they all sat remains a mystery, although it's a known fact the small fry were able to squeeze as many as four into a space ordinarily occupied by one.  At any rate they filled the seats solid from top to bottom. They choked the aisles, They throttled the section entrances. They overflowed the stands, and formed a three-deep ring of noise around the playing field.  

1958 Harvard Cup, Bennett Vs. Riverside
(Photo Courtesy Richard Kozak)

  The  color of the affair was enough to shame the light of a bright moon and the concerted wind from nearly 51,000 screaming throats must have blown all the clouds from the sky. The night was clear crisp, bright and very noisy with youthful exuberance.  According to police Inspector Peter J. Flood, who was in charge of stadium detail, the gates opened at 6:20 p.m. for a waiting crowd of about 5,000. By 7:15, there were more than 30,000 in the stands, and from then on in they never stopped coming. 

   The real action got under way when the orange and blue Bennett Band pitted lungs against the green-gold-white garbed musicians from Kensington.  But that was just a small drop in a large bucket.  At a drum roll and gunshot signal, a circus performance staged by all the High Schools got under way. Youthful performers, dressed in all sorts of costumes, leaped atop wooden stages spaced at intervals around the stadium track, and put on their specialty acts.

Bennett Snow Game 1957

   The acts Included everything under the sun and even a few from under the moon. There were tumblers, acrobats, dancing Scottish lassies, cavorting clowns, cowboys on horseback, trick rope artists, a girls burlesque football team, accordion players and a wailing, discordant German band. After that came, the parade, introduced with a fanfare of trumpets that were only  a pinpoint of sound in an ocean of bedlam. South Park, Emerson Vocational, Burgard, Girl's Vocational and Bennett presented floats which drew ear-shattering roars from the crowd. The floats included Burgard's atomic, hydromatic, dynaflow training car, a Gay 90's Schmoos, a stuffed Bennett Tiger mounted on a truck and a red and silver float depicting ladies-in-waiting before the queen of Girl's Vocational. 

  Things really got hot during the individual introduction of both schools' team members over the stadium loud speaker system, and a crescendo of sound reached a new high as each lads name, weight and position were read off. After team introductions, bands, baton twirling majorettes, color guards and drum majors paraded out onto the field and stood at attention at the east end of the field. The teams of both schools, trim and fresh looking in clean uniforms, formed at the far end of the gridiron.  At the first strains of the National Anthem, the restless noisy crowd quieted amazingly and the sound of it rising to its feet was a vast rustle in the night. It stood, bareheaded and at attention as Miss Gertrude Lutzi, accompanied by the Bennett and Kensington bands, sang the Star Spangled Banner.

Kensington vs. Bennett 1958
(Photo Courtesy Richard Kozak)

  There was a hush as the last note faded, then the stadium erupted into a vertex of sound, as noise makers and healthy young throats conspired to establish some sort of record for noise.  Cheer leaders from both schools spun in the air along with their megaphones. A whistle blew. A football soared in the air. The game was on, and the lid was really off then for the next couple of hours.  

Editors Note:  As of 2018, the 51,000 attendance is still the largest crowd to ever watch a high school football game in New York State and the country.

                                         

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AIRMAIL - MADE in BUFFALO - 1873

    Perhaps the most enigmatic of all American stamps, the "Buffalo" balloon stamp is certainly among the premier rarities in aerophilately. This stamp begs the question, “What is an airmail stamp?” Described variously as “experimental,” “semi-official,” “a carrying label,” and even as a vignette or cinderella, the fact remains that it was the first of its kind ever issued. Since it was privately issued for use with a standard U.S. postal service 3-cent stamp to pay for air handling of a mailed piece, it was (if one includes both private and government issues) the world’s first airmail stamp.

  The stamp is an accurate representation of the enormous 92,000 cubic foot “Buffalo” balloon of Professor Samuel Archer King (1828-1914), and was designed by John B. Lillard, a clerk in the Wheeler firm and a passenger on the great flight. The engraver of the stamp was John H. Snively, a scientist who provided apparatus for experiments on the flight. The Buffalo balloon launched from Nashville, Tennessee, on June 18, 1877, and dropped a number of covers, probably in containing envelopes or drop bags sewn to brightly colored nine-foot streamers.  After a Gallatin, Tennessee, landing, there was a second flight the next morning. There were also other, later flights of the "Buffalo", and covers could have been flown on any of those flights.
   Few if any Buffalonians realize not only was the balloon named, honoring this city, "Which has shown so much interest in Aeronautics"(S.A. King), it was actually built right here in Buffalo, quite possibly the first aircraft ever built in the city.  The story follows.

Buffalo Courier Aug. 2, 1873 - Buffalo Morning Express  Aug. 3, Commercial Advertiser 

A Stamped Cover Flown in King's Balloon "Buffalo"

  For some time, past arrangements have been in progress the design of which was to induce Professor S. A. King, the celebrated aeronaut, to visit Buffalo for the purpose of making a Balloon ascension. The gentlemen having the matter in charge desiring to have the ascension a little more noteworthy than is usual on such occasions and also to have it in some benefit to the cause of science... Having satisfied themselves that the requisite amount of funds to defray the expenses of the undertaking, would be cheerfully subscribed by our liberal minded citizens, they opened a correspondence with Prof. King inviting him to come on with his monster balloon "Collossus" of about ninety thousand feet.  But the "Colossus" proved to be an unlucky balloon, having been twice wrecked by storms when fully inflated...and although well repaired, she was not considered by Prof. King to be just the thing.  He therefore replied that he would accept the proposition made to him, but instead of using the "Colossus" would come to Buffalo and build a new balloon to be named after the place of residence of those through whose liberality, the means for it's construction were to be forthcoming.

Prof. Samuel Archer King

    The co-operation of Prof. King being secured, it was found necessary to build a balloon expressly for the ascension. This work has been going on for several days and as public curiosity has been excited to a great extent regarding this matter, a reporter  of the Express called on Prof King yesterday for the purpose of gaining such information as would be of interest to our readers.
   
Since Prof. S. A. King has been in town, the public pulse has been felt with regard to raising funds for the proposed ascension, and the response has been unexpectedly liberal. Buffalo is advancing in both population and enterprise, and little matters of this sort show the fact. Thursday the cloth for the balloon was bought. The cloth selected is that which combines in the greater degree the qualities of firmness and lightness. Through the kindness of Capt. E. P. Dorr, a large room in the Aetna Insurance Building has been placed at the disposal of Prof. King, and the bag of the balloon will be built there.  The work of cutting out was commenced yesterday, and it is a very scientific operation. Those who have never investigated the work would be astonished to see how much mathematics are required in perfecting the pattern. Next in order will be the stitching. When the bag is subsequently varnished, all will be in readiness, as the car, net, etc. are already built. ...It will be the largest airship that ever rose in the country.

Aetna Insurance Buildings ( left) Where Balloon was constructed
Prime & Lloyd St.

  The Professor was found in a large room in the Aetna Insurance Co.'s building (Prime & Loyd Streets), busily engaged in supervising the construction of his airship, which is to be one of the largest size. The bag is to be of the best Wamsutta Mills cotton, of which fourteen hundred yards will be used. The cloth was first cut from patterns prepared by the Professor, and is now being sewed into five sections of twelve breadths each as a preliminary.  The cotton cloth is joined by a raised seam about an eighth of an inch wide, sewed twice  in order to secure strength. Stays, made of four thicknesses of cloth and about one half inch in width, are next sewed on to morning the sections horizontally and thirty nine inches apart. There are to be twenty four of these stays on the balloon. The sewing of these stays having been finished, the several sections will be seamed together, the seams joined, then the bag will be ready for varnishing, which process will take about two weeks, several barrels of varnish being required, together with the utmost care, to prevent the spontaneous combustion of the whole mass.
   
 The work involved in construction will be seen in a glance to be considerable. The seams are each 95 feet in length from "valve" to "neck," 60 in number, each done twice, make 3,800 yards of stitching, while the stays require nearly as much more. This work is being done on seven Singer Sewing Machines, operated by girls, who are under the immediate supervision of the professor.

The balloon, when inflated, will be in the form of a sphere, excepting of course, the elongation of the neck. The circumference will be about 170 feet, the diameter 56 feet. It will contain 90,000 cubic feet of gas, having a supporting capacity of about 3,600 pounds.  The height from the bottom of the car to the top of the bag, will be about 82 feet.
   The network, car and anchors are ready, having been forwarded from the east some days ago. The network is of cotton twine one hundred and forty three threads each, each cord being strong enough to maintain between three to four hundred pounds. The car is of basket-work, oval in shape, with an out-rigged side and back for seats, and will accommodate fourteen persons, although it is not likely that more than six will make the ascent.  In addition there will be a smaller basket fastened to the rings above.  Two anchors will be carried, one an ordinary boat's anchor, for catching in the ground, the other a grapnel for roots, bush or fences. The gas will be controlled by a valve in the top of the balloon, twenty-five inches in diameter, which when opened will permit gas to escape at the rate of a thousand feet a minute. As a safeguard against accidents, a collapse chord is inserted in the side of the balloon in such a manner, that a strong pull will open an entire breadth, permitting all the gas to escape at once. This will be only used in case of great danger, such as would be occasioned by the dragging of the car.

Buffalo Courier August 12, 1873 There are few spectacles more attractive than a grand balloon ascension, and every means will be taken to advertise this one sufficiently to bring many thousand people into the city. The surrounding country will be thoroughly billed, arrangements will be made with railroads for special trains: indeed we anticipate that "Ascension Day" will be a general holiday. It is the intention of Prof. King to make as long and notable trip as possible.  One that will always be notorious in the annals of ballooning. He has a habit of carrying out his intensions. 

Buffalo Express August 21, 1873   The  work of constructing the "Buffalo"--which is to be the name of the mammoth balloon in which Prof. S. A. King intends going up early next month--is rapidly progressing.  The cutting and stitching of the cloth was commenced some three weeks ago in a large room in the Aetna Buildings.  The stitching on the immense airship is now nearly finished, and before the close of the present week the "stitchers" will be discharged. 

The decorations of the bag of the balloon deserve special mention.  They have been elaborated by the artists in the employ of Fred Stanfield, the scenic painter of the Academy of Music, and have cost a nice little sum. From the neck or bottom of the balloon crimson stripes, alternating with the white cloth, will run up a distance of about thirty feet. Above this, surrounding the balloon, is a drapery of azure blue, with tassels pendent; above that a band in crimson, a foot wide, and above that, scroll work in purple.  Above the scroll work, in the middle of the globe, is the name "Buffalo", in letters seven feet high, and upon the other side, the picture of a wild Buffalo will be delineated.

August 30, 1873  Buffalo Daily Courier   Prof. King has devoted his entire time to the construction of this balloon, and we are convinced has made the most beautiful airship that has ever sought the upper regions of the world. It will be larger by fifty percent than the immense "Hyperion" in which Mr. King has made two ascensions from this city, and larger than any balloon that has ever left the ground. Prof. King stakes his reputation as an aeronaut upon the perfection of this balloon, and has spared no time or expense in it's construction. The stitching was all finished last night and today the balloon will be taken to the country to receive it's coat of oil.

Commercial Advertiser Sept. 8 1873  
   The mammoth balloon "Buffalo", built by Prof. S. A. King, for the ascension from this city on Tuesday the 16th., will receive the third coating of varnish, and the fourth and finishing coat will be put on, probably next Wednesday, should the weather be favorable for drying. Everything will be in readiness by Monday next, and the balloon will probably be removed to the place of filling on the night of that day, to be in readiness for commencement of operations on Tuesday.  Arrangements have been made with the Buffalo Gaslight Company for tapping the main pipe in Church Street probably in the park or the Terrace, and furnish ninety-one thousand feet of gas, which will be necessary for the full inflation of the balloon.

Buffalo Express  Sept. 15 1873  

Prof. King's mammoth balloon "Buffalo" is almost completed. The fourth and last coat of varnish will be put on today, and, weather permitting, the ascent will positively take place tomorrow. The airship will be removed from it's present quarters at Cold Spring to the Terrace Park from which the ascent will be made at an early hour Tuesday morning, and the work of inflation will commence immediately. It is expected that everything will be in readiness and the start made between the the hours of twelve and one. Buffalo takes an active interest in the subject of balloons like the rest of the world and is to witness tomorrow the fulfillment of an important enterprise in this line.

  Through the liberality of our citizens Mr. King has been able to construct the finest airship ever made on this continent. He has carefully superintended all the details of the work and our citizens are to look upon a new product of their industry of which they, as well as the distinguished aeronaut, have every reason to feel proud. In compliment to the city which has manifested so warm an interest in his welfare, he has christened his skyward bound craft, The "Buffalo". With three or four companions he will sail early tomorrow afternoon for his initial cruise in his new and beautiful aerostat, and all will unite in wishing the party a pleasant and prosperous voyage.

Commercial Advertiser September 16, 1873  

"The Buffalo" was completed in readiness for the voyage yesterday afternoon at Cold Springs, Prof. King himself giving the finishing touches  to the valve, by which the balloon can be exploded if necessary. The preparations were made at the corner of Church Street and the Terrace, the gas pipe was tapped and everything made ready for the inflation.  The Balloon was not removed from Cold Springs, however, until this morning on account of the dubious nature of the weather. This morning early the balloon was brought from Cold Springs, and preparations were made for commencing the inflation. The wind still blew high, but Prof. King decided to proceed with the work and make the ascension today.

Commercial Advertiser Sept. 18, 1873   The "Buffalo" which is, without a doubt, the most beautiful as well as the best constructed balloon that ever left American soil to soar beyond the clouds.  ...She is of ninety-one thousand cubic feet capacity, with an extreme height, when inflated, of eighty-four feet from the bottom of the basket to the valve on top, and is the largest balloon ever ascended in this country.  

   We presume most of our readers feel some degree of curiosity as to the "out-fit" of the balloon... as to the scientific instruments there was a fine aneroid barometer for measuring altitude; a hygrometer(a wet and dry bulb thermometer for measuring humidity and temperature); a pocket compass and a repeating watch,-the latter taken in order, if necessary, time might be ascertained after dark.  The barometer and hydrometer, were in charge of Mr. Holden, by whom observations were taken and recorded every two minutes. For ballast there were eighteen bags of sand weighing from fifty to seventy-five pounds each.  A basket containing four carrier pigeons, furnished by Mr. John Fantom, of this city, also were taken.  The "stores" consisted of an elegant and sumptuous lunch furnished by Mr. P. L. Hodges, of the Bloomer House, and other "refreshments" provided by Messrs. L. Gillig and Sons, P. J. Hanour, D. J. Sprague, V. L. Tiphaine and F. B. Harvey.

"Buffalo"Balloon on the Terrace, Buffalo NY

Buffalo Express Sept. 17 1873   

Ascension of the "Buffalo" Yesterday--A large Crowd and a Magnificent Sight

...The history of ballooning is an interesting one. To soar aloft into an unknown region possesses a fascination for those who behold as for those who ascend. Certainly the large number of people who congregated yesterday on the Terrace to witness the ascension of Prof. King in his new mammoth balloon "Buffalo", evinced the deep curiosity and interest generally felt.  The new city buildings and all the other edifices in the neighborhood of the Park were covered with people, anxious to get the best possible view of the novel and unusual sight.

Within the Terrace Park the monster received it's inspiration of the subtle fluid which should bear it upward among the clouds, together with it's precious freight of five human lives. The inflation was finished about 1 o'clock, and the immense globe swayed to and fro, impatient of restraint and longing to be free of it's earthly ties. Inflated, the gigantic airship stood eighty feet high, and, beautifully painted by Mr. Stanfield, the scenic artist of the theatre, projected a very handsome appearance.

  

"Behind us, the tree-tops glowed with a variety
of lights and shades reflected from the clouds"

It's name "BUFFALO" was painted in large letters, and the whole effect of the painting was very fine an reflected credit upon the artist. Prof. King is a very genial gentleman, who has made the science of ballooning a study, and having made before this, one hundred and sixty-eight ascensions, he possessed sufficient experience in trusting they believe in his aerial vessel.
   Everything being in readiness, the passengers were ordered into the basket. A hundred willing hands at the request of Prof. King, took hold, and the basket and balloon were moved toward the westerly line of the enclosure, to the end that the telegraph wires, and the spire of the neighboring Cathedral, might be avoided... Watching for a lull in the wind he gave the word to "LET GO!" and up went the "Buffalo". It was a triumph of skill, and was one of the nicest feats ever performed by an Aeronaut.  The party consisted of Prof. Samuel A. King, Mr. Luther L. Holden of the Boston Journal, who has made 20 previous ascensions with Prof. King, Mr. George H. Nicholas of the New York Herald, Mr. Walter T. Chester of the Buffalo Courier, and the reporter of the Commercial Advertiser.

Prof. King's Mammoth Balloon "Buffalo"
Altitude 2,000 Ft. From Buffalo to New
Jersey, Five states traversed in 13 hours

Clearing everything handsomely, we were quickly looking downward, while the cheers of the immense multitude rent the very air around us.  Ten thousand steam-whistles, as it seemed, lent the aid of their brazen lungs (if they've got any, which is somewhat problematical) to swell the loud acclaim; and even the tower bell added the weight of it's influence towards increasing the general uproar. Those in the balloon waved hats and handkerchiefs, and cheered with might and main, in response. 

Editors Note:   The story goes on for a few more days as they track across New York State, on their way to NYC, sending homing pigeons to report their progress back to Buffalo. They described beautifully many incredible scenes on their voyage.  The blog would go on for days and days if I tried to put it down on "paper". This was a well documented voyage by the reporters and scientific in nature, taking meteorological readings every few minutes. The purpose of writing the story was to document the fact that it was built here in "Buffalo", a fact that was lost in history. Most likely the first aircraft ever built in this city! Today's significance is that it was built in the Canal-Side development on the waterfront. That area of the city has so much history to discover, they have barely scratched the surface at this point.  Our history is our future as it is in many other cities, but in most other cities they actually put it the forefront of their planning because they are proud of their past, here we only accept it, or not, after a long wasteful fight. Buffalo has a beautiful, colorful and proud history that many other cities only wish they had. Other cities do more with less,   We do less with more. 

Samuel Archer King was the oldest living aeronaut when he died in 1914 with 480 voyages to his credit, click here for more info.

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