Dec. 7, 1979 Gusto cover story: The Old First Ward
Today’s announcement of the closing of an Old First Ward fixture – the Swannie House – brought me back to this Gusto cover story from 45 years ago. Dec. 7, 1979 The Neglected Neighborhood The Old First Ward is where it all began Venture down beyond the foot of Main Street and you come to where Buffalo began. Look closely and you’ll see the traces. Past the decaying grandeur of the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad station are the antique streets which once surrounded the rollicking junction of the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal. Several of them are still paved with bricks. Market Street, home of the Buffalo Sewer Authority, is where the city’s old farmers’ market used to stand. Not far away is an abandoned structure that was the headquarters for the Larkin Company before Larkin hired Frank Lloyd Wright to draw them up a new warehouse and office building on Seneca Street. Other grand old companies still thrive here behind their Victorian-vintage b