Black Rock: Why Not Make This the Place to Be?

Totally agree that this neighborhood suffers more from a bad reputation than just about anything else.

Completely agree, so much potential in the area.

Who sings this version of the song? Haven't enjoyed it that much since elementary school.

great post, thanks for the info.

Black Rock has an almost pastorale feeling and a few remaining streets, laid out before the advent of the automobile, are barely wide enough for cars to pass by. Some houses look more like cottages. This is a very intimate neighborhood and I hope the tentacles of the Mayor's building destruction program don't reach Black Rock.

Good take on my neighborhood. I have lived here over 50 years, raised (and still raising) my kids here and have never had any real trouble. Like all old neighborhoods we have some problems but we also have a core group of good solid people that look out for each other and a sense of community that seems absent in many places today.
The Thruway has long been an obstacle to attracting developement and realizing our potential as a waterfront community. Relocation along the rail right of way has been considered and hopefully will someday be recognized as a way to open up a huge and valuable tract of real estate that is presently squandered for the covenience of commuters.

I hear that Black Rock has a hip honky tonk on Amherst st.
Lots O music!

Just a nitpick: the original Village of Black Rock is the area of the "states and numbers" street grid on the West Side. Looking carefully on a map of the city, you can tell where the boundary between Buffalo and Black Rock was, by the abrupt change from the Ellicott radial street pattern to the West Side's grid.

The area that's called "Black Rock" today is north of the original incorporated village. How the area that is called Black Rock moved from what is now the West Side, I don't know.

Just a few years after it was written: http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/0000/0777/cusb-cyl0777d.mp3

Regarding the Thruway, a few easy steps would mitigate much of the noise. Reduce the speed limit to 35 or 40 (and enforce it) .... pave over the grooved concrete with asphalt (it's the grooved concrete that causes the 'ROAR' - stand 1/2 block from Humboldt & hear how much quieter it is there) ... erect some low profile sound barriers (not the ugly walls they have elsewhere) . The main barrier in doing anything with local expressways is NYS, which owns them all.

I have fond memories of growing up in this area in the 50's. Lived on Farmer St. & went to St. John the Baptist school. Played school basketball games at the Jubilee.
I remember when they tore down the Towpath and built the Thruway which basically ruined the waterfront for all of us. So sad - maybe just maybe that will be rectified some day.

I live in no man's land, based on that map link above. Thanks for that link, by the way. I was always unclear exactly what the borders of Black Rock are. But our street isn't in any district, according to that map. Am I in Black Rock or North Park?

We live on Elmview Place, just north of McKinley High. The street would go into Wegmans if it continued. We are west of Elmwood, part of the three street cul-de-sac you see just south of Amherst Street. I long thought anything west of Elmwood was Black Rock. But the blue line border follows old RR tracks, I think, and is west of us. Are we Black Rock?

As a kid, I always thought of Black Rock as the poor step child of Riverside. Not that Riverside held any particular great reputation, but you could sense a significant change in the atmosphere and homes when you crossed over fom on to the other. Visually, the homes were smaller and older. The church,that enormous, massive Romanesque St. Francis Xavier, heavily dominated the landcape further accentuating the impression.

Kids were tougher there than in Riverside and they seemed more poor. One of the things I rember clearly was an anuual summer carnival in August which had a rummage sale in the parking lot. Most of the items were white elephants and a lot of junk. Yet, people went through the clothing with all the earnest ferver as others might at an AM&As super sale. From my childlike eyes witnessing this, I found it appalling.

However, I still see the place through the lenses of my preteen eyes. It was many years later that I learned that the confines of what I thought Black Rock existed in extended all the way to Elmwood.

Great pics. As far as water access obstructed with the 190 it is what it is. If the rt 5 mess showed me anything it was that the majority of wny voters would rather keep and rebuild these expensive, obstructive roadways and their questionable economic benifit rather than improve the quality of life for this and other neighborhoods. Maybe things will change when gas goes up again. The good news is that there is a very nice park on the other side of the Blackrock Canal that offers fishing, green space and great views of the river, Blackrock and Canada. Its not as nice with the 190 buzzing nearby but it is a great natural refuge that costs us very little.

I always thought of Blackrock going all the way up to Elmwood including W Hertel, Jimmys, Vino + Papa Jakes and those streets just east of Wegmans.
BTW, Im not sure if it is my improving perception of this area or just hard work by property owners but I am impressed by the stretch of Amherst st. between Wegmans and Tops. I walk this route when going to Squaw isle pk and the well kept streetscape rival anything you would see on Hertel or Elmwood. If you are reading this and own one of those places keep up the good work.

I live in this neighborhood and it has a lot to offer. There is interesting architecture and good people. I wish the city would spend more time and effort in this neighborhood. I live near the corner of Hamilton and Niagara streets. There is a lot, on Niagara, that is filled with construction equipment and garbage. I talked to the owner of the lot and he has no plans for the site. It receives no attention and is neverd shoveled, even though its on such an important city street. The fence that surrounds the property is a joke. Why cant the city do anything about this? It's a great neighborhood, but we need more help

Dearborn, The owner of the lot on Niagara and Hamilton also use to own the lot on Hertal and Lawn he sat on that lot for years and treated it just the same....would not cut the grass or shovel the snow....it sat vacant for years and has recently been sold and a building is now being constructed (gas station)? at that location.....im going to assume that he will continue to sit on the Niagara lot with the idea of cashing out someday.....sad!

I've proudly called Blackrock home for a long time, but sadly it is becoming more and more dangerous every month. Gangs, drugs, graffiti, break-ins, burglaries, stabbings, shootings, and the like are becoming more prevalent in the blocks closest to Riverside and the west side. The police are forcing criminals out of the crime ridden neighborhoods and into our neighborhoods as a show of force. Why can't the police protect our homes while they clean up other areas of the city? It is a shell game that leaves families like mine and my neighbors as victims. It is my understanding that the Police will only step up patrols after it gets so bad that people either leave or die. Why is that? Why wait until an entire neighborhood goes to hell to step up enforcement? When I brought this up to the Mayor's office they said that they have high target areas that receive the most attention and they have to stretch their limited police force across the entire city. So basically we are S.O.L.

My wife and I were house hunting this weekend and will have an offer together by the end of the day tomorrow. My neighbors put an offer on a new house in Amherst yesterday and will be moving at the end of September. That is two out of ten families on our street who will be moving, he is renting his house out and I might do the same if I can't sell it. We talked to a lawyer last month who encouraged us to form a LLC to protect ourselves if the tenants destroy the place or if we need to turn it over to the city in a few years. This is good advice that we are going to take.

I hate to contribute to the problem but the Mayor and the Police just don't care about the people in Blackrock. We are not a high priority like the neighborhoods around Elmwood or Delaware and aren't as crime infested as the streets that run into Bailey or Niagara. I need to look out for my family first and foremost. Unfortunately we need to move out of our home in order to do that. I love the youtube movie and have seen the progress made with the buildings pictured there, but that is only telling a part of the story. We have homes that are falling dpwn on their foundations, we have industrial sites that are so contaminated that almost no one is interested in investing in them, we have streets that need serious help with leaking water and sewage pipes, crumbling curbs, and broken sidewalks. Yet no one in City Hall seems to care.

My soon to be new neighborhood is just as walkable as our current one. We are a few blocks from wegmans, the Boulevard Mall, and my kids schools. My wife is closer to work and will be able to carpool with coworkers who live around the corner. There is a soccer league that practices and plays within a few minutes walk of the house.

So if anyone is interested in moving to Blackrock, I have a great house that will be going up for sale next month just a stones throw from all the lovely buildings featured here. I am heartbroken to have to leave my home but I think that it may be best left to a single person or childless couple.

I hear you sim but planning for handing the building over to the city is something you are doing to the city not something that is being done to you. No one needs to run a building into the ground and then dump it on the tax payers who have decided to stay and fight to make the city a better place. This is something you do as a choice. I would hope you do not choose to do this to the city.

I'm glad no one told us that Black Rock is a dangerous, crime ridden neighborhood before we bought our house 10 years ago. We live in different parts of the country at different times of the year but we always look forward to and love our stay when it's Buffalo time of the year. Compared to other cities we live in Black Rock is a slightly tarnished gem. We have good neighbors, great entertainment, fabulous stores and restaurants in walking distance children playing in the streets, friendly neighbors, who know your name and watch out for you when your gone, incredible diversity, a waterfront within walking distance, interesting buildings and gardens. My backyard is so quiet on a summers evening I think I'm in the country. If I gave this description and said it was Canada or Europe you would be envious but Black Rock Buffalo??? Sometimes it pays not to know better.