Buffalo Rising Online

Mar 15th 2008, 11:53am By Rev. Fred Jensen

In 1898, Frederick Law Olmstead, land architect and journalist, designed half of Riverside Park (the other half was bequeathed to the city by a farmer named Crowley). It was the last of his parks in Buffalo. The Olmsted Parks form a coordinated system, the first of its kind in America, according to the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy. Riverside Park includes tennis and basketball courts, baseball diamonds, a football field, two pools, and an ice rink. People love it, and also find love in it. Jackie Erckert, a lifetime resident of the neighborhood who chairs the parks committee for the Good Neighbors Planning Alliance, reports; “There used to be a hill there, blueberry hill, where kids came and kissed. You often see people walking together, and I got engaged in the park.”

Yet it would be an injustice to simply describe Riverside Park as a playground or a “make-out spot.” It is “romantic;” yes, but in the broadest sense of the word – evoking all sorts of emotions and recollecting heroic deeds and people. Through the center of the park runs the old towpath, where horses and mules once drug the barges along the Erie Canal. At the Southeast corner of the park, you’ll find a lighthouse-shaped memorial to Billy Ehrmann, the brother of Joe Ehrmann, Buffalo native and defensive lineman in the NFL. After his brother’s death Joe became a minister, and now makes his living as an inspirational speaker.

At the Northwest corner of the park, across Niagra Street, there stands a graffiti-scribbled kiosk commemorating the site as the practice spot for the first professional Buffalo baseball team, one of the first professional teams of the American pastime. The team practiced there in order to enjoy the splendid view of the Niagra River (now disrupted by the 190). Across the street from this kiosk is a WWI monument where the American Veterans place a wreath every Memorial Day. Nearby stands a monument to Sandor Petofi, the poet and spiritual leader of the Hungarian revolutionaries who overthrew the Habsburg Monarchy. The American Revolution is commemorated here as well by a Fourth of July celebration, the oldest such celebration in Buffalo. Perhaps “revolutionary” would describe the park better than “romantic.”

Indeed, the struggle for freedom is an integral part of the park’s history. Today the park looks a lot like any other park, but in Olmsted’s day the layout was, well - revolutionary. FLO designed parks to be accessible to all citizens; reflecting his egalitarian beliefs. His principals became the standard, but in his day FLO was a radical. Working for the paper that would become the New York Times, his research on slavery in the American South helped stimulate abolitionist sentiments in New England during the Civil War. With his parks he created visible equality, with his writing he worked for equality that was not yet seen.

Such is the romance of Riverside Park. Yet passionate emotions frequently coincide with passionate controversy, and Riverside Park is no exception. A lot of the controversy revolves around who is responsible for what. In order to lighten the city’s financial responsibility for parks, an intra-municipal parks agreement was created to distribute the financial burden between the Olmsted Parks Conservancy, the City of Buffalo, and the county of Erie. Yet who is to do what? In order to eliminate some confusion, Jackie Erckert, Councilmember Joe Golumbek, and County legislator Maria Whyte prepared a Citizen’s Guide to Parks Within the City. A handy reference book, this guide directs people to whom they should call regarding maintenance issues in the park.

Jackie Erckert still sees problems with maintenance. She now believes the City should be fully responsible for the park’s upkeep. “It causes confusion to have three separate contracts. Riverside Park is very important to the residents of Riverside. One day I saw football, baseball, tennis, hockey, and swimming all going on, all at once. We use this park. We should be able to call the shots.” Jackie is very concerned that the swimming pool and the ice rink be kept in tact. “Over 1000 kids use the park, and over 10 thousand use the pool. If the pool wasn’t there, they would try to cross the 190 and swim in the river, and if they weren’t killed crossing the road they would probably be swept down the river and over the falls. The pool and the ice rink help keep our neighborhood family-friendly. So long as there is activity in the park, the bad element stays out.”

“I love this park. I love the people of Riverside. I see the politicians don’t know what they are doing. I feel sad. We need improvements.”