History
What Happened to Humboldt Parkway?
Humboldt Parkway 1915
Northland Ave 1953
Humboldt Parkway 1960
Expressway Construction 1963
Famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted designed Humboldt Parkway to allow users to travel from Delaware Park to Parade Park (now MLK Park) without leaving the serenity of a park-like atmosphere. In the early 1900’s, 6 rows of large maple trees provided a canopy for the boulevard, creating a formal gateway to the Buffalo Museum of Science. In addition to providing much needed green space, Olmsted intended the parkways, Lincoln, Bidwell and Humboldt to connect neighborhoods.
Today, the Lincoln Parkway and Bidwell Parkways are still vital to their community’s attractiveness and serve as a respite from busy, urban life. In contrast, the Humboldt Parkway was destroyed to construct a commuter pathway for a suburban workforce going into the downtown centers of commercers to travel from Delaware Park to Parade Park (now MLK Park) without leaving the serenity of a park-like atmosphere.
In the early 1900’s, 6 rows of large maple trees provided a canopy for the boulevard, creating a formal gateway to the Buffalo Museum of Science. In addition to providing much needed green space, Olmsted intended the parkways, Lincoln, Bidwell and Humboldt to connect neighborhoods.
The decision to destroy one of America’s tree lined Olmsted parkways and replace it with an expressway was introduced over 60 years ago, in spite of the opposition of Hamlin Park residents. Not only did the construction introduce a devastating change to their quality of life and look of their community, the construction caused physical damage to their homes and slashed property values. The planning decision to construct the Kensington Expressway brought decades of decay and decline of a once vibrant, clean, green, and beautiful neighborhood.
Dedicated community leaders from the Hamlin Park Taxpayers Association, Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Buffalo Museum of Science and the Black Chamber of Commerce as well as Humboldt Parkway community residents are actively pursuing the neighborhood revitalization. The neighborhood must be reconnected to the cultural and economic vibrancy of the city of Buffalo.
Architect David Steiglitz
Black Chamber of Commerce President Richard C. CummingsThe Slow Death of Humboldt Parkway (The Buffalo News, May 8 2016)
The Buffalo You Should Know:
The slow death of Humboldt Parkway in building the 33 & 198
In the coming years, the State of New York will spend $30 million to downgrade the Scajaquada Expressway and another $6 million to study the idea of covering the Kensington Expressway from Best Street to Ferry Street. When visiting Buffalo to discuss highlights of the 2016-17 budget, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was met with cheers,