martinhouseclr

23 2 // SITE HISTORY & EVOLUTION the early Parkside district residents relied on means of public or other rapid transit to get to the center of business and commerce in central Buffalo. [Fig. 8] Interest in lots and homes was slow to rise until it received a boost in 1883 when an existing Buffalo transit company known as the Belt Line Railroad extended service to the area. 17 Two separate stations were developed in the area, which the Parkside Community Association recounts in their history of the Belt Line as it relates to the neighborhood: The Beltline Railroad was completed, circling the City of Buffalo in a 15-mile loop and transporting people from Niagara Falls, Olcott Beach, and the outskirts of Buffalo to downtown for a 5-cents fare. Two stations were built in the Parkside area: the Highland Station near Jewett Parkway and Main Street and the Bennett station at Starin Avenue and Amherst Street. Industrial development sprung up along the Beltline route. 18 The Highland Station noted above was only two short blocks from what would become Martin’s permanent address on Jewett Parkway. As development still lagged in the district, the Parkside Land Improvement Company was formed in 1885 to fully realize Olmsted’s vision. 19 It was formed by Elam Jewett, Washington 17 National Register of Historic Places, Parkside East Historic District, 291. 18 “History of Parkside,” Parkside Community Association. 19 Douglass J. Forsyth, “Staying Put in Parkside,” American Bungalow, Issue 78, 2013, 64. Russell III, and Dr. J. White, who owned most of the land in Parkside. 20 The company privately retained the Olmsted firm, which was being managed by the elderly Olmsted Sr.’s son, John Charles Olmsted, to revise the street layout, add a number of smaller streets, and alter the lot sizes to accommodate many more smaller – and more affordable – home sites. Some of the changes are reflected in what is titled as the “Third Preliminary Study for laying out Parkside Buffalo,” as prepared by the Olmsted firm. [Fig. 9] The sketch clearly shows the contrast between the original lot depths and the revised street and lot sizes. The original lots were close to 300 feet deep due to the street layout, yet the increased number of streets in the revised layout includes many lots that were both 100 and 200 feet deep. 21 The plan’s depiction of Jewett Parkway appears to have been based largely off of Elam Jewett’s prior layout of the street, which the dedication to the City pre-dates the Olmsted sketch. Summit Avenue (formerly called Davis Avenue) is also gently curving, north south, and first appears on this drawing. It was deeded to the City between 1889 and 1892. 22 The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepard, located on the south east corner of Jewett Parkway and Summit Avenue, was built shortly after the development of the plan in 1887. Within just a few years, a growing group of houses designed by prominent local architects 20 “History of Parkside,” Parkside Community Association. 21 National Register of Historic Places, Parkside East Historic District, 291. 22 Ibid., 12. Fig. 8 F. L. Olmsted and Radford, Plan of Parkside, detail.