USA > New York > Erie County > Kenmore > History of Kenmore. Erie County, New York > Part 8
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F. S. Sipperley & Son No. 2827 Delaware Avenue
Under this firm name Mr. Sipperley, one of the older and well known residents, began selling real estate and insurance in April, 1922. Many lots were sold for the Kenmore-Hoover Land Co., and the Kenmore Woodward Co., which helped to
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improve the large tract west of Elmwood Avenue. This firm is also sub-dividing sixty-nine acres in the Colvin Avenue, Ellicott Road section, which is rapidly being taken up as a residential section. The new Colvin Avenue subway makes easy access from Buffalo, and Kenmore and parallels Dela- ware Avenue and Main Street in the trend to the east and north.
Tolsma Brothers Real Estate, No. 2938 Delaware Avenue
This company began business in Kenmore in August, 1922. Many sites for modern homes were sold on Westgate Avenue, which had such a remarkable development in 1925. Many home sites were sold on Wardman Road, Hamilton Boulevard, Delwood and Kenwood Roads. The company is now operat- ing on Sheridan Drive and in various parts of the village and township of Tonawanda.
Chambers Realty Company, No. 2980 Delaware Avenue
This company's branch office was opened in Kenmore in 1924. Besides building several modern homes in Nassau Avenue and other parts of the village and offering business opportunities in Kenmore, the company is developing Park View in the township of Tonawanda facing the new town park-Sheridan Park-located on Sheridan Drive and the Two Mile Creek Road. This section is easy of access and is bound to become a popular suburban residential district famous already for its beauty.
G. F. Wallace Co., Inc., No. 2854 Delaware Avenue
This firm is developing the Delaware Meadows tract on Schell Road east of Delaware Avenue, which runs to Eggerts- ville Road. It also has subdivisions in Sheridan Meadows and Sheridan Drive. This famous drive extends across the township of Tonawanda from east to west connecting the Niagara Falls Boulevard with the Niagara River. A wonder- ful boulevard, electrically lighted, traversing a beautiful stretch of country very attractive to home finders. The com- pany began business in Kenmore in 1924 and has sold hundreds of homesites.
Hall & Turner, No. 2943 Delaware Avenue
Charles W. Hall was associated with Clare L. Rickert previous to forming a partnership with Leslie F. Turner, May 1st, 1925. The firm built up the north side of Lincoln Avenue between Delaware and Eugene Avenues, and on the south side between Eugene and Elmwood Avenues. Four residences on
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Victoria Boulevard and twenty homes on Mayville Avenue, north of the village line and in the Elmwood Avenue section have been built.
Greater Buffalo Building Company
Among the newest homes in Kenmore are those of the Greater Buffalo Building Company which is building 150 houses on Westgate Road and Wabash Avenue between Elm- wood and Wilbur Avenues, which district is rapidly filling up. These are all of high standards and materials with all con- veniences and comforts. Some are of the Dutch Colonial type built of brick. Office, Elmwood and Wabash Avenues.
Deerhurst Park, E. W. Rogers, 357 Delaware Road.
Just outside the village limits on the north, and on the east side of old Delaware Road is situated a purely residential section where street traffic cannot disturb the residents. Here only a short time ago stood an old landmark, the Atkinson farm house and barns, which gave a quaint and rural aspect to the locality. Now there are new driveways, shrubbery, ornamental stone fences, unique designed homes set in open spaces making one think of English rural districts. In a few years this will be one of the beauty spots of Kenmore. Laid out in the spring of 1924 there are already about twenty resi- dences and others being built.
Henel Brothers, Englewood Avenue
This company began building operations in 1920 and up to this time has built seventy-five houses in various parts of the village. Many of these are in Westgate Avenue between Delaware and Eugene Avenues. The Henel Brothers have been long time residents of the town of Tonawanda and are also milk dealers.
Murray Inc., Home Finders, 2860 Delaware Avenue
Frank I. Murray, president of the company came to Ken- more in 1915 as a resident, and opened an office at the corner of Parkside and Hertel Avenues, Buffalo. From that office he helped to develop North Park, Colvin Park, and Park Gardens, also selling a good many homes in Kenmore. The title "Home Finder" was well earned and not an empty ostentation. On October 1st, 1924, the offices of the company were moved to 2860 Delaware Avenue, Kenmore, from which location Mr. Murray has had a large part in developing Lincoln, Victoria and Courier Boulevards. Besides real estate the company does a general brokerage and insurance business in all its branches.
Other contractors and builders are: Clark & Landers,
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Clarence Kibby, Charles W. Hughes, Thomas H. & Arthur R. Blair, Edward Bernd, Benjamin A. Keeney, Fred S. Matthew- son, DeVer W. Northrup, Charles G. Ott, Henry C. Premus, Stoddard & Quin, George Voas, Fred Lowitzer, and many others listed in the Kenmore Official Directory.
Building in the village of Kenmore is showing great activity. There are restricted sections where private homes are selling within the reach of the average working man. Kenmore is a small city of home owners.
TONAWANDA TOWN BOARD, MEETINGS, TUESDAY,
8 P. M., VILLAGE HALL
Matthew D. Young, Supervisor; Roscoe L. Rosser, Town Clerk; Carlisle Cherry, Edward A. Jones, Robert Zimmerman, Samuel Seitz, Justices of the Peace; Henry DeWitt, Highway Superintendent.
Elmer Mang, Chief of Police; Fred T. Hall, Building and Plumbing Superintendent; Alfred Evans, Public Works Super- intendent; Charles L. Lowell, Tax Receiver; Frank C. Moore, Attorney ; George C. Diehl, Engineer.
TOWNSHIP OF TONAWANDA
Erie County was erected by an act of legislation on the 2nd day of April 1821, comprising all the territory of the old county (Niagara) lying south of the middle of Tonawanda Creek. The Town of Tonawanda was set off from the town of Buffalo on the 16th day of April 1836, and included the present township and Grand Island. Grand Island was formed into a separate town by the board of supervisors of Erie County in October, 1852. The town of Tonawanda contains about twenty-two square miles in Township 12, Range 8, Hol- land Land Company's survey.
The first town meeting was held in the spring of 1837, when the following officers were elected: William Williams, Supervisor ; T. W. Williams, Town Clerk; John T. Bush, Daniel Smith and Mr. Forsdyck, Justices of the Peace; James Carney and Jeremiah Phalin, Assessors; William Best and John Sim- son, Commissioners of Highways.
J. B. Zimmerman a leading citizen of Kenmore was the supervisor from 1888 to 1894. He died May 18th, 1894.
Among the prominent and active residents of the town from 1836 and later were David R. Failing, Frederick Landel, Frederick Pfanner, Philip Pirson, Levi Zimmerman, J. B. Zim- merman, Martin J. Zimmerman and others whose descend-
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ants are still active and reside in the township.
Conspicuous among the farms sub-divided for building purposes in the township is the Zimmerman property on Dela- ware Road in location unsurpassed. The Zimmerman family have been prominently associated with affairs both in the township and village of Kenmore for more than a hundred years. A deed dated June 18th, 1813, was displayed in a Kenmore real estate office in the spring of 1926 attesting this fact and excited much curiosity. The following article from a recent issue of the Buffalo Courier gives an account of this property.
The property which comprises 110 acres was conveyed to Adam Zimmerman on June 18, 1813, and recorded in the office of the clerk of Niagara county, of which Erie county was then a part, in 1813. The property was deeded by Wilhelm Willink, Hendrick Vollenhoven, Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, Wil- hem Willink, the younger; Jan Willink, the younger; Jan Gabriel Vanslaphorst, Cornelis Vollenhoven, Hendrick Seye, all of the city of Amsterdam, in the republic of Batavia, Hol- land, through their attorney, Joseph Ellicott of Buffalo, whose signature was witnessed by David Goodwin and James W. Stevens.
The Zimmermans came to Buffalo from the Mohawk valley by ox cart in 1794, about 150 years after the original Zimmer- mans immigrated from Holland. About the time the Zim- mermans arrived in western New York the Holland Land Com- pany purchased from the Indians their rights pursuant to a treaty which was made with representatives of the United States government.
Adam Zimmerman, to whom the property known today as Kinsey's Delaware Terrace East was deeded, was a man of considerable note and had quite a reputation for keeping the Indians straight. He became familiar with their language and ofttimes acted as interpreter for the Seneca nation of Indians.
By the terms of Adam Zimmerman's will the property was left to his son, William A. Zimmerman, who was survived by the following children: Robert M. Zimmerman and Margaret Zimmerman, who hold title to the property today; and the late Hamilton, Oliver and Ida M. Zimmerman.
The first gas wells on the property were drilled by Oliver Zimmerman about ten years ago, and today natural gas wells
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on this property supply many of the factories and homes in the town of Tonawanda.
Just a few years previous to the time Kinsey's Delaware Terrace was deeded to Adam Zimmerman a sale was made by taking some of the soil and handing it to the purchaser. If the soil was accepted by the purchaser, the sale was com- pleted. Another form was to pick up a twig from the ground. The seller would take hold of one end and the purchaser would take hold of the other, break the twig and create a contract of sale.
As time drew on, evidence of ownership was reduced to writing and the heading on all deeds read "This Indenture." The deed was torn or cut apart in a zigzag manner and one part given to the purchaser while the other was retained by the seller. In case of a dispute, ownership was proven by matching the two pieces.
The Adam Zimmerman deed was one of the first legal papers to be recorded in the county clerk's office. The des- cription reads :
"All That Certain Tract of Land, situate, lying and being in the County of Niagara in the State of New York, Being part or parcel of a certain township which on a map or survey or divers tracts or townships of land of the said parties of the first part, made for the proprietors by Joseph Ellicott, Sur- veyor, is distinguished by Township Number Twelve in the Eighth Range of said Townships and which said tract of land on a certain other map or survey of said Townships into lots, made for the said proprietors, by the said Joseph Ellicott, is distinguished by part of the Lot Number thirty-four in said
Township. Bounded east by part of Lot No. twenty-nine, thirteen chains, seventy-six links, south by Land conveyed to Peter Zimmerman by Deed of this date, seventy-nine chains, twenty-one links, southwesterly by a road one chain, fifty links wide, thirteen chains, eighty-one links, and north by a line parallel with the north bounds of said land conveyed to Peter Zimmerman, eighty chains, seventy-one links, contain- ing 110 acres, be the same more or less according to the plan laid down in the margin hereof."
The township of Tonawanda situate between the southerly boundary of the city of Tonawanda and the northerly boundary of the city of Buffalo, (out of which the village of Kenmore has been taken) is one of the richest townships of its
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size in the state. The large and prosperous industrial plants along the Niagara river and Military Road account largely for this fact. During the last fifteen or twenty years the old farms have been sub-divided into building lots and are rapidly becoming beautiful homesites. New boulevards and avenues are built where once the cattle grazed. The beautiful spread- ing elm trees that once marked the line fences between the farms still grace the landscape. Through and across the town run the new driveways Elmwood Avenue, Delaware Avenue, Colvin Boulevard (the proposed Parker Boulevard to cost $300,000, to connect Kenmore Avenue with Ellicott Creek Road) Kenmore Avenue, (which is to be widened and made a Boulevard connecting Main Street, Buffalo, with the Niagara River) Sheridan Drive, and other cross town roads make all this section accessible to the motorist, and the advantage is taken by thousands of Buffalo and Niagara Falls people. Sightseeing motor buses are to traverse all this beautiful country. The Tonawanda Town Park on Sheridan Drive and Two Mile Creek will add elegancy with pleasure to the town- ship. Town Engineer Diehl has prepared a comprehensive plan of house numbering for all the streets of the township by which householders can secure a correct house number, a very convenient and progressive step. Only a few farms remain under cultivation, and these will soon give place to town lots. With the passing of the older residents, who were the pioneers in the development of township, will also pass from recollec- tion the names of the old farms. It will be necessary to consult the original maps to identify location and name.
The town of Tonawanda has been extremely fortunate in its choice of Supervisors from its earliest history. By close personal attention to the vital interests of the town and a pro- gressive spirit they have kept pace with the growth of western New York during the past one hundred years and have brought the township to an enviable position in finance and modern improvement.
The list of Supervisors since the village of Kenmore was incorporated within its limits is as follows:
John K. Patton was the Supervisor of the town of Tona- wanda when the village of Kenmore was incorporated in 1889, and John C. Webb, Town Clerk. Mr. Patton held the office for eight years 1892-1899 and issued the notices from his office relative to the incorporation of the village. His services
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were indispensable in helping the infant municipality to stand on its feet, and take the first steps toward greatness.
James Huff was the next incumbent and served for four years 1900-1903. Mr. Huff also gave the village great aid in its early corporate life. He worked harmoniously with the village board in its relation with the town board, foreseeing that the welfare of both town and village were inseparably related.
Lauren H. Hollister held the office of Supervisor eight years 1904-1911. He saw the town growing with the village in importance during his administration, which was so satisfac- tory that he was chosen by his townsmen as their leader for four consecutive terms. The industrial features along the frontier began to assume proportions which gave promise of the present extent.
Dr. Robert A. Toms well known to many of the present population both of the town and village was the Supervisor for six years 1912-1917. During his three two-year terms the rapid development of the township and increasing official duties were very noticable. Political affairs were very exciting during this period as a consequence. The exacting demands and different view points of the inhabitants made his tenure of office uncertain, but with those associated with him in the management of town affairs, progress and economy were achieved.
Arthur R. Atkinson the present County Clerk of Erie County who was inducted into that important office on January 1st, 1922, is a "native son" in every sense of the word. He was born on the old Atkinson Farm where now is situated the beautiful and growing Deerhurst Park. The old farm house was a landmark for many years and the scene of many jovial meetings enjoyed by the people of Delaware Road, before the present Delaware Avenue was built. He grew up in intimate acquaintance with the township and its people, also with the village of Kenmore and its vital affairs. He was the popular village president during 1919-1921 which office he relin- quished to assume his present duties. Mr. Atkinson was the Supervisor for two terms 1918-1921 and gave such an effec- tive and popular administration as to attract attention in the County Board of Supervisors which resulted in his nomina- tion and election by a flattering majority as County Clerk. Mr. Atkinson is an ardent Republican and was the first official
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elected by his friends and neighbors on a local Republican straight ticket in Kenmore.
J. Fred Moore was the winner in a lively campaign for the office of Supervisor in the fall of 1921 and filled the office for two terms 1922-1925. It was during his administration that the more recent and unprecedented development in the town- ship took place. His able and conscientious service for the town, and on the County Board of Supervisors won recognition in his appointment to many important committees. The in- terests of both town and village always received his close per- sonal attention and untiring effort. The State authorities gave him unstinted praise for accuracy in his accounts at the close of his administration. The bronze tablet on the pedestal of the Sheridan Monument will always associate his name with the construction of that famous driveway. On the completion of his term of office Mr. Moore with his wife took an extended trip to California, Panama Canal Zone and South America. Mr. Moore recently purchased the brick block at the corner of Delaware and Warren Avenues and remodeled it for mer- cantile and office purposes.
Matthew D. Young who served the village of Kenmore as its President during 1912-1919 with great acceptability was elected to the office of Supervisor of the town of Tonawanda in the fall of 1925 and assumed office on January 1st, 1926. His popularity was attested in a hard fought campaign. His business-like methods, careful and painstaking inquiry into all that relates to the welfare of the citizens is recognized by everyone. The township will receive the same watchful care in all matters affecting its growth and prosperity that charac- terized his village administration. The present and wonder- ful expansion of the town which is rapidly assuming the appearance of a continuous village from north to south, and east to west calls for intense concentration of thought, wise action, and precise financial calculation. These things Mr. Young is in every way capable of giving.
Among the industrial plants and manufacturing companies on the River Road and Military Road there are the Wickwire Spencer Steel Company; Semet Solvay Company; Acheson Graphite Company; Buffalo Electric Chemical Company ; Dun- lop Tire & Rubber Company ; Dupont-Rayon Company ; Farrel Foundry & Machine Company ; Excelsior Steel Ball Company ; Flexlume Corporation; Wood & Brooks Company; Fowler
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Nail Company; Rice & Adams Corporation; Eastern States Manufacturing Company; Beaver Products Company; Jewett Stove Company ; Lovering & Brother Company; J. H. Williams Company.
It is very probable that with the present activities on the immediate Niagara Frontier, the proposed railroad bridge across the Niagara River at Grand Island, and the settlement of the new Avenues and Boulevards already constructed the township of Tonawanda will have a population of fifty thous- and people by the year 1950. This will be true in any event, whether the township remains in its present political division, becomes a part of the City of Kenmore, or becomes a part of the Greater Buffalo municipality.
SHERIDAN MONUMENT
Just east of Delaware Avenue on Sheridan Drive is a pedes- tal made of Woodbury, Vt., granite, erected to commemorate the construction of that already celebrated driveway. The pedestal is soon to be surmounted with an equestrian statue of General Phil Sheridan. The monument has the following dimensions in length, height, and width. Base 14 x 7-6 x 1-6; second base, 11-4 x 5-0 x 1-2; die, 10-2 x 3-8 x 4-10 ; cap, 12-0 x 5.4 x 1-6. On either side of the pedestal is a bronze plate bearing the following inscription :
"SHERIDAN DRIVE
Constructed for a Greater Niagara Frontier 1923-1925
Dedicated to Improved Highways Transportation Town Board J. F. Moore, Supervisor
Elmer W. Johnson, Town Clerk
Edward A. Jones, Justice
F. B. Eberhardt, Justice Samuel Seitz, Justice Robert Zimmerman, Justice
Fred Ebling, Supt. of Highways
George C. Diehl, Engineer"
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