Town of Tonawanda - Kenmore History

Over 200 photographs grace the pages of this timely work. 1999 is the centennial year for the Village of Kenmore.

Historians John Percy and Graham Millar have done a superb job of collecting and presenting these images as a tribute to the people who call Kenmore home.

The book's chapters:

1. The Infant Settlement
2. The Young Village
3. Years of Growth
4. Times of Challenge
5. The Mature Village
6. Vanished Kenmore

From the Introduction to
Images of America
Kenmore, New York

by John Percy
and Graham Millar

Louis Phillip Adolph Eberhardt had a dream. His dream was of a clean, quiet community of upscale homes on tree-lined streets, a place whose residents could enjoy life free from the grime and noise of the large industrial city – Buffalo – where most of the breadwinners of Western New York's most populous county were employed. The time was the late 19th century, and American cities like Buffalo were beginning to move away from the old phenomenon of the "walking city," where all but the most affluent lived within walking distance of where they earned their livelihoods.

Growing public transportation systems were making something new possible – commuters. By 1883, the New York Central Railroad had begun passenger service on the Belt Line, which encircled the city. For a fare of 5 cents, one could ride any of the 13 trains that ran daily in each direction. The running time from downtown to the Delaware Avenue station was about 20 minutes. The distance from that station to the northern city line at Town Line Road – later to be renamed Kenmore Avenue – was a little over a mile.

The "Daddy" of Kenmore
lpae.jpg (5349 bytes)
Louis Phillip Adolph Eberhardt
(1860 - 1939)

Since the best way to make a dream come true is to work at it, L.P.A., as he came to be known, set out to do just that. Previously, he had invested in land in North Buffalo. In 1888 he purchased former farmland in the Town of Tonawanda, immediately north of the city line. To make clear his commitment to a new community, he had his own home built there, on Delaware Avenue. When that house burned down in 1894, he moved to one of the two imposing sandstone mansions across the street, one built for himself and one built for his brother. Previously, in 1889, another home, belonging to Myron Phelps, had also been built on the west side of Delaware…

[This book may be purchased at the Tonawanda - Kenmore Historical Society or through Barnes and Noble.]