Forgotten Buffalo: Historic & Hip...

LEHIGH VALLEY STATION - Lost Dec. 2004

In a slow moving city like Buffalo, moments of historical importance often happen quickly. So fast the changes to the landscape that they happen almost over night. During December 2004, Buffalo lost one of its last remaining urban train stations. No fanfare, no public lamenting. In fact, most people never knew that the building was once the pride of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. A railroad that hoped the facility would put a modern face on an aging system.

During the mid-1950s, New York embarked on a massive project to build a statewide thruway system. Railroad right-a-ways into and out of Buffalo were to become the modern transportation’s primary urban corridors. With declining passenger business and a decaying downtown station, the LVRR opted to sell its valuable property and build anew on the city’s suburban border.

Located at Dingens and South Ogden Streets, the station formally opened for service on August 11, 1955. The facility replaced a neo-classical structure that fronted Washington Street. (On the site of the Donavan State Office Building). The station was demolished in 1960. Passengers arriving at or departing from Buffalo on Lehigh Valley passenger trains over the famous Route of the Black Diamond found the new terminal readily accessible. It was easily reached from Buffalo’s residential and suburban sections and was only feet away from the new New York State Thruway. The city’s downtown hotels, business and shopping areas were advertised as being only 10 mins away by taxi. Completely modern in every detail, the newest Terminal, and the last to be built in Buffalo, combined beauty and utility.

The Ogden Street Station was doomed from day one. Almost immediately after the service began, the Lehigh Valley looked at discontinuing passenger operations. In May 1959 LV discontinued all but two of its main-line passenger trains, and those two, the New York-Lehighton John Wilkes and the New York-Toronto Maple Leaf. Loss suffered by the railway in 1958 was estimated at $3,570,933 and in 1959 $1,583,999. The era of Lehigh Valley Railroad passenger service in Buffalo ended on Feb. 3, 1961 when the Maple Leaf completed its run to the Queen City. The run marked the end of 115 years of Lehigh Valley passenger service. J.R. de Capriles, vice president and general counsel of the Lehigh Valley, attributed the decrease in the Lehigh Valley's passenger traffic to increased motor and air travel - and competition from the New York Central and the Erie-Lackawanna Railroads. These railroads also connected New York and Buffalo, and their routes were shorter, requiring one and a half to two hours less than the Lehigh Valley.

During the station's post railroad life, it would house a bank, light industrial businesses and offices. The glass passenger waiting room was torn down in the mid 1960s. Sadly, this forgotten landmark was torn down in 2004.