THE PROPOSED UNION STATION IN BUFFALO 
By George Cary 
A MONG its other distinguishing charac- 
^ teristics, the City of Buffalo stands first 
among American cities in the number of 
railroads which enter it, and in having the 
greatest mileage of tracks within its city limits. 
It is also distinguished in having the most 
inadequate and the meanest passenger sta¬ 
tions of any city of its size in the world. For 
the past thirty years attempts have been made 
at different times to secure a Union Station, 
and various committees to consider this 
question have been appointed by the Mayor. 
In 1898 a Boston firm of architects designed 
a station for the present Exchange Street 
site, which it was hoped might be built in 
time for the Pan-American Exposition, but 
this site was not satisfactory to the majority 
of the railroads interested, and it is only 
within the last few months that it has been 
possible to induce these corporations to sign 
a Pinion Station report or proposition, which 
the city authorities now have under considera¬ 
tion. The site chosen is known as the 
Genesee Street site, and the proposition in 
brief is this: 
1 hat the City of Buffalo should make 
adequate approaches to the Union Station 
with parks in front, and docks reached by 
viaducts across the train yards, back of the 
station. 
Further, the abandoning and appropria¬ 
ting by the railroads of a section of the canal 
which is yearly becoming less and less dis¬ 
tinguishable from an open sewer. This 
will involve the necessary overhead cross¬ 
ings to a new marginal street along the water 
front, and along the lake to the Steel Plant 
at the South end of the city. At present 
the Steel Plant can only be reached by 
traversing two sides of the triangle. 
The advantage to the railroad of this 
arrangement is a straight level line parallel 
to the water front and adjacent to facto¬ 
ries, with works bordering on the present 
canal. 
By introducing a loop in the wide track 
yard, all through trains keep head on, instead 
of backing in and out as they do now. The 
present stations and yards will be used for 
freight. 
PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE STATION 
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