Fruit Belt, Buffalo

The Fruit Belt (Medical Park) is a residential neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. ^[1] It is located adjacent to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. ^[2]

Geography

The Fruit Belt is located within the East Side of Buffalo. The neighborhood is centered along High Street running west–east and Jefferson Avenue running north–south. It is enclosed along its eastern boundary by the Kensington Expressway and Michigan Avenue as its Western Boundary, separating the Fruit Belt from the Medical Campus.

History and culture

At one time home to over 10,000 people, the Fruit Belt takes its name from the many orchards German settlers planted in the area. Holding true to their previously established agrarian nature, they established large gardens and vegetable orchards. As their numbers increased, Streets were established on former farms, the names of which remain as a testament to the neighborhood's early nature. The area remained a tight-knit neighborhood until the 1950s, when construction of the Kensington Expressway split the neighborhood in half. ^[3]

In the last several decades, the neighborhood has experienced a decline. Due to Buffalo's encouragement of the rebranding as a Medical Park, there has been significant investment. But that influx of money and development has been focused on demolishing older houses dating back to the 1800s to build brand-new medical buildings to employ surrounding residents. Tenants and homeowners in the neighborhood have become increasingly active as pressure to reinvigorate the neighborhood has grown. ^[4] Statistics of Medical Park ^[5]

Education

Marva J. Daniel Futures Preparatory School (formerly Futures Academy) is located in the Fruit Belt.

See also

• Neighborhoods of Buffalo, New York

References

1. Buffalo Neighborhoods, University at Buffalo Archived August 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
2. City Data, Named areas of Buffalo
3. "Fruit Belt". www.buffaloah.com. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
4. Dewey, Caitlin (March 14, 2019). "How Google's Bad Data Wiped a Neighborhood off the Map". OneZero. Medium . Retrieved March 14, 2019.
5. "Medical Park Statistics".

42°54′00″N78°51′25″W / 42.900°N 78.857°W / 42.900; -78.857