Elmwood Park Rededication Set for Oct. 28

Elmwood Park, green space on Elmwood Avenue adjacent to the School 46, the Adult Learning Center, in Allentown, will be rededicated Oct. 28 at 3:30 p.m. in a public ceremony which will also commemorate the site as a local historic landmark.

The school, the oldest Buffalo public school still in use for education, and the park together occupy the block bounded by South Elmwood Avenue, and Virginia and Edward Streets. The entire site was designated a local historic landmark by the Common Council on Oct. 28, 2007.

The designation capped a 10-year effort by the Allentown Association and the Adult Learning Center to restore and beautify the park which had been covered with asphalt and enclosed by a chain-link fence.  The Association moved to obtain landmark status, supported by the city Preservation Board, to give the site an additional level of protection to that it enjoys as part of the Allentown Historic Preservation District, in which Preservation Board authorization is needed for external changes. 

The public is invited to the brief rededication at the park, arranged by the Allentown Association in co-operation with Lester Leopold, adult education director of Buffalo schools. In case of rain it will be held in the adjacent Workplace Literacy Center, 160 Edward St. Free parking will be available at the Adult Learning Center lot on Virginia St. and at160 Edward.

Elmwood Park was created about 1918 when South Elmwood Avenue was constructed on the site occupied by the Buffalo Orphan Asylum from 1852 to 1912. A 1920s photograph shows the park, with a fountain at its center. In the background is the Elmwood Music Hall at the northeast corner of the intersection of Elmwood and Virginia (now the site of a Family Dollar store and parking lot.)

School 46 was built in 1888 and 1889 and is considered to be a fine example of urban school architecture of the late 19^th century, when imposing size, design and materials were first made available for public education. It is designed in Romanesque Revival style by H.H. Little. James F. Crocker was superintendent of schools and Arthur Demers was its first principal.

In the late 1930s it became an annex to School 36. After World War II it became Veterans High School, subsequently the Reading Center, and finally the Adult Learning Center, headquarters of the adult education division of the Buffalo Public Schools. The division offers courses there and at 30 other locations.

About 10 years ago, the Allentown Association set a goal of improving and beautifying Elmwood Park. Roger Schroeder, then a College St. resident, prepared a plan to restore the park. City crews removed the chain-link fence in 2001, leaving the original stone pillars. Top soil, grass and plantings replaced asphalt pavement and mature trees around the perimeter were retained. The park’s centerpiece, a windmill of contemporary design, symbolizing environmentally friendly power, was installed in 2001 as part of a University of Buffalo architecture students’ program to create public art in Allentown.

The Allentown Association provided plantings in the early years of the decade. Dave Adam, School 46 building engineer, keeps the green space in good condition, maintaining the lawn, vacuuming leaves, trimming trees and picking up trash.