The newly-completed Delaware, Lackawanna & Western train terminal, located at the foot of Main Street along the Buffalo River.
The raised structure in the foreground carried D L & W train tracks to the passenger concourse on the second floor. Visible at right through the raised track is the Dakota elevator.
Here is what the Buffalo Evening News said about the new station on February 1, 1917, its first day of service:
...Passengers will use the Ohio Street entrance. A long wide portico protects those going to and from conveyances to the station. Passengers arriving by boat will enter the station from the south side which fronts on the Buffalo river.
The building is three stories high and built of brownstone.There are waiting rooms on the ground floor and on the second floor. The ground floor has one ticket office and checking counter and benches along the sides. A double stairway leads to the second waiting room which is fitted with accommodations for about 200 persons. There are long rows of seats back to back. Shaded lights are on the back of the seats.
Off the waiting room at the north is the women's parlor, furnished in soft brown and furnished with wicker furniture. There are rugs on the floor and a writing desk invites correspondence. In a corresponding corner on the other side of the stairs is a smoking room. The middle of the east side of the waiting room affords entrance to the concourse whence issue is had to the trains. Opening off the waiting room are the customary news stand, telegraph and parcel booths, and restaurant. The restaurant is most complete and besides the usual a la carte service will have a table-de-hote meal at noon and night.
On a mezzaine floor are rooms for the railroad employees, waiting room for immigrants, and room for railroad business mail. On the third floor are various offices, including those of Superintendent Shepard and the train dispatcher. The office of assistant general freight agent C. F. McTague is on the Main street front of the second floor.
The D. L. & W. terminal from the Buffalo River side, accessible to passengers arriving or leaving by lake boat.
The D. L. & W. terminal was closed in 1962 as the result of declining rail passenger traffic. Left vacant, vandals and scavengers looted the building over the next two decades.
It was demolished in 1982 as part of the NFTA project to convert the adjacent D. L. & W. freight buildings for use as car barns for the new light-rail Metro Rail system, then under construction.
Aerial view, 1936. Red Dot shows where photographer stood when taking the photo at top of this page.
