Quite a bit of stealth may be required here as this is a pretty
busy intersection at certain times of day. Beware of patio muggles
at Foley's right next door.
After deciding to jump on the 'Welcome To ...' bandwagon, I
realized I didn't know that much about my hometown. After doing
some digging around on line, here is what I found.
The village of LaSalle
got its name because the explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur
de la Salle, set up an encampment on Cayuga Creek. The LaSalle
section of the City of Niagara Falls is the location of the
beginning of shipping on the upper Great Lakes.
In 1678, LaSalle was introduced to Father Louis Hennepin who is
best remembered for the earliest writings about Niagara Falls.
Hennepin would accompany LaSalle on his explorations and would keep
copious accounts of their travels and adventures. If it was not for
Hennepin, much of the details of LaSalle's work would be lost
today. In January of 1679, the Griffon's
building party arrived at the mouth of Cayuga Creek on the Niagara
River where the ship would be built. The exact place where the
Griffon was constructed is marked by a
boulder and historical plaque at 9317 Buffalo Avenue, just north of
the city marina. The Plaque reads:
Hereabout, in May, 1679
Robert Cavelier De La
Salle
Built the
GRIFFON of Sixty
Tons burthen. The first
Vessel
To Sail the Upper Lakes
May 1902
The LaSalle neighborhood
became a part of the city of Niagara Falls in 1927, at which
time it had a village population of 6,258 people. Located in
the southeast and eastern section of Niagara Falls, LaSalle is
bordered on the west by Hyde Park Boulevard (That's news to
me; I thought the line was 56th street), to the north and
east and by the city line, and on the south by the Niagara
River. Comparatively, the LaSalle area experienced a slow
development period during the nineteenth century. In 1850
there were just two dwellings in the area. The first
settlement was called Cayuga Creek, which was changed to
LaSalle in 1862. The LaSalle area is primarily residential and
it developed in the early-to-mid 1900s with some construction
occurring in the late 1950s. Down the block a piece you will
find the old LaSalle Town Hall at Buffalo Avenue and 87th
Street, it was built in 1927 now serves as the LaSalle Branch
of the Public Library.
This area is bisected north and south by the Niagara Expressway
by the LaSalle Expressway. The LaSalle Expressway used to be the
railroad tracks from Buffalo to Niagara Falls, though I don't know
if it was part of the
Highspeed Line. The LaSalle Expressway is often called the
"Expressway to Nowhere," which isn't far from the truth. I was
always told by my grandfather & father that it was supposed to
connect with I-290 but the "Grand Island" people stopped it because
they didn't want to loose the toll revenue.
Buffalo Avenue, located south of the LaSalle Expressway, served
as the main path to the Tonawandas and Buffalo in the early
development of the city. Buffalo Avenue is one of the main
commercial thoroughfares through the area with older facades,
school houses, and large Victorian style homes, but has lost much
of its density, except at the eastern end.
Historical information from:
FTF Prize:
In the past I have made small brass pawns
to leave with other goodies. I've started a new homemade
swag; small brass tops. Each one has my name and serial
#. The number one top is with the cache for the first to
find. Look for more in a cache near you.
CONGRATS to tucci's team on the
FTF.
Please let me know how the coords are. I got effectively the
same reading on three occasions; however, I had a friend check with
his GPSr and his was off.