BUFFALO, N.Y. — Drivers who use the Kensington Expressway in Buffalo are probably unaware that the highway's construction was involved in the demolition of one of the city’s most luxurious parkways.

New York 33 changed the Humboldt Parkway forever, and now a statewide effort aims to repair decades of damage.

What You Need To Know

  • The Humboldt Parkway was demolished to make way for the construction of the Kensington Expressway in Buffalo

  • Before the expressway, the area was a beautiful greenscape with luxurious homes and a thriving business district attracting Black families looking to settle there

  • While the fight to restore the parkway began in the 1970s, a collective formed 12 years ago brought new life to the cause

There once was a beautiful greenscape with luxurious homes and a thriving business district attracting Black families looking to settle in the area. What the new homeowners didn’t know was there were plans for an expressway that would divide neighborhoods and alter the land, dramatically changing the course of history.

“African-Americans brought houses into this area and flocked to it, and with little knowledge and idea that the beautiful parkway would soon be gone,” said Henry-Louis Taylor, Jr., PhD, director for the Center for Urban Studies at the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning.

The Kensington Expressway was a convenience for suburban commuters who worked in Downtown Buffalo, but a tragedy to those who lived in the remains of Frederick Law Olmsted’s original vision. While dividing and deteriorating neighborhoods of color are often products of redlining, many believe there was something more sinister at play.

“They were buying houses that would soon be devalued, and my hunch is, that for many of the people who bought the properties, that they ended up owing more than the houses were actually worth,” said Taylor.

While the fight to restore the parkway began in the 1970s, a collective formed 12 years ago brought new life to the cause. For the Restore Our Community Coalition, revitalization of the neighborhoods is personal.

“My relationship with this road goes way back in my life," said Stephanie Barber Geter, Restore Our Community Coalition chair. "Never would I have known at 7 or 8 years old that I would be here at 67 years old trying to correct that mistake, but here we are.”

The fight is one against invisible injustices as well, like the health issues that generations of residents have experienced living in an area frequented by heavy traffic.

“Someone in every house along the Humboldt Parkway and subsiding streets, connecting streets, has died from an upper respiratory disease in the last 30 years, prominently connected to having 20,000 cars roll by the front of your house every day emitting these crazy, dangerous fumes,” said Geter.

The coalition can be considered one step closer to victory with Governor Kathy Hochul announcing her support for the Kensington Expressway Project in her State of the State Address, a cause she has championed since serving as lieutenant governor.

“We were elated, you know?" Geter said. "We were like, 'oh, yes!' You get the voices from the top and that’s because the voices at the bottom of this work, the worker bees, kept it going.”

Though advocacy has persisted for decades, the journey to restoration is only just beginning for Humboldt Parkway.

Buffalo is far from alone when it comes to divisive highways and efforts to reverse decisions from decades ago. All four of New York's major upstate cities have similar situations.

Rochester's Inner Loop divided neighborhoods surrounding the city's downtown in the 1950s. The eastern part of the highway has already been raised to street level and beautified. A similar effort is underway on the northern portion.

In Syracuse, it's an elevated highway that separates downtown, residential neighborhoods and Syracuse University. There are plans for that highway, I-81, to eventually be rerouted to bypass the city, with the elevated highway coming down.

Another elevated portion of highway has cut downtown Albany off from the Hudson River waterfront since the 1960s. While there are no concrete plans to replace I-787, various ideas are being looked at, and the city of Albany is pushing for state funding.

When it comes to State Route 33 in Buffalo, local researchers and activists have ideas of what the restoration of Humboldt Parkway could look like and how it could affect the people who live near it.

To see Part 2 of this story, click here.