Polonia is a neighborhood on Buffalo's east side, centered around the intersection of Broadway & Fillmore Avenue. "Polonia" is Latin for Poland, and is the name given to some Polish neighborhoods much like "Little Italy" or "Chinatown" is used in countless places. Beginning in the 1870s and continuing through World War I, Buffalo's Polonia became the final destination of over 80,000 Poles.
Broadway has served as the commercial street for the neighborhood. Broadway runs through middle of neighborhood from Downtown. In its heyday, Polonia's commercial district was almost as strong and popular as Main Street as a retail hub.
Polonia is also referred to as "Broadway-Fillmore", after the main intersection in the neighborhood. Another alternate name for the neighborhood is "Broadway Market Village", with small street signs welcoming people to this neighborhood using this name.
Over the past decade, the neighborhood has seen a large out-migration. Part of the neighborhood suffered the biggest population loss of any census tract in all of Erie County.
Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church, on Clark Street. The church was built in 1909.
Houses on Paderewski Drive.
New York Central Terminal, off of Memorial Drive. The train station was completed in 1929.
New York Central Terminal, sometimes called the "Buffalo Central Terminal", was built by the New York Central Railroad Company and provided service primarily to New York City and Chicago.
The terminal has an office tower that is 271 feet tall.
New York Central Terminal was plagued by not being located near the central business district, and was also hit hard when the Great Depression brought down ridership in New York by 60%. Ridership was also a problem after World War II.
Measures to bring down costs, like cutting train service to Niagara Falls and demolishing some buildings, were used as early as the 1950s. Amtrak abandoned the terminal in 1979. In the past decade, an effort has been made to renovate the structure to its former glory.
Adam Plewacki Post No. 799 of the American Legion, on Paderewski Drive. The structure was built in 1948.
A house on Geneva Street, with the New York Central Terminal in the background.
Abandoned houses on Sears Street.
Houses on Playter Street.
Houses on Detroit Street.
Houses on Coit Street.
St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church, on Peckham Street. The church was built in 1886.
Buildings on Fillmore Avenue, with St. Stanislaus's belltowers in the background.
Buildings on Fillmore Avenue. The Hook & Ladder No. 11 fire station, built in 1908, is on the right.
Commercial buildings on Fillmore Avenue.
Buildings on Broadway. Stransky's, an old retail building dating back to 1894, is in the middle.
The Peoples Bank of Buffalo, on Broadway. The bank was built in 1925.
Eckhardt's Department Store, on Broadway at Fillmore Avenue. The store was built in 1940 and is one of the first examples of modern architecture in Buffalo.
Broadway Market, on Broadway. The current market building was built in 1956.
The Broadway Market was formed in 1888.
The old Union Stockyards Bank, on Broadway at Fillmore Avenue. The Union Stockyards Bank later became the Liberty Bank of Buffalo, and was built in 1910.
A commercial building on Boradway.
The M&T National Bank building, on Broadway. The bank was built in 1924.
The Polish Singing Circle Building, on Broadway. The structure was built in 1925.
Buildings on Broadway. The structure on the right was built in 1900, and the building in the center was built in 1912.
A building dating to 1927, on Broadway.
The Dom Polski Building, on Broadway. The institutional building was built in 1906.
The old Buffalo Trust Company's Broadway Branch, on Broadway. The bank was built in 1906 and features a facade from 1919.
Revelation Missionary Baptist Church, on Fillmore Avenue. The church was originally the Ahavas Achim Synagogue and was built in 1912.
Unia Polska building, on Fillmore Avenue. The structure was built in 1914 and served as a union hall.
Houses on Fillmore Avenue.
Houses on Gibson Street.
Houses on Woltz Avenue.
Houses at Stanislaus & Loepere Streets.
C.F.Emst's Sons Iron Works complex, on Lathrop Street. The complex was built by 1919, with the brick buildings in the center being built in 1910.
The old Transfiguration Roman Catholic Church, on Sycamore Street. The church was built in 1896 and has been abandoned since 1993.
The Transfiguration Parochial School, on Stanislaus Street. The school was built in 1915.
Houses on Sobieski Street.
Masjid Zakariyah Mosque, on Sobieski Street. The mosque was built in 1908 as the Holy Mother of the Rosary Polish National Church, a Catholic parish.
Houses on Loepere Street. In the distance is the New York Central Terminal.
Buildings on Stanislaus Street. On the left is the Burczynski Building, built in 1912.
St. Adalbert Basilica, on Stanislaus Street. The church was built in 1891 and was proclaimed a basilica by the Vatican in 1907. St. Adalbert was the first basilica in the United States.
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