East Side, Buffalo

The East Side is a large, predominately black district of Buffalo. The East Side is bordered by Main Street to the West, Winspear Avenue to the North, Buffalo River to the South, and the town of Cheektowaga to the East. Although the Lovejoy District is technically part of the East Side (in fact, it is the easternmost portion thereof), it has a somewhat different cultural composition compared to the inner-city nature of the rest of the East Side. It is the physically largest neighborhood in Buffalo. It is characterized by many large, ornate 19th-century churches, most of them Roman Catholic; and modest one-and-a-half story wood frame cottages, many with progressively smaller rear additions that give the houses a telescoping effect. The East Side was once the second largest Polish-American community in the United States. Jefferson Avenue and the intersection of Broadway and Fillmore serve as the most heavily used commercial districts.

Deindustrialization and disinvestment in the second half of the twentieth century damaged the East Side more than other Buffalo neighborhoods; much of the Polish community fled to Cheektowaga in that time frame. The current ethnic composition of the East Side is predominantly black. A disproportionate number of the city's vacant and abandoned houses are located here, as are many acres of urban prairie.

Notable destinations include the Broadway Market, St. Stanislaus - Bishop & Martyr Church, St. John Kanty's R.C. Church, St. Adalbert's Basilica, Corpus Christi R. C. Church Complex, Buffalo Central Terminal, the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle, and the Matt Urban Human Services Center.

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