Buffalo Junction Depot

The Buffalo Junction Depot is pictured in center of photo in the late 1880's. To the left of the depot the row of boarding houses and saloons on Vine Street in North Olean, can be seen. The Acme Oil Company is shown at right. This picture is also in the gallery. Continue to read the story below to find out more.

THE BUFFALO JUNCTION DEPOT
VINE STREET, NORTH OLEAN
The Buffalo Junction Depot was a mystery to me. I first came across it while writing a story about a row of wooden buildings that had burned down on Vine Street across from the Depot. The buildings were the saloon of William Donovan; the boarding house of J.E. Eggleston; and M. Mahoney's saloon and boarding house called the Delmonico. This was in May of 1885. Well as time went on I was able to put two and two together and came to the correct conclusion that the Buffalo Junction Depot was located almost in my back yard, well almost. It was located on the west side of Vine Street between the street and the then B.N.Y.&P. tracks, on what is now the 1200 block which would be opposite where Paycam is now located.

The Buffalo Junction Depot was in operation back in 1881 and its history no doubt goes back further. This is the earliest information I can find so far. In 1882 the Agent was W.A. Rapp; the Clerks were C.B. Butler and F. Rapp; and the operators were R.J. Ormsby and W.P. Lloyd. Because of this number of employees, even more than the Union Station, one can determine that it was a busy depot. At this time, North Olean was really starting to boom. The Acme oil industry was one of the most promising places for employment. There were one hundred employees working at the refinery and two hundred and forty at the barrel factory plus about 2000 barrels of oil were being shipped out daily. There was the Eclipse Lubricating Company and United Pipe Line Company, which not only employed many men but also were continuing to expand. Therefore one can be sure that the Buffalo Junction Depot was a very busy place with so many out-of-towners coming here for employment.

The Buffalo Junction Depot, in December of 1881 was moved from its former location and now stood thirty-five feet from the main track. A new turntable at the depot was completed in December 1881 and work was to begin on the new round house. In February 1882 the new roundhouse was being built that could accommodate six locomotives and a water tank was also to be built. The old roundhouse was now torn down, as it had become known as a 'tramps retreat'. Later in February 1882 the B.N.Y.& P. authorities commenced the erecting of a machine shop near the recently constructed roundhouse. It was a small one and would be used for light repairing. It was expected to be the forerunner of larger ones to follow.

The Buffalo, New York & Pennsylvania Railroad had charge of the signals at the junction of their tracks with the Erie Railroad. The man who handled the signal ball at the junction crossing, in February of 1881, was the proud possessor of a 'neat little house' or 'coop' to shelter him from the cold when he was not on duty. Then in August of 1883 the B.N.Y.&P. Railroad erected a little office at the junction and moved the telegraph operator from the Junction depot to the signal station. When the red ball went up the B.N.Y.&P. had the right of way and when the white ball went up the Erie train may cross. This was before electricity came into use. In January of 1886 a new junction signal office building was built. It was a two-story frame building. The yardmaster, and freight agent used the first floor and the operators, whose duty it was to signal and register trains as they arrived and departed, used the second floor. The office was described as a neat office and one that was much needed at the junction of the B.N.Y.&P. and the Erie Railroads.

Now to get back to the Buffalo Junction Depot, by December 1883, the depot was closed down and the trains would no longer stop there to discharge passengers. The trains would only slow down at the depot and anyone who wished to get off there would have to make a flying leap in making their exit from the train. By February 1884 the old Buffalo Junction Depot was deserted except for the tramps that made it their hangout as they also did at the old roundhouse where in May of 1885 policeman, Wiley, Arrested three hard looking tramps there. One of the tramps was a James Ryan, who had just spent 60 days in the pen and another was a James Welch.

SALOONS ON VINE STREET
ROW OF WOODEN BUILDINGS GOES UP IN SMOKE
About 9 o'clock on the evening of May 2, 1885, the fire bell rang. The flames were near the B. N. Y. & P junction with the Erie Railroad near the Acme refinery.

Located on Vine Street just opposite the old Buffalo Junction Depot was a row of wooden buildings, three of them owned and occupied by William Donovan, saloon, J. E. Eggleston, boarding house and M. Mahoney, Delmonico Saloon. These three saloons and boarding houses were on fire.

The explosion of a lamp in Mahoney's boarding house was thought to be the cause. All three building were burned down before the fire could be arrested. The Acme Refinery pumps and water supply were successfully utilized; otherwise the fire might have destroyed the entire section. The Barse and Luther 'boys' did a good service.

Donovan was insured to $1,300, Eggleston for $600 and Mahoney for $1,000. Their individual losses were considerably more. An adjoining building owned by Mr. Dillon, was somewhat damaged.

BAR-ROOM ROW
McNerney's saloon was located on the corner of Vine and Oak Street. A report had been circulating around the city in March of 1888 that a man had been killed in a barroom fight in North Olean. So for the purpose of investigating the affair a reporter visited McNerney's saloon. The following is an account of the row.

'The front windows were caved in, one show case was shattered, and the general complexion of things indicated that someone had been having a hell of a time. According to NcNerney's story, Mike Davitt, Mike McCarty, and a man named Lynch came to his saloon about 2:30 in the morning to drink. He opened the door and let them in. The three were all more or less intoxicated and finally McCarty and Davitt had some words about a woman and commenced fighting. Davitt hurled McCarty to the floor and was proceeding to stamp out his life when McNerney interfered and threw Davitt out the door. Lynch followed and he and Davitt proceeded to bombard the saloon with stones breaking the windows and smashing a showcase. McNerney retorted by opening fire with a revolver, and letting loose his bulldog. The dumb contestant put Davitt and Lynch to flight and there is a report to the effect that Davitt was quite badly bitten. McCarty was a brother of Mrs. McNerney, and was found lying upon a bed in the second story of the saloon. His face was badly bruised and cut, and he looked as though he had been through a cyclone.

McNerney left North Olean and sometime later had a saloon located at the corner of Coleman and Third Streets.

THE DEMISE OF THE VINE STREET SALOONS
& BOARDING HOUSES
Two more Vine Street saloons went up in flames about 10 p.m. near the end of August 1889 lighting up the sky over North Olean. A vacant house owned by Patrick Dillon on Vine Street and a saloon next door owned by Mrs. Keefe (Saloon Annie) went up in flames. By time the Chamberlain hook and ladder fire company arrived on the scene, the Dillon building had already fallen in and the Keefe saloon could not be saved. Both buildings were a total loss.

Mrs. Keefe contracted Alderman McCarthy to rebuild a new saloon on the burned out site and the following November of 1889 the place was ready for business.

In 1891 Patrick Dillon, John Toole, William Donovan, J. C. Fitzsimmons and Joseph Gennewicz were the proprietors of the hotels and saloon that were rebuilt.

It was 1 o'clock on a Friday morning in April of 1891 that the night switchman in the Erie railroad yard at North Olean discovered smoke coming from the rear of Joseph Gennewiczï's hotel on Vine Street. The locomotive engineers in the yard set their whistles going, a common practice in those days to warn of fire. The building was a light two-story frame structure and by time the occupants were awakened, they had only time to escape with the clothes on their backs. The fire burned so fiercely that in less than half an hour there was nothing left of the building but a mass of glowing embers.

From the Gennewicz's place the flames leaped to the hotels of Michael Johnson and J. C. Fitzsimmons, on the south, destroying both buildings. The hotels of Patrick Dillon and John Toole (He was the brother of Mrs. Keefe) were damaged.

On January 22, 1892, the last remaining hotel on Vine Street, owned by Anna Keefe, was destroyed by fire. The cause was the explosion of a lamp on the second story. This was the third time Mrs. Keefe had been burned out in a few years.

Thus was the demise of the saloon and boarding houses of Vine Street, North Olean.

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