BROADWAY-FILLMORE THROUGH THE YEARS

Contextualizing the current built and cultural environment of the neighborhood can guide the future of Broadway Fillmore. Polonia, the neighborhood that became Broadway Fillmore not only changed hands demographically, its very fabric evolved with each shift. Extending roads to accommodate for population growth and speculative development to the demolition of Urban Renewal, the Broadway-Fillmore of today is a very different community. Originally occupied by German settlers, the neighborhood became primarily Polish in the late 1800s, the same community that established much of the neighborhood landmarks like St. Stanislaus and the Broadway Market. As Buffalo began to decline so too did the neighborhood, with increasing vacancies post 1950s paving the way for African American families to move into Broadway-Fillmore. Starting in the mid-2000s a new group of New Americans, immigrants often from the global south have moved into the neighborhood adapting it to their needs. From its heyday to now Broadway-Fillmore has seen massive change, with over half of the building stock demolished and 80% of the population lost within the past 50 years.