As part of our list of requests for reader submissions, we asked to see photos of artifacts or other oddities that folks may have lying around the house.  We got several, including this very nice bottle that came with the following explanation from Robert Kent:

When I lived in Buffalo long ago, I came across this bottle.  Apparently, it contained shoe polish.  It is from the early 1900s.  Although apparently not all that un-common and easily found for sale on the Internet, I found mine in my own back yard.  I treasure it even if it is not worth much to glass collectors.  

Another down side to being stuck at home was having to postpone—or even cancel—travel plans.  Mary Bashore shared her version of this common disappointment with us:

We lost several family members last year, the last of their generation. Over the winter, we were going through old papers and I started putting together pieces of information to locate graves in various cemeteries. 

I obtained information about a relative buried in the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. One thing led to another, and my husband and I were planning a trip to France that would have us visiting the American Cemetery on VE Day, May 8. Obviously, that won't happen any time soon. 

I am sure there are lots of WNY soldiers buried there, and very few from that era still with us. I will be thinking of them on May 8 and hoping the survivors make it through this latest trauma. 

Cemeteries are the ultimate in social distancing...

We asked for “off the wall” submissions as part of our list of suggestions and Joe Cassidy, the Town of Alabama Historian, delivered!  He sent us an entire booklet of odd and random news stories that had appeared in local papers, mostly in the 19th and very early 20th centuries.  We couldn’t print all of them, but with this being an election year, thought we would include a snippet about a presidential visit to rural Niagara and Genesee counties, that appeared in The Batavia Times, September 6, 1839.  Here is what Joe sent:

On September 5, 1839, Martin Van Buren, eighth President of the United States visited Batavia on his return to the White House from a vacation at his New York State home. An excerpt from the article:

“On Wednesday the ‘Committee of Arrangements’ left this village and repaired to Alabama, where the president was to be escorted by a committee of citizens of Niagara County. The ‘Committee of Reception’, with such other citizens as chose, repaired to Carryville for the purpose of receiving the President and escorting him into the village.”

Katherine Massey, the secretary of Buffalo’s Cherry Street Block Club, sent us this inspirational story from the more recent past. The photo is a bit blurry, but it is worth including nonetheless: 

The Cherry St. Block Club's painting of the [Kensington] Expressway railings—on the street (1990)—was the result of the BC's pursuit to have the decades-neglected, rusted railings maintained/painted by the NYS Department of Transportation. They hadn't been painted since installation in the 1960s. (A letter was even sent to Governor Mario Cuomo.)

The outcome was an agreement that the State DOT would prepare the railings for painting and supply the paint, and the Block Club would paint them. (To say the paint was from their paint archives is an understatement.)

The NYS DOT fully redeemed themselves via their outstanding expressway railings replacement and beautification project, which included Cherry St. It was completed in 2011 and resurrected the street. We are very grateful.

(Our street received new pavement, sidewalks, street lamps, trees, grass—and by our request—a revamp of our Inspiration Garden which previously had a jumbo sign indicating the nearby Expressway access.)

We know most people aren’t thinking about snow in July (or at least we hope not!), but it won’t be long before the shovels come back out.  Don Barber sent us this note, along with a reminder of just how high it can get sometimes:

My mother saved a lot of things. This was one of them I found recently among her effects. It is from the Buffalo News March 10, 1947.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Steve Mangione, who serves as newsletter editor of the Iroquois Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club as well as being an adjunct member of the Western New York Heritage staff, sent us this note and photograph, referencing Dennis Jewell’s story from our last issue:

I thought your readers might be interested in seeing an actual Houdaille shock absorber. This is one of the front shocks from my 1942 Studebaker Commander. It is less than four inches high as compared to shock absorbers today that are over a foot tall.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to send in their memories and photos!