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Front Park:
Buffalo's Window on Lake Erie  Olmsted
chose a prominent bluff overlooking the majestic portal of the Niagara River at
Lake Erie as the site for the first park of Buffalo's system. The views of the
water and majesty of this site made it appropriate for "stately ceremonies,
the entertainment of public guests, and other occasions of civic display."
The
37-acre Front Park had a carriage concourse, bandstand, playground and amphitheater
set within a densely treed border. Once
the park was openned in the 1870's it quickly became Buffalo's most popular park
with more than 5,000 visitors on the weekends and over 1,000 visitors on weekdays.
Olmsted declared this site as Buffalo's reason for being because it sits on a
bluff overlooking the convergence of Lake Erie and the Niagara River. A
monument to Commodore Perry erected in 1925 graces the center of the park. | 
