In the section of the Island Ship Center where you find the mailboxes, there are paintings on the wall of various places on Grand Island. They are very colorful and, together, they tell a story. Well, this was going to be #WordlessWednesday, but it’s already too wordy.
The Bedell House was located near to one of the buildings that was once used as the town’s post office. Just a short boat ride away is Motor Island, where there was once a motorboat club until it burned down in 1909. Today, Motor Island is a wildlife management area and there is no public access. It is okay to watch birds and other species from boats and to hunt for waterfowl offshore.Bridge from Grand Island to Niagara Falls. In 1935, the Grand Island bridges opened. One bridge to Niagara Falls and one bridge to Tonawanda. The next two bridges were built in the 1960s so that, now, there are two bridges to each location. Alas, with the building of the bridges, the ferries stopped running. One year, we did have a few ferries traveling from Grand Island to North Tonawanda. That was a great deal of fun for me and, yes, I was fine with walking six miles to catch the ferry. Unfortunately, the company did not offer a second year of ferry fun.There were a number of one-room schoolhouses on Grand Island. Children were educated in them until 1937, when, due to an increase in the population of the Island, Charlotte Sidway Elementary School was opened. In the 1950s, two more elementary school were opened: William Kaegebein Elementary School in 1953 and Huth Road Elementary School was opened in 1958. A few of the one-room school houses still can be found on Grand Island. One of them is on the grounds of Kelly’s Country Store and the other is at the Alt Farm. The former one-room schoolhouse on the Alt Farm has a new life as a nature center.Buckhorn Island State Park is a nearly 900-acre nature sanctuary that includes marshes, meadows and woods. There are restored wetlands, nature trails and opportunities for fishing. Unfortunately, many of the park’s ash trees were attacked by the invasive emerald ash borer, and they have died. Despite the deaths of those trees, there is still plenty to see at Buckhorn, including a large variety of bird species. For that reason, this area is known as an Important Bird Area. Birds that can be seen include the least bittern, sedge wrens, coots, different types of gulls, and many more. If you have binoculars or a spotting scope, you can look in the direction of Navy Island and you may spot some bald eagles. You might also spot a number of migratory birds, including geese. egrets and great blue herons.
2 thoughts on “The Grand Island story in pictures”
Cherrish Beals
You’ve brought together 3 of my favorite things on Grand Island – Island Ship Center, the history of the island and you Alice! What a wonderful piece this is and I can’t wait to read the next one M
You’ve brought together 3 of my favorite things on Grand Island – Island Ship Center, the history of the island and you Alice! What a wonderful piece this is and I can’t wait to read the next one M
Beautiful storytelling through visuals—can’t wait for the next installment