Fruit Belt, Buffalo

The Fruit Belt is a residential neighborhood in Buffalo, New York.^[1] It is located adjacent to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The city has rebranded it under the upscale name of Medical Park Neighborhood, especially in official mentions.^[2]

Geography

The Fruit Belt is located within the East Side of Buffalo. The neighborhood is centered along High Street running West-East and Jefferson Avenue running North-South. It is enclosed along its eastern boundary by the Kensington Expressway and Michigan Avenue as its Western Boundary, separating the Fruit Belt from the Medical Campus.

History/Culture

The Fruit Belt gets its name from the earliest settlers who planted orchards of fruit trees. Years later, the residents named the streets there after the types of fruits that were dominant in the area in which the streets were made. For years, the neighborhood was infamous for gang violence and crime, but has seen investment from outside groups in recent years due to the Medical Campus. Tenant and homeowners in the neighborhood have become increasingly active as pressures to gentrify the neighborhood have increased. A recent example of resident mobilization to resist gentrification and the displacement of low-income, minority residents in the Fruit Belt was described by Silverman et al. (2014).^[3]

Notable sites

• Futures Academy

See also

• Neighborhoods of Buffalo, New York

References

1. Buffalo Neighborhoods, University at Buffalo
2. City Data, Named areas of Buffalo
3. Silverman, R.M., Lewis, J. and Patterson, K.L. (2014). William Worthy’s concept of ‘institutional rape’ revisited: Anchor institutions and residential displacement in Buffalo, NY. Humanity & Society, 38(2): 158-181.