Meteor Alley is one of the whimsically named spaces of Buffalo. Running over a two-block stretch parallel to North and South Division streets between Emslie and Lord, it is also one of the cool, hidden spots of the Hydraulics. Meteor Alley, renamed in 1893 from Anderson Alley to avoid confusion with Anderson Place, still has a pretty cosmic feel.

While the reason the name “Meteor Alley” was chosen is lost to history, it’s established that typically the City polled residents on a name choice. Perhaps kids in the neighborhood, fresh off reading Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon, insisted it would be a neat idea, and their preferred name change prevailed. Either way, meteors and meteor showers invigorated the fascination of the public in the 1890s, as scientific theory on their nature and origin advanced considerably. The renaming of the space to “Meteor Alley” would have been very timely. Read the rest of this entry »