If you have lived in Western New York your whole life, then you know all the major roadways like the back of your hand.

Here in Buffalo, we call them by the numbers and add a "the" in front of every one.

  • The 90
  • The 190
  • The 290
  • The 400
  • The 990

Then you have busy non-expressway roads, such as Transit, Southwestern, Niagara Falls Blvd, Union, Walden, Ridge, Bailey, Camp and French, to name a few.

In the City of Buffalo, there's a lot of major and small roads that we use all the time. However, did you realize there's a secret/hidden road that hardly anyone even knows about?

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It looks like an alley on first glance, but further inspection reveals it as a legitimate road. It's called Blossom Al, and it sits between Broadway and E. Huron. Hersee Alley is sandwiched in the middle of Blossom Al.

Believe it or not, this street is directly behind Big Ditch Brewing Company.

It's designated as an official street by the City of Buffalo and the reason for that is because of the history of the street and who it's named after.

According to Buffalo Streets, the street is named after Ira Allen Blossom, who was critical for the growth of the business community in Buffalo. He was born in 1789.

Blossom was the right hand man for Joseph Ellicott (who is famous in Buffalo history), and later appointed the receiver of the Buffalo branch of the United States Bank. Blossom is credited as the man who gave credit to young businessmen in Buffalo, to start their growing business.

He was elected to Buffalo's Board of Alderman and represented the Old Third Ward on the board. How cool is that? Not just that, but Blossom also helped incorporate the University of Buffalo and even sat on the council.

He died in 1856 and is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery.

The buildings that face Blossom Al are much older than the buildings that surround them, which is because of old the street is. There are old windows and doorways that are bricked over nowadays. It's used as an access road by the companies that operate nearby, like Big Ditch Brewing and Ferguson Electric Construction Company.

You're allowed to drive down Blossom, so maybe try that next time you're in the downtown area of Buffalo.

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