The Buffalo Racing Association constructed the Kenilworth Race Track in 1902 at the corner of Kenmore Avenue and Niagara Falls Boulevard. The Association's president was Charles F. Dunbar; Bronson Rumsey was First Vice-President; William Hengerer was Second Vice-President; Dr. Charles Cary was Third Vice-President; Henry C. Jewett was also a First Vice-President. The project architect was Leo E. Denslow. The track was built by George V. Hankins of Chicago.

The Racing Association constructed a 1-mile track, a grandstand designed for 4,000 and a clubhouse in the style appropriate for entertaining well-to-do racing fans. The decor displayed the colors of the Association: green, white, and deep orange.

The track opened August 30, 1902 with a much-publicized "Derby." Special admission fees of only $1 for the grandstand were in effect and six races were run for a total purse of $8,000. To read all about that day, look here.

The race track offered betting both trackside and off-track, which proved to be the cause of its demise. In 1908, the New York State legislature passed the Agnew-Hart bill outlawing racetrack gambling. The race track, then owned by a single investor, closed. The land was eventually developed as residential housing tracts which it remains today, as highlighted above in the shaded area.

Note: Reference materials included information from the Buffalo Times newspaper and John Percy's "Town of Tonawanda" book (part of the Images of America series).