PLEASE put "[Telecom]" in your subject lines! (Moderator)
I remembered looking around in parts of Buffalo 20+ years ago seeing Federal Telephone manhole covers, but, for the longest time, I didn't remember where.
Then I found the original central office building Federal Telephone used along Elmwood Ave just south of Allen St, in the historical preservation district of Allentown. I was able to put it all together, I think.
Farther north along Elmwood Ave, I believe FTR had their factory, about across the street from what would become a large Curtiss-Wright aircraft component assembly facility. Perhaps FTR occupied that building before leaving for Newark, allowing Curtiss-Wright to move in.
Anyway, I found the unique rectangular manhole covers they used along Elmwood Ave. The first one I found was between Hodge St and Bryant St, just west of Buffalo Children's Hospital today:
I realized another irony by the time I got to Anderson Pl and noticed the Verizon central office, BFLONYEL, housing a DMS-100 since some time in the mid-'80s.
About 3/4 mile south of Elmwood Ave and Anderson Pl is Allen St, where the FTR central office must have been housed. I like the nondescript, very generic "Telephone Building" sign on the front.
I was once told by a retired Pioneer working in that building that WE installed one of the longest manual switchboards running the length of the building in there. (That must be another story for some other time.)