The route later used for the Clarence bike path was originally part of the Canandaigua & Niagara Falls Railroad, and between North Tonawanda and Batavia the line ran 32 miles. Although never an official name, “Peanut Line” became its nickname after New York Central operating vice president Dean Richmond reportedly called it a “mere peanut of a line,” meaning it was relatively short and unimportant. The Canandaigua & Niagara Railroad dated to 1851 and linked the Niagara region to the Erie Railroad at Elmira, while another small railroad connected Canandaigua and Elmira. The line was built in sections over a long period, including the Clarence section in the 1850s. It gave early farmers along the route a way to ship and receive large quantities of goods, and around the turn of the 20th century high school-aged students in Clarence used it to attend school in Tonawanda. In the competitive early railroad era, the Canandaigua & Niagara Falls Railroad was acquired by New York Central Railroad in April 1854 to limit Erie Railroad influence. Because Erie had built its railways to a six foot gauge, New York Central converted them to its 4 feet 8.5 inches gauge at great cost. New York Central later became the New York Central & Hudson River, a name commonly seen on maps until another corporate reorganization in 1914 restored the simpler New York Central name. In 1968, New York Central merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad to form Penn Central, which later went bankrupt and became Conrail. By the Penn Central era, most of the Peanut Line had already been abandoned. The line was decommissioned in sections beginning in 1956, when parts from North Tonawanda to Transit were shut down, and on January 7, 1979, the line from Akron Junction West to Transit was also removed from service. Most sections are inactive today except for the Batavia Line. On February 15, 1995, the Clarence Town Board approved what became the Clarence Bike Path, and construction began in 1996. The conversion used land from multiple sources, and at first the path followed 4.1 miles of the old railroad and 1.1 miles alongside Goodrich Road. Those first 5.2 miles in Clarence were paved for walkers, joggers, and bicycle riders, linking the Meadowlakes subdivision with Clarence Center Elementary School, the soccer fields, and the town municipal center south of Clarence Center.