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This article outlines the history of Buffalo, New York.

Prehistory and European exploration

[edit]
Sepia map of an old waterfront village plan.
An early map of the village of Buffalo and outer lots in 1854. Inset is Ellicott's 1804 plan.

Before the arrival of Europeans, nomadic Paleo-Indians inhabited the region from the 8th millennium BC. Around 1000 CE, the Woodland period began, marked by the rise of the Iroquois Confederacy and its tribes throughout the state.[1] During French exploration of the region in 1620, the region was occupied simultaneously by the agrarian Erie people[2] and the Wenro people or Wenrohronon, an offshoot of the large Neutral Nation.[3] The Neutrals made a living by growing tobacco and hemp to trade with the Iroquois.[4] The tribes would use animal and war paths to travel and move goods across New York State; these were later paved and now serve as major roads.[5] War between the Erie and Neutrals in the mid-17th century[6] led to territorial changes, with the Senecas gaining control of the region.[7][8][9]

Louis Hennepin and Sieur de La Salle made the earliest European discoveries of the upper Niagara and Ontario regions in the late 1600s.[10] After the American Revolution, the Province of New York—now a U.S. state—began westward expansion, looking for habitable land by following trends of the Iroquois.[11] Land near fresh water was of considerable importance.[12] New York and Massachusetts were fighting for the territory Buffalo lies on, and Massachusetts had the right to purchase all but a one-mile (1600-meter) wide portion of land. The rights to the Massachusetts' territories were sold to Robert Morris in 1791, and two years later to the Holland Land Company.[13][14]

As a result of the war, in which the Iroquois tribe sided with the British Army,[15] Iroquois territory was gradually reduced in the mid-to-late-1700s by European settlers through successive treaties statewide, such as the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784), the First Treaty of Buffalo Creek (1788), and the Treaty of Geneseo (1797). The Iroquois were corralled onto reservations, including Buffalo Creek. By the end of the 18th century, only 338 square miles (216,000 acres; 880 km2; 88,000 ha) of reservation territory remained.[16]

Founding, Erie Canal, and railroads

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Aerial engraving of a 19th-century city with trees and homes
1872 engraving of Buffalo
Buffalo harbor from the foot of Porter Avenue, 1871

The first white settlers along the creek were prisoners captured during the Revolutionary War.[17] The first resident and landowner of Buffalo with a permanent presence was Captain William Johnston,[18] a white Iroquois interpreter who had been in the area since the days after the Revolutionary War and who the Senecas granted creekside land as a gift of appreciation. His house stood at present-day Washington and Seneca streets.[19] Former enslaved man Joseph "Black Joe" Hodges,[20][21] and Cornelius Winney, a Dutch trader from Albany who arrived in 1789, were early settlers along the mouth of Buffalo Creek.[22]

On July 20, 1793, the Holland Land Purchase was completed, containing the land of present-day Buffalo, brokered by Dutch investors from Holland.[23] The Treaty of Big Tree removed Iroquois title to lands west of the Genesee River in 1797.[24] In the fall of 1797, Joseph Ellicott, the architect who helped survey Washington, D.C. with brother Andrew,[25][26] was appointed as the Chief of Survey for the Holland Land Company.[27] Over the next year, he began to survey the tract of land at the mouth of Buffalo Creek. This was completed in 1803,[28] and the new village boundaries extended from the creekside in the south to present-day Chippewa Street in the north and Carolina Street to the west,[29] which is where most settlers remained for the first decade of the 19th century.[citation needed] Although the company named the settlement "New Amsterdam," the name did not catch on, reverting to Buffalo within ten years.[30][29] Buffalo had the first road to Pennsylvania built in 1802 for migrants passing through to the Connecticut Western Reserve in Ohio.[31]

In 1804, Ellicott designed a radial grid plan that would branch out from the village forming bicycle-like spokes, interrupted by diagonals, like the system used in the nation's capital.[32] In the middle of the village was the intersection of eight streets, in what would become Niagara Square. Several blocks to the southeast he designed a semicircle fronting Main Street with an elongated park green, formerly his estate.[33][34] This would be known as Shelton Square,[35] at that time the center of the city (which would be dramatically altered in the mid-20th century),[36] with the intersecting streets bearing the names of Dutch Holland Land Company members,[37][a] today Erie, Church and Niagara streets.[33] Lafayette Square also lies one block to the north, which was then bounded by streets bearing Iroquois names.[28]

According to an early resident, the village had sixteen residences, a schoolhouse and two stores in 1806, primarily near Main, Swan and Seneca streets.[38] There were also blacksmith shops, a tavern and a drugstore.[39] The streets were small at 40 feet wide, and the village was still surrounded by woods.[40] The first lot sold by the Holland Land Company was on September 11, 1806, to Zerah Phelps.[41] By 1808, lots would sell from $25 to $50.[42]

In 1804, Buffalo's population was estimated at 400, similar to Batavia, but Erie County's growth was behind Chautauqua, Genesee and Wyoming counties.[43] Neighboring village Black Rock to the northwest (today a Buffalo neighborhood) was also an important center.[33] Horatio J. Spafford noted in A Gazetteer of the State of New York that in fact, despite the growth the village of Buffalo had, Black Rock "is deemed a better trading site for a great trading town than that of Buffalo," especially when considering the regional profile of mundane roads extending eastward.[43] Before the east-to-west turnpike[further explanation needed] was completed, travelling from Albany to Buffalo would take a week,[44] while even a trip from nearby Williamsville to Batavia could take upwards of three days.[45][b]

Although slavery was rare in the state, limited instances of slavery had taken place in Buffalo during the early part of the 19th century. General Peter Buell Porter is said to have had five slaves during his time in Black Rock, and several news ads also advertised slaves for sale.[46]

In 1810, a courthouse was built. By 1811, the population was 500, with many people farming or doing manual labor.[47] The first newspaper to be published was the Buffalo Gazette in October that same year.[42]

On December 31, 1813, the British burned Buffalo and the village of Black Rock after the Battle of Buffalo.[48][49] The battle and subsequent fire was in response to the unprovoked destruction of Niagara-on-the-Lake, then known as "Newark," by American forces.[50][51] On August 4, 1814, British forces under Lt. Colonel John Tucker and Lt. Colonel William Drummond, General Gordon Drummond's nephew, attempted to raid Black Rock and Buffalo as part of a diversion to force an early surrender at Fort Erie the next day, but were defeated by a small force of American riflemen under Major Lodwick Morgan at the Battle of Conjocta Creek, and withdrew back into Canada. Consequently, Fort Erie's siege under Gordon Drummond later failed, and British forces withdrew. Though only three buildings remained in the village, rebuilding was swift, finishing in 1815.[52][53]

On October 26, 1825,[54] the Erie Canal was completed, formed from part of Buffalo Creek,[55] with Buffalo a port-of-call for settlers heading westward.[56] At the time, the population was about 2,400.[57] By 1826, the 130 sq. mile Buffalo Creek Reservation at the western border of the village was transferred to Buffalo.[16] The Erie Canal brought a surge in population and commerce, which led Buffalo to incorporate as a city in 1832.[58] The canal area was mature by 1847, with passenger and cargo ship activity leading to congestion in the harbor.[59]

A crowd surrounds a man being shot by an assailant
Assassination of William McKinley at the Temple of Music, 1901

The population in 1840 was 18,213.[60] The village of Buffalo was part of and the seat of Niagara County until the legislature passed an act separating them on April 2, 1861.[61]

The mid-1800s saw a population boom, with the city doubling in size from 1845 to 1855.[62] In 1855, almost two-thirds of the city's population were foreign-born immigrants, largely a mix of unskilled or educated Irish and German Catholics, who began self-segregating in different parts of the city. The Irish immigrants planted their roots along the railroad-heavy Buffalo River and Erie Canal to the southeast, to which there is still a heavy presence today; German immigrants found their way to the East Side, living a more laid-back, residential life.[63] Some immigrants were apprehensive about the change of environment and left the city for the western region, while others tried to stay behind in the hopes of expanding their native cultures.[64]

Fugitive black slaves began to make their way northward to Buffalo in the 1840s, and many settled on the city's East Side.[65] In 1845, construction began on the Macedonia Baptist Church, a meeting spot in the Michigan and William Street neighborhood where blacks first settled.[66] Political activity surrounding the anti-slavery movement took place in Buffalo during this time, including conventions held by the National Convention of Colored Citizens and the Liberty Party and its offshoots.[67] Buffalo was a terminus point of the Underground Railroad with many fugitive slaves crossing the Niagara River to Fort Erie, Ontario in search of freedom.[68]

During the 1840s, Buffalo's port continued to develop. Both passenger and commercial traffic expanded with some 93,000 passengers heading west from the port of Buffalo.[69][better source needed] Grain and commercial goods shipments led to repeated expansion of the harbor.[citation needed] In 1843, the world's first steam-powered grain elevator was constructed by local merchant Joseph Dart and engineer Robert Dunbar.[70] "Dart's Elevator" enabled faster unloading of lake freighters along with the transshipment of grain in bulk from barges, canal boats, and rail cars.[71] By 1850, the city's population was 81,000.[58]

In 1860, many railway companies and lines crossed through and terminated in Buffalo. Major ones were the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad (1859), Buffalo and Erie Railroad and the New York Central Railroad (1853).[72] During this time, Buffalonians controlled a quarter of all shipping traffic on Lake Erie, and shipbuilding was a thriving industry for the city.[73]

Later, the Lehigh Valley Railroad would have its line terminate at Buffalo in 1867.

Rise and decline of heavy industry, urban renewal

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At the dawn of the 20th century, local mills were among the first to benefit from hydroelectric power generated by the Niagara River. The city got the nickname The City of Light at this time due to the widespread electric lighting.[74] It was also part of the automobile revolution, hosting the brass era car builders Pierce Arrow and the Seven Little Buffaloes early in the century.[75] At the same time, an exit of local entrepreneurs and industrial titans brought about a nascent stage that would see the city lose its competitiveness against Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit.[76]

President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by an anarchist at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo on September 6, 1901.[77] McKinley died eight days later[78] and Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in at the Wilcox Mansion.[78] The Great Depression of 1929–39 saw severe unemployment, especially among working-class men. The New Deal relief programs operated full force. The city became a stronghold of labor unions and the Democratic Party.[79]

During World War II, Buffalo saw the return of prosperity and full employment due to its position as a manufacturing center.[80][81] As one of the most populous cities of the 1950s, Buffalo's economy revolved almost entirely on its manufacturing base. Major companies such as Republic Steel and Lackawanna Steel employed tens of thousands of Buffalonians. Integrated national shipping routes would use the Soo Locks near Lake Superior and a vast network of railroads and yards that crossed the city.

Lobbying by local businesses and interest groups against the St. Lawrence Seaway began in the 1920s, long before its construction in 1957, which cut the city off from valuable trade routes. Its approval was reinforced by legislation shortly before its construction.[82] Shipbuilding in Buffalo, such as the American Ship Building Company, shut down in 1962, ending an industry that had been a sector of the city's economy since 1812, and a direct result of reduced waterfront activity.[83] With deindustrialization, and the nationwide trend of suburbanization; the city's economy began to deteriorate.[84][85] Like much of the Rust Belt, Buffalo, home to more than half a million people in the 1950s, has seen its population decline as heavy industries shut down and people left for the suburbs or other cities.[84][85][86]

  1. ^ Thompson 1977, p. 113.
  2. ^ Thompson 1977, pp. 114–115, 117.
  3. ^ Bingham 1931, p. 1.
  4. ^ Thompson 1977, p. 118.
  5. ^ Thompson 1977, p. 117–118.
  6. ^ Alvin M. Josephy, Jr, ed. (1961). The American Heritage Book of Indians. American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc. p. 189. LCCN 61-14871.
  7. ^ Donehoo, George P. (1922). "The Indians of the Past and of the Present". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 46 (3): 177–198. JSTOR 20086480.
  8. ^ Houghton, Frederick (1927). "The Migrations of the Seneca Nation". American Anthropologist. 29 (2): 241–250. doi:10.1525/aa.1927.29.2.02a00050.
  9. ^ Thompson 1977, p. 119.
  10. ^ Becker 1906, pp. 15–20.
  11. ^ Thompson 1977, p. 140.
  12. ^ Thompson 1977, p. 148.
  13. ^ Sprague 1882, p. 19.
  14. ^ Becker 1906, p. 108.
  15. ^ Thompson 1977, p. 141.
  16. ^ a b Brush 1901, p. 87.
  17. ^ Becker 1906, p. 106–107.
  18. ^ Ketchum 1865, p. 141.
  19. ^ Bingham 1931, pp. 132–134.
  20. ^ Becker 1906, pp. 106–108.
  21. ^ Bingham 1931, pp. 137–138.
  22. ^ Sprague 1882, pp. 20, 21.
  23. ^ Turner 1849, p. 401.
  24. ^ Bingham 1931, p. 145.
  25. ^ Bartlett, George Hunter (1922). Recalling Pioneer Days. The Buffalo Historical Society. p. 3. hdl:2027/wu.89065904492.
  26. ^ Stewart, John (1899). "Early Maps and Surveyors of the City of Washington, D. C.". Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. 2: 48–71. JSTOR 40066723.
  27. ^ Bingham 1931, p. 146.
  28. ^ a b Becker 1906, p. 111.
  29. ^ a b Fernald, Frederik Atherton (1910). The index guide to Buffalo and Niagara Falls. The Library of Congress. Buffalo, N.Y., F.A. Fernald. pp. 21. Archived from the original on March 26, 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  30. ^ Clinton, George W.; Hunt, Sanford B. (1862). Thomas' Buffalo City Directory for 1862, to which is Prefixed a Sketch of the Early History of Buffalo. Buffalo, NY: E.A. Thomas, Franklin Steam Printing House. p. 16. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  31. ^ French & Place 1860, p. 210.
  32. ^ Elmendorf, Dwight L. (March 1913). "Washington the Capital". The Mentor. 1: 2.
  33. ^ a b c Turner 1849, p. 439.
  34. ^ Powell, Elwin Humphreys (January 1, 1988). The Design of Discord: Studies of Anomie. Transaction Publishers. p. 59. ISBN 9781412836494.
  35. ^ Myers, Stephen G. (2012). Buffalo. Arcadia Publishing. p. 25. ISBN 9780738591650.
  36. ^ Myers, Stephen G. (2012). Buffalo. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738591650.
  37. ^ Buffalo Historical Society (1882). Semi-centennial Celebration of the City of Buffalo: Address of the Hon. E.C. Sprague Before the Buffalo Historical Society, July 3, 1882. Buffalo, N.Y.: Buffalo Historical Society. pp. 20, 21.
  38. ^ Turner 1849, p. 498.
  39. ^ Becker 1906, p. 114–115.
  40. ^ Becker 1906, pp. 111, 118.
  41. ^ Bingham 1931, p. 493.
  42. ^ a b Becker 1906, p. 115.
  43. ^ a b Thompson 1977, p. 152.
  44. ^ Turner 1849, p. 494.
  45. ^ Turner 1849, p. 495.
  46. ^ Bingham 1931, pp. 356–357.
  47. ^ Becker 1906, p. 115, 118.
  48. ^ Quimby, Robert (1997). The U.S. Army in the War of 1812: An Operational and Command Study. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press. p. 355. ISBN 978-0-87013-441-8.
  49. ^ Gee, Denise Jewell (December 30, 2013). "200 years ago, the village of Buffalo burned". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on February 27, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  50. ^ "The Buffalo of Yesteryear: Chictawauga, Scajaquady and the 'morass' that was Buffalo". The Buffalo News. November 29, 2017. Archived from the original on November 29, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  51. ^ Becker 1906, p. 125–126.
  52. ^ Severance, Frank H. (1879). "Papers relating to the Burning of Buffalo". Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society. Harold B. Lee Library. Buffalo : Bigelow Bros. pp. 334–356.
  53. ^ Becker 1906, p. 132.
  54. ^ "Erie Canal opens". The History Channel website. Archived from the original on October 14, 2014. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  55. ^ Proceedings of the Common Council of the City of Buffalo. James D. Warren's Sons Co. 1909. p. 2262.
  56. ^ "Canal History". New York State Canals. New York State Canal Corporation. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  57. ^ Champieux, Robin (April 2003). "John W. Clark papers". William L. Clements Library. University of Michigan. Archived from the original on October 29, 2014. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  58. ^ a b "A Brief Chronology of the Development of the City of Buffalo". National Park Service. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  59. ^ The Manufacturing Interests of the City of Buffalo: Including Sketches of the History of Buffalo. With Notices of Its Principal Manufacturing Establishments. C.F.S. Thomas. 1866. p. 13.
  60. ^ The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol.III, London (1847), Charles Knight, p.915
  61. ^ Bingham 1931, p. 385.
  62. ^ Goldman 1983, p. 72.
  63. ^ Goldman 1983, pp. 72–74.
  64. ^ Goldman 1983, pp. 75–76.
  65. ^ Goldman 1983, p. 87.
  66. ^ Savage, Beth L.; Shull, Carol D. (1994). African American Historic Places. Washington, D.C.: Preservation Press. pp. 346–347. ISBN 9780471143451. LCCN 94033218. OCLC 30976865.
  67. ^ Wesley, Charles H. (Jan 1944). "The Participation of Negroes in Anti-Slavery Political Parties". The Journal of Negro History. 29 (1): 43–44, 51–52, 55, 65. doi:10.2307/2714753. JSTOR 2714753. S2CID 149675414.
  68. ^ Switala, William J. (May 14, 2014). Underground Railroad in New York and New Jersey. Stackpole Books. p. 126. ISBN 9780811746298.
  69. ^ Priebe Jr., J. Henry. "The City of Buffalo 1840–1850". Archived from the original on September 5, 2013. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
  70. ^ Baxter, Henry. "Grain Elevators" (PDF). Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 13, 2014. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  71. ^ Kowsky, Francis R. (2006). "Monuments of a Vanished Prosperity: Buffalo's Grain Elevators and the Rise and Fall of the Great Transnational System of Grain Transport" (PDF). In Schneekloth, Lynda H. (ed.). Reconsidering Concrete Atlantis: Buffalo Grain Elevators. The Urban Design Project, School of Architecture and Planning, University at Buffalo. pp. 24–25. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  72. ^ French & Place 1860, pp. 66–74.
  73. ^ French & Place 1860, p. 286.
  74. ^ "ELECTRIC LIGHTS TO OPTICS RESEARCH: BUFFALO, "CITY OF LIGHT" Archived February 12, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, by Amanda Marie Rogers, New York Makers, December 18, 2013
  75. ^ Believe it, or not. Clymer, Floyd. Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877–1925 (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950), p.178.
  76. ^ Dillaway 2006, p. 28–30.
  77. ^ "President William McKinley is shot". The History Channel website. Archived from the original on October 14, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
  78. ^ a b "Swearing-In Ceremony for President Theodore Roosevelt". Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Archived from the original on November 1, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
  79. ^ *Lansky, Lewis. "Buffalo and the Great Depression, 1929–1933," in Milton Plesur, ed., American Historian: Essays to Honor Selig Adler (1980), pp 204–13
  80. ^ "1941–1945". History. Parkside Community Association. Archived from the original on July 8, 2010.
  81. ^ Rizzo, Michael. "Joseph J. Kelly 1942–1945". Through The Mayor's Eyes. The Buffalonian. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011.
  82. ^ Goldman 1983, p. 270.
  83. ^ Goldman 1983, p. 271.
  84. ^ a b "Back in business". The Economist. The Economist Newspaper Limited. June 30, 2012. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
  85. ^ a b Goldman 1983, pp. 270–271, 294.
  86. ^ "Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1950". United States Census. June 15, 1998. Archived from the original on August 24, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.


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