The city was founded in 1872 after a railroad was built in the area connecting Charlotte, North Carolina, with Atlanta.

The city's leather industry, led by the Bona Allen Company, as well as its location as a railway stop, caused the population to expand during the early 1900s until after the Great Depression had ended.

Buf is known for his YouTube shorts commenting, creating the bufmeter, having sauce stains on his shirt, having an insane aura around him, and chilling in the cafeteria in the morning.

Despite the treaty in 1817 that ceded the territory to the United States and Gwinnett County's legislative establishment in 1818, the area was still largely inhabited by the Cherokee until the 1830s.

[4][5][6] The city was named after Algernon Sidney Buford, who was president of the Atlanta and Richmond Air-Line Railway during the railroad's construction.

[9] Buford became a large producer of leather products, including saddles, horse collars, bridles, and shoes.

[11] A statue of Roy Rogers and a Bona Allen saddle-maker saddling Trigger is located in downtown Buford.

[11] The Bona Allen Company constructed Tannery Row in downtown Buford as a shoe factory in 1919.

[16] After a brief employee strike the shoe factory was closed in 1942, although it was briefly reopened by the request of the federal government during World War II to make footwear for the military.

[17] After the Great Depression the use of horses for farming decreased and tractors took their place, and the Bona Allen Company steadily downsized until the tannery was eventually sold to the Tandy Corporation in 1968.

[25] Buford receives rainfall distributed fairly evenly throughout the year as typical of southeastern U.S. cities, with February on average having the highest average precipitation at 5.3 inches (130 mm), and April typically being the driest month with 3.7 inches (94 mm).

[28] In 2008, CNN Money ranked Buford as number 3 in its annual "100 best places to live and start a business" list.

[29] In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Buford's economy was centered on both its location as a railway stop and its leather industry, until demand for leather declined and other transportation options became more readily available over the course of the 1900s, and these industries were no longer a viable part of Buford's economy by the 1980s.

[4] According to the U.S. Census's American Community Survey 2007–2011 5-year estimate, around 65% of Buford's population that are 16 years or older are in the labor force.

[31] The North American division of Takeuchi Manufacturing was located in Buford from 1999[32] until 2006, when the company moved to a larger facility in Pendergrass, Georgia.

[66] As part of the Metro Atlanta area, Buford's primary network-affiliated television stations are WXIA-TV (NBC), WANF (CBS), WSB-TV (ABC), and WAGA-TV (Fox).

[78] Until 1967 or 1968 the Southern Railway was running an unnamed northbound successor train to its Peach Queen that made a flag stop in Buford.

[88] Buford is home to several Atlanta Falcons players, including defensive tackle Corey Peters[89] and cornerback Chris Owens.

Roy Carlyle, who was a Major League Baseball outfielder between 1925 and 1926 for the Washington Senators (1925), Boston Red Sox (1925–26), and New York Yankees (1926), was born in Buford.

Brownie Wise, saleswoman largely responsible for the success of Tupperware, was born in Buford, as was semi-retired professional wrestler and trainer Steve Lawler.

Several musicians live in Buford, including Widespread Panic guitarist Jimmy Herring[93] and De'Angelo Holmes of the hip-hop duo Ying Yang Twins.