History of Buffalo, New York

Its position at the eastern end of Lake Erie strengthened the economy, based on grain milling and steel production along the southern shores and in nearby Lackawanna.

Later, the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway combined with the effects of suburbanization, deindustrialization, and globalization led to the decline of the city's chief industries.

An alternate explanation put forward in late 2020, is that the origin comes from the French “Riviere du Bois Blanc” meaning “River of White Wood” being used to describe the creek.

Bois Blanc pronounced “Boblo” or “Bob Low” around the Great Lakes, morphed into “Buffalo” when the British took control of the region in 1759–1760.

Buffalo, near the throat of the Niagara River, was a popular campsite for voyaging tribesmen, in a culture which often went on walk-abouts, touring neighboring lands and conducting the widespread practice of boy-meets-girl, trading of regional commodities.

The population of the Wenro was small by comparison to other Iroquoian tribes the French encountered and reported upon, possibly because they'd only recently split off from other groups or because they'd suffered the misfortunes of war.

The American Heritage Book of Indians points out there are opposing (on the surface) contradictory theories[c] of the origination and the migration of the Iroquois and Iroquoian peoples that came to inhabit the region around Buffalo and the Niagara River.

[e] By comparison, the Huron also an Iroquoian people, were often at odds with the Iroquois once European traders offered highly desired goods for furs, especially water proof Beaver pelts[f] About 1651 the Iroquois Confederacy declared war on the Neutrals; by 1653, the Confederacy, particularly the Senecas, had practically annihilated the Neutrals[4][5] and the splinter tribe of Wenro people.

At that point the Susquehannock's suffered one or more horrendous plagues, losing up to 90% of their population and military capabilities, and by 1672 the Iroquois became the proverbial 'Last Man Standing' in the Northern Beaver Wars.

In 1764, British military engineer John Montresor made an inspection tour of Buffalo Creek before determining on a site for a fortification on the opposite shore.

[6] The first resident and landowner of Buffalo with a permanent presence was Captain William Johnston,[7] 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.

[8] Former enslaved man Joseph "Black Joe" Hodges,[9][10] and Cornelius Winney, a Dutch trader from Albany who arrived in 1789, were early settlers along the mouth of Buffalo Creek.

In 1805, he and his wife Sylvia built the village’s sixteenth frame building, an office/home, on their lot just a half mile from the Seneca reservation on Buffalo Creek.

[24] In 1804, Ellicott completed his design of 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.

[31] Before the east-to-west turnpike[further explanation needed] was completed, travelling from Albany to Buffalo would take a week,[32] while even a trip from nearby Williamsville to Batavia could take upwards of three days.

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.

[55] On 1 June 1843, the world's first steam-powered grain elevator was put into service by a local merchant, Joseph Dart Jr., and an engineer, Robert Dunbar.

In 1845, construction began on the Macedonia Baptist Church, a meeting spot in the Michigan and William Street neighborhood where blacks first settled.

[64] 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.

[citation needed] In 1843, the world's first steam-powered grain elevator was constructed by local merchant Joseph Dart and engineer Robert Dunbar.

[67] "Dart's Elevator" enabled faster unloading of lake freighters along with the transshipment of grain in bulk from barges, canal boats, and rail cars.

During the 19th century, thousands of pioneers going to the western United States debarked from canal boats to continue their journey out of Buffalo by lake or rail transport.

Immigrants came from Ireland, Italy, Germany, and Poland to work in the steel and grain mills which had taken advantage of the city's critical location at the junction of the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal.

As a result, the final section of the old canal, which had run alongside the river from Tonawanda to Buffalo – and which had been so critical to the city's growth nearly a century earlier – became obsolete and was gradually filled in over time.

Integrated national shipping routes would use the Soo Locks near Lake Superior and a vast network of railroads and yards that crossed the city.

[77] 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.

Initially established as a "hard control board," they froze the wages of city employees, and were required approve or reject all major expenditures.

After a period of severe financial stress, Erie County, where Buffalo resides, was assigned a Fiscal Stability Authority on July 12, 2005.

An important factor in the revitalization of the city was the 2017 reform of the zoning code, including the elimination of costly parking minimums, which had hindered development for many years.

[83] The city has also apparently had more success in recent years in retaining or attracting younger residents, with the low cost of living being seen as a factor.