New York, Erie County, Buffalo
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When the Erie Canal was completed here in October 1825, Buffalo was transformed from a small lakefront hamlet to a thriving muscular metropolis. Buffalo was the port where grain, lumber, and other products from the interior of the American continent were transferred from lake schooners and steamers to canal boats. Manufactured goods traveled west by canal, along with waves of people moving into the interior.
Because all of those products and people had to change from one mode of travel to the next here in Buffalo, the city became the hinge point between the Atlantic and the Great Lakes and the incubator for Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, and Duluth. By the mid-1800's Buffalo was called "the greatest inland port in the world."
Commercial and Residential Neighborhoods. As Buffalo grew and thrived, the city's commercial and residential districts expanded inland on higher ground.
Erie Canal. Commercial Slip and the section of the Erie Canal between Tonawanda and Buffalo were abandoned in the 1920's. Interstate 190 now runs on the old canal bed.
In the 1800s over 6,800 cargo vessels were registered on New York's canal system. Some days it seemed like they were all here in Buffalo.
Canal District. Buffalo's waterfront was a lively place. Grain elevators, flour mills, coal trestles, lumber yards, and commodity brokers served the cargo. Boarding houses and implement suppliers catered to migrants. Boat yards, ship chandlers, and sail lofts supplied the needs of lake and canal boats. Taverns and brothels served their crews.
The galleried buildings along Central Wharf housed the Buffalo Board of Trade, grain brokers, wholesalers, insurance companies, and other businesses that profited from lake navigation, canal traffic, and the transfer of cargos between the two.
Industry and Transportation. The transportation and industrial activities that funded much of Buffalo's prosperity crowded along the waterfront. A network of slips, side cuts, canals, and basins were cut to facilitate transfer of goods.
Grain elevators were signal elements of the Buffalo skyline. They received Midwestern grain from lake freighters, stored it, and then dispersed it to canal boats and rail cars for distribution to New York City and the world beyond.
Rail cars emptied their loads of Pennsylvania coal onto upper levels of trestles that lined Buffalo harbor. Gravity-fed chutes loaded canal boats that carried fuel to midwestern industries and homes.
(Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
When the Erie Canal was completed here in October 1825, Buffalo was transformed from a small lakefront hamlet to a thriving muscular metropolis. Buffalo was the port where grain, lumber, and other products from the interior of the American continent were transferred from lake schooners and steamers to canal boats. Manufactured goods traveled west by canal, along with waves of people moving into the interior. Because all of those products and people had to change from one mode of travel to the next here in Buffalo, the city became the hinge point between the Atlantic and the Great Lakes and the incubator for Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, and Duluth. By the mid-1800's Buffalo was called "the greatest inland port in the world."
Commercial and Residential Neighborhoods. As Buffalo grew and thrived, the city's commercial and residential districts expanded inland on higher ground.
Erie Canal. Commercial Slip and the section of the Erie Canal between Tonawanda and Buffalo were abandoned in the 1920's. Interstate 190 now runs on the old canal bed.
In the 1800s over 6,800 cargo vessels were registered on New York's canal system. Some days it seemed like they were all here in Buffalo.
Canal District. Buffalo's waterfront was a lively place. Grain elevators, flour mills, coal trestles, lumber yards, and commodity brokers served the cargo. Boarding houses and implement suppliers catered to migrants. Boat yards, ship chandlers, and sail lofts supplied the needs of lake and canal boats. Taverns and brothels served their crews.
The galleried buildings along Central Wharf housed the Buffalo Board of Trade, grain brokers, wholesalers, insurance companies, and other businesses that profited from lake navigation, canal traffic, and the transfer of cargos between the two.
Industry and Transportation. The transportation and industrial activities that funded much of Buffalo's prosperity crowded along the waterfront. A network of slips, side cuts, canals, and basins were cut to facilitate transfer of goods.
Grain elevators were signal elements of the Buffalo skyline. They received Midwestern grain from lake freighters, stored it, and then dispersed it to canal boats and rail cars for distribution to New York City and the world beyond.
Rail cars emptied their loads of Pennsylvania coal onto upper levels of trestles that lined Buffalo harbor. Gravity-fed chutes loaded canal boats that carried fuel to midwestern industries and homes.
(Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Private in Captain Hercules Courtney's Company, Third Pa. Artillery, Continental Line, in the Battle of Brandywine. His home was in Conshohocken. He is symbolic of the many unknown Black soldiers who served in the American Revolution, but whose race is not mentioned in muster rolls.
On May 19-20, 1778, Lafayette, in his first independent command, occupied this position during reconnaissance with 2,000 troops, which were driven off by Howe's overwhelming British forces. On Howe's departure, Lafayette reoccupied Barren Hill until his recall to Valley Forge on May 23.
Lutheran, founded 1752 by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. From steeple of original church, May 20, 1778, Gen. Lafayette gave orders for battle against British in old churchyard. Here he organized his famous retreat to Matson Ford, saving himself and 2200 Continental troops from capture.
Inventor of electronic television, he led some of the first experiments in live local TV broad-casting in the late 1930s from his station W3XPF located on this site. A pioneer in electronics, Farnsworth held many patents and was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame.
Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built with the collaboration of Rabbi Mortimer J. Cohen, this National Historic Landmark was completed in 1959. Wright’s only synagogue evokes the biblical Mt. Sinai in modern materials of concrete, steel, aluminum, and glass.
The first country inn in Farmington was the log home of Solomon Walker, opened in 1827. A gala celebration was held there for New Year's Eve 1828, followed by the first Township meeting in 1829. East of his log house Walker built a Greek Revival frame tavern which Nathan Philbrick purchased. He, in turn, sold it to Robert Wixom, Jr. who enlarged the building. There was a fancy ballroom and carpets graced the floors. Sarah Wixom cooked and the stagecoach stopped there.
Composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950) and his wife, singer-actress Lotte Lenya (1898-1981) are buried here. Born in Germany, Weill achieved fame with The Threepenny Opera in 1928. After fleeing Nazi persecution, Weill and Lenya settled in New York in 1935 and moved to South Mountain Road in New City in 1941. Weill's other best-known stage works include Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogany, The Seven Deadly Sins, Lady in the Dark, One Touch of Venus, Street Scene, and Lost in the Stars. Born in Austria, Lenya had an active stage, film, and recording career; highlights inlude The Threepenny Opera (stage and film), Cabaret (Broadway), and the films The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and From Russia With Love.
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Already a major transportation center, Buffalo was evolving into a center of industry and and manufacturing. At the height of the canal era, in the mid-1800s, countless manufacturing enterprises took advantage of the huge volume of raw materials that passed through the city. 
Organized in 1921, the 112th is part of the famed 28th Div., the oldest continuous infantry division in the US Army. The 112th, previously known as the 16th, has origins in the storied 83rd PVI regiment formed in Erie in 1861 during the Civil War. It served in the Spanish-American War, WWI, and Iraq and was awarded Presidential Unit Citations in WWII and Korea. For 90 years 112th units served at Erie Armory, A National Register-listed property.
