Buffalo is a city in northwestern New York State, the second
most populous city in the state (after New York). It is located
on the eastern shore of Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes, on
the right bank of the Niagara River bordering Canada, connecting
Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. Population 261,310 inhabitants
(2010). The county seat of Erie. Economic and cultural center of
the Buffalo-Niagara agglomeration (1.2 million inhabitants).
Sometimes Buffalo is included in the "Golden Horseshoe" (Golden
Horseshoe) - an almost ten millionth agglomeration covering Lake
Ontario from the west and located mostly in Canada.
European settlement since the end of the 18th century. Explosive
growth began in the 1840s after the appearance of the Erie
Canal. By the end of the 19th century, Buffalo was one of the
largest cities in the United States, the country's largest
inland port, and a center for heavy and food industries. By the
middle of the 20th century, the importance of the Erie Canal
trade route had declined, and with it the industrial importance
of the city. Now Buffalo is primarily a cultural, financial,
educational and medical center. The transfer of production has
improved the ecological situation in the city; in 2005, the city
entered the top three cleanest cities in the country.
By plane
Just outside of Buffalo, in Cheektowaga, is Buffalo
Niagara International Airport wikipediacommons (IATA: BUF). Despite the
"International" part of the name, Buffalo only has direct flights from
domestic airports. Anyone who is not afraid of crossing the border from
Canada can also fly in via Toronto. Alternatives for visitors from
Europe are the airports in Pittsburgh, Newark and Philadelphia; But
Toronto is much closer.
The journey time from Buffalo Airport to
downtown by car is about 13 minutes in normal traffic.
By train
Buffalo has an Amtrak station, the centrally located Buffalo-Exchange
Street station wikipediacommons, which is served daily by the Empire
Service from New York City and Niagara Falls.
By bus
There is
a Greyhound Terminal in Downtown Buffalo.
With the taxi
In
Buffalo, taxis are usually quick and easy to call; but generally the
only places where they should be stopped on the street are at the
airport and at the Metropolitan Transportation Center, the downtown
Chippewa Street entertainment district, in front of the various hotels,
and (at certain times, and with luck) the Elmwood Strip and at colleges
and universities. Taxi companies in Buffalo are:
BUF Buffalo
Airport Taxi Service. Phone: +1 716 292-4425.
Buffalo Express Taxi.
Phone: +1 716 809-8009.
Buffalo Taxi Cab Service. Phone: +1 716
809-8001.
Buffalo Taxi Cab. Tel: +1 716 715-9416.
Buffalo
Transportation. Phone: +1 716 877-5600.
Cold Spring Cab Company.
Phone: +1 716 886-4900.
Liberty Cab Tel: +1 716 877-7111.
In
the street
Buffalo is on the important Interstate Highway 90, which
connects Boston with Chicago and Seattle.
The road connection to
New York City is a little tricky and, if you want to get there quickly,
goes through three states (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New
York again). You should expect at least 7 hours driving time.
Buffalo is located at the eastern end of Lake Erie, across from the
Canadian city of Fort Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, which
drains the lake and flows north to Lake Ontario.
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 136.0 km2, of which
105.2 km2 is land and 30.8 km2 (= 22.66%) is water.
Buffalo has
the sunniest and driest summer of any major city in the Northeastern
United States, yet rainfall is sufficient to keep vegetation green and
fresh. The summers are characterized by long periods of sunshine (up to
65% of the possible time it is sunny), moderate humidity and moderate
temperatures. The city's lakeside location, which can result in massive
amounts of snow in winter, means that in summer, a cooling south-west
breeze makes the air bearable on hot days. Rainfall is moderate and
occurs mostly at night. The area of Lake Erie has a stabilizing effect,
so that thunderstorms are more likely to be inhibited in July. In
August, rainfall is slightly more frequent and it is warmer and wetter
because the warm lake water reduces the lake's temperature-regulating
effect.
The region is subject to a fairly humid continental
climate, but with a maritime component due to the Great Lakes. The
transition periods between summer and winter are comparatively short in
Buffalo and western New York State.
Winters in the western state
are generally cold and snowy, but at the same time changeable and
include thaws and rainfall. Winter lasts quite long, from mid-November
to early April. The ground is often snow-covered between the end of
December and the beginning of March, although periods without snow are
not uncommon. More than half of the annual snowfall is due to the Lake
Effect and is localized. This precipitation occurs when cold air crosses
the relatively warm lake surface and saturation creates clouds and
precipitation. Due to the prevailing wind direction, the areas south of
the city receive more Lake Effect snow than the northern city areas.
Snowfall begins in mid-October, peaks in December, and stops abruptly
when the lake freezes over between mid and late January. The most famous
and devastating snowstorm in Buffalo history was the Blizzard of '77.
Strictly speaking, this was not a lake effect event, since the lake was
frozen over at the time, but was the result of the action of strong
winds on the accumulated amounts of snow on land and on the lake's flat
ice sheet.
The region was originally populated by the Ongiara. Later, the Seneca
gained control of the area from the Iroquois. From 1797 to 1838, the
Buffalo Creek Reservation stretched across much of the city and far
beyond. In 1804, Joseph Ellicott, an agent for the Holland Land Company,
designed a radial road network and grid system radiating out from its
center like the spokes of a bicycle. During the British-American War,
Buffalo was burned down by British forces on December 30, 1813. When the
Erie Canal was completed on November 4, 1825, Buffalo was strategically
located at the west end of the canal system. At that time Buffalo had
about 2400 inhabitants. The canal brought with it a growth spurt in
population and trade, so that Buffalo, which then had 10,000
inhabitants, was incorporated as a city in 1832.
The city of
Buffalo has long been home to African Americans. The 1828 census lists
59 "names of colored" heads of families. In 1845 construction of the
Macedonia Baptist Church (commonly referred to as Michigan Street
Baptist Church) began. This church community of African Americans became
an important meeting place for abolitionism. The structure was added to
the National Register of Historic Places on February 12, 1974.
Abolitionists like William Wells Brown settled in Buffalo. Buffalo
became a terminus of the Underground Railroad, from which many escaped
slaves made their way to Fort Erie, Ontario, and thus to freedom.
During the 1840's the port of Buffalo continued to grow. The volume
of goods and people transported increased, with 93,000 travelers
annually setting out from Buffalo's port farther west on the Great
Lakes. The transport of wheat and commercial goods led to further growth
of the port. One of the first steam-powered wheat silos was built here,
allowing for faster unloading from cargo ships.
Abraham Lincoln
visited Buffalo in February 1861. He stayed at the American Hotel on
Main Street between Eagle Street and Court Street. During the Civil War,
the population increased from 81,029 to 94,210 in 1865. Not only did
Buffalo contribute to the Civil War with a large number of soldiers on
the side of the Union troops, but the city's factories also produced
necessary war material, for example parts of the turrets of the ironclad
USS Monitor were manufactured by the Niagara Steam Forge Works.
Before the early 20th century, local mills were among the first
businesses to benefit from the electrical power generated by the Niagara
River. It was then that the city earned its nickname "City of Light" due
to the widespread use of electric lighting. As early as 1881, the first
electrically operated street lamps in the United States were installed
in Buffalo. In the early days of automotive history, Pierce Arrow
vehicles were built here.
US President William McKinley was shot
and seriously injured while visiting the Pan-American Exposition on
September 6, 1901. He died in town eight days later, and Theodore
Roosevelt was sworn in at the Wilcox Mansion as the 26th President of
the United States.
The connection to Fort Erie, the so-called
Peace Bridge, was opened in 1927. The lavishly appointed Buffalo Central
Terminal train station was completed just a few weeks before Black
Thursday.
With the opening of the Saint Lawrence Sea Route in
1957, which cut off the city from trade routes, deindustrialization and
the nationwide trend towards urban exodus, the city's economic
importance began to wane. Many industrial companies had to close.
Buffalo, which peaked at more than half a million people in the 1950s,
has since experienced a significant population decline of over 50
percent.
In a May 2022 shooting spree at a Tops supermarket on
Jefferson Avenue, 18-year-old Payton S. Gendron shot dead 10 African
Americans and injured three others. The neighborhood was mostly
inhabited by African Americans. In his manifesto, the perpetrator
described himself as a white racist and ethnonationalist.
As of
October 2, 2020, 162 structures and sites in the county are listed on
the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), with nine properties
having National Historic Landmark status.
It is rather difficult to describe the economy of the region at the
moment. This is a mixture of industrial, light industrial, high-tech and
service-oriented. Instead of pinning all hopes on one sector, the region
is developing a multilateral economy in order to create opportunities
for growth and development in the 21st century.
Transport
Buffalo is served by the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. It
serves approximately 5 million passengers a year, and this number is
constantly increasing. This airport is one of the five cheapest of which
you can fly within the country. In recent years, many Canadians have
begun using this airport due to the inflated fees at Canadian airports.
The length of metro lines in Buffalo is 10 km. The city has a
well-developed bus network. A project called "Cars on Main Street" is
being developed, which should significantly ease the load on the subway
in Down Town.
Intercity communication is represented by two
stations through which you can go to Canada too.
Since Buffalo
stands on the eastern end of Lake Erie, this makes it possible for many
residents to have yachts, sailboats, motor boats, and other floating
facilities and quickly get to the beautiful sandy beaches of Ontario
(Canada).
Major highways serving the Greater Buffalo area.
Interstate 90 transit freeway
Interstate 190, Road through Big
Island to Niagara Falls
Interstate 290 (New York), road to Niagara
Falls bypassing Buffalo.
Interstate 990, Interstate Highway
U.S.
Route 62, Bailey Ave and South Park Ave.
NY Route 5, Main St.
NY
Route 130, Broadway
NY Route 384, Delaware Ave.
NY Route 266,
Niagara St.
NY Route 265, Military Rd. and Tonawanda St.
NY Route
198, Scajaquada Expressway
NY Route 33, Kensington Expwy.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, Buffalo has been developing
into a bioinformatics and genetic research center. Research is being
conducted with support from the University at Buffalo (UB, AAU member)
and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
In addition to the UB,
Buffalo State College and Erie Community College also belong to the
University of New York (SUNY) network.
The following private
colleges have campuses in Buffalo: Bryant & Stratton College, Canisius
College, D'Youville College, MEDAL College, and Trocaire College.
The county seat of Erie County has 292,648 residents. The city of
Buffalo is the economic and cultural center of the Buffalo-Niagara
agglomeration (1.2 million inhabitants). Sometimes Buffalo is included
in the so-called "Golden Horseshoe (Golden Horseshoe)" - almost ten
millionth agglomeration, located mostly in Canada and covering Lake
Ontario from the west.
The racial makeup of the city is roughly
as follows (2010):
Whites - 50.4%
African Americans - 38.6%
Indians - 0.8%
Asians - 3.2%
Hispanics - 10.5%
Mixed race -
3.1%
All other races - 3.9%
In the metropolitan area, 40% of
the population is under the age of 18 and over 64. The average age is 38
years. Of all residents, 83% have finished school and 23% have a
bachelor's degree. Buffalo was originally inhabited by immigrants from
New England. The first wave of European immigrants brought a large wave
of Germans. The builders of the Erie Canal were mostly Irish who stayed
in Buffalo to avoid starvation in their homeland. Then came the Poles,
Italians, Jews, a little later the Latin peoples, all together making up
the famous "melting pot" of ethnic cultures. The most recent immigrants
come from Somalia and Sudan.
Under the old administrative
division, South Buffalo held a strong Irish identity, while Kaisertown
held a German heritage. The district of Polonia, located in the east of
the city, was Poland and Slovakia in miniature, with their traditions
and way of life.
Now east Buffalo is dominated by African
Americans, many of whom arrived during the Great Migration. The western
part of the city is now mostly populated by Hispanics, in particular
Puerto Ricans. And earlier this part of the city was called "little
Italy". But in the 1980s, almost all local Italians moved to the
northern part of the city. But until now, small churches and restaurants
are reminiscent of the Italian-Sicilian past. Buffalo also became home
to a relatively small Jewish community. Initially, in the middle of the
19th century, German Jews settled in the western part of the city. Then,
at the beginning of the 20th century, Russian and Polish Jews arrived.
And now there are about 26 thousand Jews in the city. Buffalo has two
specialized schools and a Jewish help center.
On May 14, 2022, a
massacre occurred in east Buffalo, with most of the victims being
African American. The suspect reportedly carried out the attack
motivated by racial hatred.
The main educational institution is the State University of New York, which has three branches in the metropolis. Major cultural attractions include the nationally acclaimed theater district, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and the Buffalo and Erie Counties Historical Society. In addition, thirty miles north of Buffalo is Niagara Falls, which attracts millions of tourists every year. The falls gained notoriety in 1678 when Father Louis Hennepin first saw it. It was here that, first of all, on the territory of the American continent, they began to use electricity generated by hydroelectric power stations. Niagara Falls is a tourist and industrial center.
The city is home to the Buffalo Bills, a professional football
(American football) club, and the Buffalo Sabers, a hockey club that
plays in the National Hockey League. A fan of the team was the
protagonist of the film Bruce Almighty - Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey).
Buffalo hosted the 2011 IIHF World Youth Championship and the 2015
IIHF Ice Hockey Girls' World Championship.