Buffalo (city, New York)

Buffalo (city, New York), city in western New York at the eastern tip of Lake Erie and seat of Erie County. Buffalo is located at the mouth of the Buffalo River and at the head of the short but important Niagara River, which connects Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. A commercial and industrial community, Buffalo is the second largest city in the state, after the city of New York. Transportation is one of the city’s principal assets, as it has been throughout its history. Situated on the Great Lakes, it is a major inland port with access to raw materials, notably grains, from the Midwest; it also has a shipping outlet to the Atlantic Ocean through the Welland Ship Canal and St. Lawrence Seaway. The western terminus of the New York State Canal System is in Buffalo as well.

The Toronto metropolitan region, Canada’s largest urban area, is a short distance to the north. A major portion of the trade between the United States and Canada passes through Buffalo, much of it crossing the Peace Bridge spanning the Niagara River. Commercial air service is through Greater Buffalo International Airport. Buffalo also is one of the country’s largest rail junctions.

The city benefits from an abundance of hydroelectric power generated around nearby Niagara Falls. Transportation and power have helped make it a leading flour-milling city of the United States. Other leading employers are firms engaged in making chemicals, automobile and aircraft parts, processed foods, electronics, paints, and pharmaceuticals. Buffalo also is growing as a center for medical research, and tourism long has been important to the regional economy.

Among Buffalo’s many educational institutions are a campus (established in 1846) of the State University of New York, State University of New York College at Buffalo (1867), Canisius College (1870), D’Youville College (1908), Medaille College (1875), and several institutions offering two-year degrees. Buffalo has a philharmonic orchestra, professional ballet, and an opera company. The centerpiece of a rejuvenated theater district is Shea’s Performing Arts Center, a historic landmark. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery is considered one of the nation’s finest museums for modern art. Buffalo also has museums of science and history, a zoo, and botanical gardens. A leading annual event is the Friendship Festival, a joint celebration with Fort Erie, Ontario, in July.

Of interest in the city are the house (now a national historic site) where in 1901 Theodore Roosevelt took the presidential oath upon the death of William McKinley, who was assassinated in Buffalo; the Old Buffalo Light (1833), an early lighthouse in Buffalo Harbor; the grave of and memorial to Red Jacket, a leader and orator of the Seneca tribe; and a military park on Lake Erie offering tours of naval vessels. The city’s notable residents have included two United States presidents: Grover Cleveland, who also served as mayor, and Millard Fillmore. Ralph Wilson Stadium in nearby Orchard Park is the home of the Buffalo Bills professional football team. The Buffalo Sabres professional ice hockey team plays at HSBC Arena.

Although the site was explored by the French, it was not settled until 1780, when Native Americans of the Seneca tribe established a village. The settlement became known as Buffalo Creek, named after a nearby stream. The origin of the stream’s name may be a corruption of beau fleuve, French for “beautiful river.” The land was bought in 1790 by the Holland Land Company, which had the community laid out in 1803, using Washington, D.C., as a model. The town was burned in 1813 by the British during the War of 1812 but was soon rebuilt. Buffalo was incorporated as a village in 1816.

Buffalo flourished with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, which connected the community to the Hudson River and New York City. The canal also made Buffalo a major distribution point between the eastern United States and the western frontier. Buffalo was incorporated as a city in 1832. In 1843 the world’s first steam-powered grain elevator was built in the city, and by 1850 it had become the country’s foremost flour-milling center. During the American Civil War (1861-1865) the city was an important railroad center on the northern supply route of the Union armies. Buffalo began to develop as an industrial city after a hydroelectric power plant was completed at Niagara Falls in the 1890s.

Grover Cleveland served as mayor of Buffalo from 1881 to 1883, instituting numerous reforms in the city’s administrative system. In 1883 he became governor of New York, and in the following year he was elected president of the United States. The Pan-American Exposition was held in Buffalo in 1901, intending to highlight unity and commerce among the peoples of North and South America. The exposition brought international recognition of Buffalo’s commercial and industrial importance, although it was marred by the assassination of President McKinley at a public reception during the event.

While the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 enhanced Buffalo’s position as a major port, traffic on the shipping route reduced the city’s importance as a rail center. Handicapped by aging industrial facilities, Buffalo’s economy stagnated during the 1970s and early 1980s. Its population dropped to little more than one-half of its peak of 580,000 in 1950. But in the 1990s the city’s economy stabilized. International trade and high-technology manufacturing emerged as viable replacements for former heavy industries.

Buffalo covers a land area of 105 sq km (41 sq mi), with a mean elevation of 178 m (583 ft). According to the 2000 census, whites are 54.4 percent of the population, blacks 37.2 percent, Asians 1.4 percent, and Native Americans 0.8 percent. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders represent less than 0.1 percent of the population. The remainder are of mixed heritage or did not report race. Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 7.5 percent of the people. Population 357,870 (1980); 328,123 (1990); 292,648 (2000); 279,745 (2005 estimate).