Buffalo Booms1825 - 1901

Wedding of the Waters

1830s: Rapid Growth 1830 city population: 8,668

1832: City incorporated

1833: Buffalo Lighthouse built

1834: 80,000 people pass through Buffalo heading west

1838: Army establishes Poinsett Barracks

1840 city population: 18,213

1842: Joseph Dart

Millard Fillmore Born 1800

Moved to Buffalo, 1830

UB Chancellor, 1846

Elected VP under Zachary Taylor, 1848

President, 1850-1852

First president, Buffalo Historical Society

First president, Buffalo Club

Died 1874

St. Paul’s CathedralCongregation established 1817

1849: Current building builtDesigned by Richard Upjohn

Upjohn: Trinity Church, 1846

Gothic Revival

1888: Fire destroys interior; redone by Charles Gibson

Significance: First major example of a nationally significant architect being brought to Buffalo for a major commission

Bishop Timon & St. Joseph’s Cathedral

Central Wharf, 1850s

Buffalo, 1853

Canal District

William G. Fargo1818-1881

1844: Express line to Cleveland

1851: Express to Pacific, Wells Fargo formed

Mayor 1862-63 & 1864-65

American Express

Anthony Trollope, North America, 1862“I began to know what it was for a country to overflow with milk and honey, to burst with its own fruits, and to be smothered by its own riches.”

Railroads

Forest Lawn Cemetery

1868: Frederick Law Olmsted

Olmsted Parks & Parkways• Delaware Park

• Front Park

• Martin Luther King Park

• Cazenovia Park

• South Park

• Riverside Park

Henry Hobson Richardson

Buffalo, circa 1875

1869-1871: Samuel Clemens in BuffaloManaging Editor, Buffalo Express

Lives at 472 Delaware Avenue, wedding gift from father-in-law

Learn more: Scribblin’ for a Livin’: Mark Twain’s Pivotal Years in Buffalo, by Tom Reigstad

1873: St. Stanislaus Parish Joseph Bork

Present Building: 1882-1886

Mother Church of Polonia:1887 – St. Adalbert’s

1890 – St. John Kanty

1893 – Transfiguration

1898 – Corpus Christi

1908 – St. Luke’s

1913 – Queen of the Most Holy Rosary

Breweries

1875: Larkin Soap Co. Formed

1883: Belt Line Railroad

1889: Elmwood Avenue Streetcar Line

Grover Cleveland1837-1908

1855: arrives in Buffalo

1870: Erie County Sheriff

1882-1883: Mayor of Buffalo

1883-1885: NY Governor

1885-1889: 22nd President

1886: Marries Frances Folsom

1893-1897: 24th President

1893: Elbert Hubbard leaves Larkin

Eastern Elevator – 1895-1900

Perils of Wood Grain Elevators

Great Northern Elevator

Great Northern Elevator

Electric Elevator, 1897

Saloon Boss System

Dock Strike of 1899

Downtown Emerges

1892: Market Arcade

1892: Dun Building

1896: Ellicott Square Building

1896: Guaranty Building

1901: Buffalo Savings Bank

Green & Wicks Edward Brodhead Green: 1855-1950

William Sydney Wicks: 1854-1919

1897: First Presbyterian ChurchOldest congregation in Buffalo (1812)

Moves to “The Circle” in 1891

Green & Wicks

Richardsonian Romanesque

Tower completed, 1897

Louise Bethune

1884: Metcalfe House

1895: Williams Mansions

1889 – 1895: Delaware Midway

July 4, 1899

Lackawanna Steel

Lackawanna Steel

1900 in Buffalo Population: 352,000

◦ Eighth largest in America

60 millionaires live in Buffalo◦ Most per capita of any city in America

200 miles of paved asphalt roads – most in America

Second largest railroad terminus in America◦ First was Chicago

Largest grain port in the world; 2nd largest milling city

The Pan-American ExpositionBUFFALO ON DISPLAY TO THE WORLD

Pan-American Exposition

City of Light

Larkin at Pan-American

At this time, the Larkin Company has approximately $30 million in annual revenue

Pan-American Exposition Put Buffalo on grand display for over 8 million visitors