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