It is a well known fact that the City of Buffalo received its name from the creek of the same name, however, there are several unproven theories as to the origin of the name of the creek. Early French explorers reported the abundance of Buffalo on the south shore of Lake Erie but their presence on the banks of Buffalo Creek is still a matter of debate, so the origin of the name of the creek is still uncertain. Neither the Native American name ("Place of the Basswoods") or the French name ("River of Horses") survived so the current name likely dates to the British occupation which began with the capture of Fort Niagara in 1759. The first known appearance of the name was in 1764 in the Journal of British military engineer John Montressor who explored Buffalo Creek before choosing the site of Fort Erie on the opposite side of the Niagara River. Another claim is that the creek is named after a Native American, who once lived in that area. The argument that the name is an anglicized form of the name Beau Fleuve (beautiful river), which was supposedly an exclamation uttered by Louis Hennipin when he first saw the stream, is the least likely explanation.
Most of western New York was granted by Charles II of England to the Duke of York (later known as James II of England), but the first European settlement in what is now Erie County was by the French, at the mouth of Buffalo Creek in 1758. Its buildings were destroyed a year later by the evacuating French after the British captured Fort Niagara. The British took control of the entire region in 1763, at the conclusion of the French and Indian War.
The first permanent settlers in present day Buffalo were Cornelius Winney and "Black Joe" Hodges, who set up a log cabin store there in 1789 for trading with the Native American community. Dutch investors purchased the area as part of the Holland Land Purchase. Starting in 1801, parcels were sold through the Holland Land Company's office in Batavia, New York. The settlement was initially called Lake Erie, then Buffalo Creek, soon shortened to Buffalo. Holland Land Company agent Joseph Ellicott christened it New Amsterdam, but the name did not catch on. In 1808, Niagara County, New York was established with Buffalo as its county seat. Erie County, New York was formed out of Niagara County in 1821, retaining Buffalo as the county seat.
Joseph Ellicott, a principal agent of the Holland Land Company, designed in 1804 a radial street and grid system that branches out from downtown like bicycle spokes, and is one of only three radial street patterns in the US. In 1810 the Town of Buffalo was formed from the western part of the Town of Clarence. On December 30, 1813, during the War of 1812, British troops and their Native American allies captured first the village of Black Rock, and then the rest of Buffalo and burned most of both to the ground. Buffalo gradually rebuilt itself and by 1816 had a new courthouse. In 1818 the eastern part of the town was lost to form the Town of Amherst.
Upon the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, Buffalo became the western end of the 524-mile waterway starting at New York City. At the time, Buffalo had a population of about 2,400 people. With the increased commerce of the canal, the population boomed and Buffalo was incorporated as a city in 1832. In 1853, Buffalo annexed Black Rock, which had been Buffalo's fierce rival for the canal terminus. During the 19th century, thousands of pioneers going to the western United States debarked from canal boats to continue their journey out of Buffalo by lake or rail travel. During their stopover, many experienced the pleasures and dangers of Buffalo's notorious Canal Street district.
Buffalo was a terminus of the Underground Railroad, an informal series of safe houses for Africans escaping slavery in the mid-19th century. Buffalonians helped many fugitives cross the Niagara River to Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada and freedom.
At the turn of the century, Buffalo was a growing city with a burgeoning economy. Immigrants came from Ireland, Italy, Germany, and Poland to work in the steel and grain mills which had taken advantage of the city's critical location at the junction of the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal. Hydroelectric power harnessed from nearby Niagara Falls made Buffalo the first American city to have widespread electric lighting, yielding it yet another nickname, the "City of Lights." Electricity was used to dramatic effect at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901. The Pan-American was also notable for being the scene of the aforementioned assassination of President William McKinley.
The opening of the Peace Bridge linking Buffalo with Fort Erie, Ontario on 7 August 1927 was an occasion for significant celebrations. Those in attendance included Edward, Prince of Wales (later to become Edward VIII of the United Kingdom), his brother Prince Albert George (later George VI), British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Canada's Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, US Vice President Charles G. Dawes, and New York governor Alfred E. Smith.
Buffalo's City Hall, an Art Deco masterpiece, was dedicated on July 1, 1932. It was the city's tallest building until 1970.
The city's importance declined in the late 20th Century for several reasons, perhaps the most devastating being the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1957. Goods which had previously passed through Buffalo could now bypass it using a series of canals and locks, reaching the ocean via the St. Lawrence River. Another major toll was suburban migration, a national trend at the time. The city, which boasted over half a million people at its peak, has seen its population decline by some 50 percent, as industries shut down and people left the Rust Belt for the employment opportunities of the South and West. The county of Erie has lost population in every census year since 1970. The city also has the dubious distinction along with St. Louis of being one of the few American cities to have had fewer people in the year 2000 than in 1900.
There is a myth, propagated by a local newspaper following one of the Buffalo Bills' four straight Super Bowl losses in the 1990s, that Buffalo suffers from the "Curse of McKinley" -- that the city has been cursed by bad luck since President McKinley's 1901 assassination and this explains why the Sabres have never been able to win a league championship and Bills have only won championships in the old American Football League (1964 and 1965). This myth doesn't explain the city's booming economy in the earlier part of the 20th century and why teams in America's two other assassination-hosting cities, Washington, DC and Dallas, TX have both enjoyed major league championships.
As of the census of 2000,the city had a total population of 292,648. Erie and Niagara Counties have a combined population of 1,170,111 (2000).
At that time there were 292,648 people, 122,720 households, and 67,005 families residing in the city. The population density is 2,782.4/km² (7,205.8/mi²). There are 145,574 housing units at an average density of 1,384.1/km² (3,584.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 54.43% White, 37.23% African American, 0.77% Native American, 1.40% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.68% from other races, and 2.45% from two or more races. 7.54% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 122,720 households out of which 28.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.6% are married couples living together, 22.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 45.4% are non-families. 37.7% of all households are made up of individuals and 12.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.29 and the average family size is 3.07.
In the city the population included 26.3% under the age of 18, 11.3% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 88.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 83.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $24,536, and the median income for a family is $30,614. Males have a median income of $30,938 versus $23,982 for females. The per capita income for the city is $14,991. 26.6% of the population and 23.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 38.4% of those under the age of 18 and 14.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Buffalo has very sizable populations of Italian, Polish, Irish, German and African descent. Major ethnic neighborhoods still exist; the Irish-Americans in South Buffalo, African Americans in the East Side and at one time Italian-Americans were in the West Side of the city but now it has become a melting pot of all races, with Latino culture being the strongest influence.
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