See Erie Basin for the area of the canal by the Buffalo River.
Over the decades, I've read several times that Buffalo was the western terminus of the Erie Canal. For example, that is why it has so many grain elevators. In the 1800s, grain was transferred from lake freighters to canal boats in Buffalo. In fact, some sources say the grain elevator was invented in Buffalo to accommodate this trade. But recently I noticed that the canal terminates at the Niagara River on the north side of Tonawanda. But this engraving shows that it did go to the heart of Buffalo. In fact, it "made" Buffalo.
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| Erie Canal Museum posted The Erie Canal's western terminus in Buffalo. In the foreground of this image, engraved around 1855, you can see the Commercial Slip, where the Erie Canal met the Buffalo River just before it entered Lake Erie. As you can see this area was a bustling commercial center from which the City of Buffalo expanded out from, reaching a population of over 42,000 people by the time this engraving was made and eventually growing to the 8th largest city in the United States by 1900. [The description continues about the negative impact of the canal on the native Americans and local talks by the museum.] Derrick Pratt shared Interesting image of Buffalo and discussion of its history. Looking forward to learning more during the mentioned events. Brent Beyer shared Nice large image to look at the details too... |
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| Gene Thompson posted Foot of Washington St. in 1900, showing Buffalo Creek & Grain Elevators (full, uncropped image - zoom in to see the details!) Source: LoC (my restoration) Jim Myers shared |
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| John Occhipinti commented on Gene's post That is a great photo... the map I attach here will allow you to see the names of the some of the structures. I believe that is a coal yard of Donnely & Dunham in the foreground along the tracks... the Linseed Co. elevator is to the left....the Wilkenson and Wells elevators across the water to the right.. the Frontier Engine works to the far right... the D.L&W depot and Lackawanna docks to the left across the water. On the right (east) side of Washington, you can see the James M. Merritt company (a whiskey distillery). The "birds-eye" map is hand-drawn and a bit off it seems based on the photo, which is from the same time. |
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| Gene commented on his post Same approximate view today... |
These topos show the canal was built south of Tonawanda along the Niagara River. Although it is not near as wide as the canal that goes East from Tonawanda.
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| 1894 Buffalo and 1897 Tonawanda Quads @ 62,500 |
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| Digitally Zoomed |
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| Bill Hecht posted From Canal Society of NY collection. Chris Hawley: 1840s. Great perspective on the Hydraulic Canal on the upper right. |
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| Gene Thompson posted More Canalside content... here's an aerial shot from the 1930s – with labels added by me. At this point, a whole lotta landmarks had already been eliminated... including Mansion House of the corner of Main & Exchange Sts. Jim Myers shared |
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| Gene Thompson commented on his post Put together an 1891 map (in the same perspective) of this area... the main thing missing is the Lehigh Valley Terminal, which hadn't been built yet. |
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| Gene Thompson commented on his post Here's the same view today... |
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| Gene Thompson posted Here's an 1875(!) birdseye view of the foot of Charles St., the Erie Canal and the Marina – all restoration & labels added by me. Source: B&ECPL and Google Earth. [Someplace I saw a comment that I-190 was built on the Erie Canal bed, but later I could not find that comment.]Jim Myers shared John Michalski: At this time the New York Central had its main depot near Fillmore and William for the Water level route. The depot pictured was for the trains coming down the Niagara Branch. The Central did not cross Main St at this time. Public opposition to the East Buffalo depot would lead to an agreement where the Central would relocate its main depot downtown on Exchange in return for the rights to cross Main St. That right of way is still used by Amtrak for its Exchange St. station and going up to Niagara Falls NY. |
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| Gene posted [3D Satellite] |
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| Gene commented on his post An 1872 map of the same area... |
The (abandoned) canal is along the left side of this photo, and the Peace Bridge is in the upper-left corner.
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| Bartel Miller posted An aerial view of downtown in 1932! Jim Myers shared |
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