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About New York
Buffalo,
New
York serves as the seat for Erie
County in Northern New York State. Known as the
“Queen City” by area residents, one local tradition says
Native American Indians named it for those who lived in a
place known as Buffalo
Creek. Another suggests that the French term “beau
fleuve” or “beautiful river”, the
Niagara River, inspired the name.
Noted for its hearty winters, Buffalo lies between the Great
Lakes of Ontario
and Erie.
In December of 2001, a six-day
storm dropped a record seven feet of snow on Buffalo.
It shares its climate with the bordering Canadian
neighbor, Ontario.
The 41 square miles that comprise the city of Buffalo contain
a housing density of 7205 people per square mile.
Buffalo, New York is found at latitude 42.886N, longitude
-78.878W in the northwest corner of New
York State.
Buffalo, NY has produced two US Presidents, Millard
Fillmore and Grover
Cleveland . When President
William McKinley visited the infamous Pan-American
Exposition here in 1901, he was shot. He died eight
days later. Theodore
Roosevelt subsequently became the 26th
president, with the ceremony conducted in a house on Delaware
Avenue in Buffalo.
Always an industrial town, Buffalo’s boom period began with
the completion of the Erie
Canal in 1825. In recent decades however, the area
suffered major
economic setbacks with the closing of steel plants.
That in turn helped fuel restructuring and downsizing of the auto
industry in the area, and the closing of several airplane
manufacturers and severe
outsourcing by others.
The estimated
population, in 2003, was 285,018. This proved a loss
of almost 10,000 residents since 2000, following a greater
than 10% decrease during the decade from 1990 to 2000.
The white population just peaks over the half way mark at 54%
over the mixture of non-white residents in this culturally and
economically homogenized city. A strong number of high
school graduates, 74.5%, create a solid labor pool for the
mostly manufacturing and service industry jobs in the Buffalo
area. Median household income for 1999 was $24,536 with
a per capita money income of $14,991. In that same year,
over one quarter of the city’s population (26.6%) fell below
the poverty line.
Buffalo, NY contains an effective but aging Metro
Bus and Rail system that carries about 94,000 passengers
daily in the Buffalo / Niagara
Area.
Buffalo, New York has served as the backdrop for a number of
Hollywood movies, including "Bruce Almighty",
"Canadian Bacon", "Hide in Plain Sight"
and ”The Natural". Buffalo is the birthplace of
the original “Buffalo Wing” and the lesser-known delicacy
of the “Wreck”, a roast beef sandwich on a salted roll.
The internationally recognized Buffalo
Philharmonic Orchestra calls Buffalo home, as does the Pop
Rock group “The Go-Go Dolls”. There are a number of
cultural venues within or slightly outside the city.
Within ten miles of downtown Buffalo, NY are the Albright-Knox
Art Gallery, Buffalo
and Erie County Historical Society, The
Buffalo Museum of Science, Burchfield-Penney
Art Center, and on the lighter side, The
Pedaling History Bicycle Museum.
The thought of Buffalo, New York goes hand in hand with
its popular neighbor and well-known destination of Niagara
Falls, which lies just a few miles to the north. The
many parks
and wildlife areas that populate the more rural sections
of Erie and Niagara Counties provide a starkly different
experience from the urban environment of the city of Buffalo.
Buffalo is a proud and struggling working class town with a
hi-tech industrial presence, surrounded by a balanced mix of
classic culture and old world charm. |
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