Buffalo

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, the county capital of Erie County, is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York after New York City. It is located in Western New York, on the Canadian border between the United States and Canada, near the head of the Niagara River and the eastern end of Lake Erie. Buffalo, the 78th-largest city in the United States, with 278,349 residents as of the 2020 census. The two-county Buffalo-Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which includes Buffalo and Niagara Falls, had a projected population of 1.1 million in 2020, ranking it as the 49th largest MSA in the country.

The Paleo-Indians, who were nomadic and lived in the area before the 17th century, were replaced by the Neutral, Erie, and Iroquois peoples. The French started looking into the area around the beginning of the 17th century. A tiny settlement was built at the headwaters of Buffalo Creek in the 18th century when Iroquois property surrounding it was ceded as part of the Holland Land Purchase. Buffalo was chosen as the Erie Canal's terminal in 1825 when its harbor was rebuilt, which led to the city's incorporation in 1832.

Its development as the main inland port between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean was aided by the canal. Buffalo was at that time the greatest grain port in the world due to transshipment. The city became the second-largest railway hub when the advent of railroads significantly decreased the importance of the canal (after Chicago). Buffalo made the switch to manufacturing in the middle of the 19th century, which was eventually dominated by the manufacture of steel. Later, the city's economy began to deteriorate and diversify as a result of deindustrialization and the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway. While keeping some manufacturing, it developed its service industries, including health care, retail, tourism, logistics, and education. The Buffalo-Niagara Falls MSA's gross domestic product in 2019 was $53 billion.

The oldest urban park system in the country, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Shea's Performing Arts Center, the Buffalo Museum of Science, and various yearly festivals are among the city's cultural attractions. The University at Buffalo, Buffalo State College, Canisius College, D'Youville University, and Medaille College are some of its educational institutions. Buffalo is also well-known for its cold winters, Buffalo wings, and its two major-league sports teams, the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League and the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League.

Topography

Buffalo is located across from Fort Erie, Ontario, at the eastern extremity of Lake Erie. It is at the mouth of the Niagara River, which empties into Lake Ontario from the north after passing through Niagara Falls.

The Erie/Ontario Lake Plain of the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands, a slender plain running east to Utica, New York, is where the Buffalo metropolitan region is located.

With the exception of the areas of University Heights and Fruit Belt, the city is mostly level.

The Southtowns are hillier and connect to the Appalachian Upland's Cattaraugus Hills.

Buffalo and its surroundings have many different types of shale, limestone, and lagerstätten along their stream bottoms.

With an average annual snowfall of 95 inches, Buffalo is among the top five snowiest major cities in the nation, according to Fox Weather.

Buffalo is located in the Southern Great Lakes Seismic Zone, despite the absence of recent or severe earthquakes in the city (part of the Great Lakes tectonic zone).

The Niagara River, Buffalo River (and Creek), Scajaquada Creek, and the Black Rock Canal, which is close to the Niagara River, are the four rivers that flow through Buffalo. Over 70,000 trees are listed in the city's Bureau of Forestry's database.

Buffalo has a total area of 52.5 sq mi (136 km2), of which 40.38 sq mi (104.6 km2) is land and the remaining is water, according to the United States Census Bureau.

Water makes up 22.66 percent of the city's total area. Its population density in 2010 was 6,470.6 people per square mile.

Cityscape

Buffalo has a wide variety of structures from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Louis Sullivan's Guaranty Building, a pioneering skyscraper, the Ellicott Square Building, once one of the largest of its kind in the world, the Art Deco Buffalo City Hall, the McKinley Monument, and the Electric Tower are just a few of the downtown Buffalo icons. Beyond downtown, the Richardson Olmsted Complex, erected in 1881, served as an insane asylum until it was shut down in the 1970s. The Buffalo Central Terminal was constructed near the Broadway-Fillmore district in 1929. The city's tallest skyscraper, Seneca One Tower, and the Brutalist Buffalo City Court Building were both products of urban redevelopment that took place from the 1950s to the 1970s. Frank Lloyd Wright created the Darwin D. Martin House in the city's Parkside district in the Prairie School architectural movement. Real estate entrepreneur Douglas Jemal has been buying up and renovating landmark buildings all across Washington, DC, since 2016.

Climate

The climate in Buffalo is humid continental (Köppen: Dfb/Dfa), and it has warmed along with the rest of the US. Buffalo winters are characterized by lake-effect snow, with snow bands that, depending on the direction of the wind from Lake Erie, produce significant snowfall in the city and its surroundings. Buffalo, though, isn't always the state's snowiest metropolis. The Blizzard of 1977 was caused by a confluence of strong winds, snow accumulation on land, and a frozen Lake Erie. Snow usually doesn't affect how the city runs, but in the fall, it can do a lot of harm (as the October 2006 storm did). The area saw a record-breaking storm in November 2014 (also known as "Snowvember") that dumped over 5+12 feet (66 in; 170 cm) of snow. Buffalo twice saw a low of 20 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius), on February 9th, 1934, and February second, 1961.

Despite having summers that are brighter and drier than those of other Northeastern American cities, the city's vegetation nevertheless receives enough precipitation to stay hydrated. The city benefits from cool, southwestern Lake Erie summer breezes that mitigate warmer temperatures. Buffalo summers are known for their ample sunshine, moderate humidity, and temperatures. The average annual increase in temperature is three times, or 90 °F (32.2 °C). A maximum temperature of 99 °F (37 °C) was recorded on August 27, 1948, and no official record of 100 °F (37.8 °C) or higher has been made to date. In July, storm development is hampered by a moderate amount of rain that normally falls at night and cooler lake temperatures. August frequently has more rain and humidity since the warmer lake is no longer able to regulate the temperature.

Economy

Buffalo's economic expansion was sparked by the Erie Canal, which served as a transshipment point for grains and other agricultural products traveling from the Midwest to the east. Later, the city's economy centered on the manufacture of steel and automotive components. When major industries in the area began to shrink, Buffalo's economy shifted to one that was service-based. Health care, business services (such as banking, accountancy, and insurance), retail, tourism, and logistics are some of its key industries, particularly with Canada. Despite the absence of large-scale production, some metal, chemical, machinery, food, and electronics manufacture still takes place in the area. With a focus on automation and research and development (R&D), advanced manufacturing has grown.

The Buffalo-Niagara Falls MSA's gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to be $53 billion in 2019.

Public, nonprofit, hospital, and educational organizations are a major employer in the Buffalo area in the civic sector. With nearly 19,000 workers, New York State is the major employer in the area. Top employers in the private sector include the hospital networks Kaleida Health and Catholic Health as well as M&T Bank, the only Fortune 500 business with a local headquarters. For many years, the majority have been the main employers in the area. Rich Products, Delaware North, and New Era Cap Company have their corporate headquarters in Buffalo; Moog Inc., a maker of aerospace products, has its headquarters in nearby East Aurora.

Buffalo fared better than other American cities during the Great Recession of 2006–2009, as seen by rising housing values at this time. Early in the 2010s, the region's economy started to strengthen, and between 2009 to 2017, more than 25,000 employments were created. The Giga New York factory for Tesla, Inc. launched in South Buffalo in 2017 thanks to state funding. However, the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts in the US caused the local unemployment rate to rise to 7.5 percent by the end of 2020. In comparison to the national average of 3.5 percent, the local unemployment rate in 2019 was higher at 4.2 percent.

The pay gap in the Buffalo region is greater than the national average. In 2017, the average wage ($43,580) was 6% lower than the national average, and as occupational specialization rose, the pay difference increased to 10%. In comparison to other locations, workforce productivity is higher and turnover is lower.

Sports

The Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League and the Buffalo Bills are the city's two main professional sports clubs (National Football League). The Bills, one of the original teams in the American Football League, moved from War Memorial Stadium to Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park in 1973. The only NFL team with a New York State basis is this one. The Bills won the American Football League Championship in 1964 and 1965 before the Super Bowl era. The Bills, who have had varying degrees of success throughout their history, narrowly lost in Super Bowl XXV and made it back-to-back Super Bowls following the 1991, 1992, and 1993 campaigns (losing each time). The Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League share KeyBank Center with the Sabres, an expansion team founded in 1970. Of the three main league clubs in the city, The Bandits have won the most titles with four. Pegula Sports and Entertainment is the owner of the Bills, Sabres, and Bandits.

The Buffalo Bulls and the Canisius Golden Griffins are intercollegiate sports teams from a number of local colleges and universities that play in NCAA Division I. The Golden Griffins field 15 teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), with the men's hockey team a member of the Atlantic Hockey Association, while the Bulls field 16 varsity programs in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) (AHA). The Football Bowl Subdivision, the top tier of college football, is where the Bulls compete. The Buffalo Bisons (Triple-A baseball franchise), which competes at Sahlen Field, and the Buffalo Beauts (National Women's Hockey League) are two of Buffalo's minor league teams.

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