Timeline of Buffalo, New York

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Buffalo, New York, United States.

Prior to 18th century

1620 - Erie Nation occupies area
1651 - Seneca Nation destroys Erie Nation
1679 - La Salle built Fort Conti and launched Le Griffon.
1687 - Marquis de Denonville built Fort Denonville at the mouth of the river.

18th century

1784 - Area known as the Buffalo Creek region.
1793 - Holland Land Purchase is completed

19th century

1800s-1860s

1801 - Buffalo is founded by Joseph Ellicott.
1810 - Population: 1,508.
1811 - Buffalo Gazette newspaper begins publication.
1813 - December 30: Battle of Buffalo fought during the War of 1812.
1816 - Village incorporated in Niagara County.
1818 - Walk-in-the-Water Great Lakes passenger steamboat begins operating. It was named after Walk-in-the-Water a Huron chief.
1820 - Population: 2,095.
1821 - Buffalo designated seat of newly created Erie County.
1825 - Erie Canal opens.
1830 - Population: 8,668.
1832
* City of Buffalo incorporated.
* Ebenezer Johnson served as the first Mayor.
1833 - Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway established.
1834 - Cholera.
1835 - November 11: "Cyclone" occurs.
1836
* Young Men's Association active.
* Buffalo Library organized.
1840 - Population: 18,213.
1842 - Joseph Dart invented the Dart's Elevator, a steam-powered grain elevator.
1844 - A seiche on Lake Erie sends a surge of water onshore, killing 78 people.
1846 - University of Buffalo and its Medical School established.
1847 - Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo established.
1848 - June: 1848 Free Soil Party national convention held in Buffalo; Martin Van Buren nominated as U.S. presidential candidate.
1849 - Forest Lawn Cemetery established.
1850 - Population: 42,261.
1851
* St. Paul's Cathedral built.
* Buffalo Seminary founded.
1852 - Metropolitan Theatre is built and opens.
1853 - New York Central Railroad in operation.
1854 - YMCA U.S. branch organized in Buffalo.
1856
* Chippewa Market opens.
* Manufacturers and Traders Bank in business.
1858 - Broadway Arsenal opened.
1860 - Population: 81,129.
1861
* Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences founded.
* St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute founded.
1862 - Buffalo Historical Society formed.
1863 - St. Joseph Cathedral consecrated.
1868 - Metropolitan Theatre is renovated and re-opens as the Academy of Music

1870s-1890s

1870
* Richardson Olmsted Complex built.
* Roman Catholic Canisius College founded.
* Population: 117,714.
1871 - Buffalo Normal School founded, became "State Normal and Training School"
1873
* Church of St. Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr established.
* International Railway Bridge to Canada opens.
* Buffalo Sunday Morning News begins publication.
1874 - "The number of ships built at Buffalo was thirty-seven."
1875
* County and City Hall constructed.
* Population: 134,238.
1876
* Delaware Park–Front Park System developed.
* Delaware Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church built.
1880 - Population: 155,134.
1881 - Architect Louise Blanchard Bethune in business.
1882 - Grover Cleveland becomes mayor.
1886
* Westinghouse AC electrical power station begins operating.
* University of Buffalo School of Pharmacy established.
1887
*University at Buffalo Law School established.
*The Buffalo Orchestral Association, Buffalo's first professional orchestra, was founded with John Lund as its conductor.
1890 - Population: 255,664.
1892 - University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine established.
1893
* Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad in operation.
* Former mayor Grover Cleveland becomes U.S. president.
1894 - Twentieth Century Club founded.
1896 - Ellicott Square Building completed.
1899 - Labor strike of grain workers.
1900
* Manufacture of Thomas Auto-Bi motorcycle begins.
* Population: 352,387.

20th century

1901
* May 1: Pan-American Exposition opens in Delaware Park.
* September 6: Assassination of William McKinley, U.S. president.
* September 14: Inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt as U.S. president.
* September 23–24: Trial of assassin Leon Czolgosz held.
1902 - YMCA Central Building built.
1905 - Albright Art Gallery opens.
1908
* D'Youville College founded.
* Hotel Statler in business.
1910 - Population: 423,715.
1914 - Art Theater in business.
1917 - December 9: Snowstorm.
1919
* The new Erie Canal was rebuilt as a barge canal.
* Rivoli Theatre in business.
1920
* University at Buffalo raised an endowment of $5m. by popular subscription.
* Population: 506,775.
1921 - Loew's State Theatre in business.
1922 - WGR radio begins broadcasting.
1922 - McVan's nightclub, a popular music venue in the city, opens. Over the years it hosted some of the biggest names in music including Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Tatum and Jimi Hendrix.
1923 - On February 24, Phi Omega chapter of the National Omega Psi Phi fraternity was chartered at University of New York at Buffalo as first African American Greek-Lettered Fraternity established in western New York.
1924
* DuPont cellophane manufactory begins operating.
* WEBR radio begins broadcasting.
1926
* Buffalo Courier-Express newspaper in publication.
* Buffalo Niagara International Airport, then known as "Buffalo Municipal Airport", opens in nearby Cheektowaga
* Shea's Performing Arts Center opens.
1927 - Peace Bridge to Canada opens.
1929 - Buffalo Museum of Science and Buffalo Central Terminal open to public.
1932 - Buffalo City Hall built.
1936 - Coin-operated Launder-Ur-Own laundromat in business.
1940 - Buffalo Memorial Auditorium opened
1948 - WBEN-TV begins broadcasting.
1950 - Population: 580,132.
1953 - New zoning laws include parking minimums, these new zoning laws are a factor in the decline of Buffalo over the following decades.
1954 - WGR-TV begins broadcasting.
1960 - Buffalo Bills Football Inaugural Season. Team is second professional team with the name and the third professional football franchise in the city.
1966
* January: Blizzard.
* Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site established.
1967 - Race riot occurs in East Buffalo as part of Long, hot summer of 1967
1970
* Buffalo Sabres Hockey Inaugural Season
* Buffalo Braves Basketball Inaugural Season. Team plays 8 seasons in Buffalo before relocating to San Diego and later Los Angeles to become the Los Angeles Clippers
1971
* February 22: Blizzard.
* Erie Community College Buffalo campus established.
1977 - January: Blizzard of '77.
1979
* Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park established.
* Amtrak closes Buffalo Central Terminal, redirecting passenger rail service to the Exchange Street and Depew stations
1983 -
* a propane explosion, resulting in 6 fatalities and widespread destruction, including leveling most of the local city block.
1984 -
*Buffalo Metro Rail begins service
*Republic Steel shutters South Buffalo mill
*McVan's nightclub closes
1988 - Sahlen Field opens, replacing War Memorial Stadium
1989 - Western New York Documentary Heritage Program headquartered in Buffalo.
1990 - Population: 328,123.
1996
*KeyBank Center opens, replacing the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
*City website online.

21st century

2000 - Population: 292,648
2001
* Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus established
* December: Snowstorm.
2005
* Byron Brown becomes mayor.
* Brian Higgins becomes U.S. representative for New York's 27th congressional district.
2006 - October 13: Lake Storm "Aphid"
2008 - Canalside, then named Erie Canal Harbor, reopens to public after early phase of redevelopment work.
2010 - Population: 261,310.
2014 - November 17–20: "Snowvember" snowstorm.
2017
*Minimum parking requirements were eliminated citywide in order to revitalize the city after decades of decline.
*Tesla, Inc. opens Giga New York solar panel factory on old Republic Steel site
2020
* Population: 278,349, Buffalo finally gains population again after 70 years.
* Buffalo police shoving incident occurs as part of George Floyd protests
2022
* May 14: 2022 Buffalo shooting: 10 are killed and 3 injured in a racially motivated attack at a Tops Friendy Supermarkets store. It is the deadliest shooting in the city's history.
* December 23–27: A snowstorm kills 41 people, becoming the deadliest snowstorm in the city's history.
2023
* Mayor Byron Brown begins his 5th term, becoming the longest-serving mayor of Buffalo.
* A magnitude 3.8 earthquake affects the Buffalo area in February.
2025
* Sean Ryan is elected mayor of Buffalo