Today, Buffalo consistently ranks in the top 100 most-populated cities in America. However, if it wasn't for a violent rain storm and some courageous local citizens, the Village of Buffalo may never have become the modern city Americans now know it to be.

The story goes that local officials were having trouble attracting people, and therefore business and money, to their potentially budding hometown. The Erie Canal was under construction, but tides, competing towns and an ever-changing sandbar made Buffalo a highly dangerous docking place for ships in the area.

A $12,000 loan and support from many private citizens set forth a plan to relocate the sandbar 60 rods south so that a safe harbor could be put in place. However, due to tides and other forces of nature, the sandbar was constantly rebuilding itself. The project was drawing to a close when a violent storm threatened to undo everything. Project creator Samuel Wilkeson rallied the villagers, and in a large community effort, they worked tirelessly to redirect the rushing waters of the swollen Buffalo Creek and use it to their advantage. The now misdirected water carried the pounds of sand and dirt from the earth into the lake, and Buffalo Harbor was born.

The village of Buffalo started to come into its own in the mid-1800s when it received money for damages done during the war of 1812 and when the Erie Canal was completed. The Canal brought traffic, and because of its newfound easy navigation, it became what many considered to be the watery gateway to the West. It was around this time that Buffalo became the largest grain-trading port in the entire world. By 1832, Buffalo had banks, many businesses, newly built expansive housing and a growing brewery district which would flourish until the 1970s.

The city of Buffalo was officially chartered in 1832. The 1830s was an important decade for Buffalo, with publication of the first daily newspaper, the running of the first rail line and the opening of the first public school and bank. The population in 1830 nearly doubled by 1840. The end of the 1830s saw the Holland Land Company -- the original investors in the area -- take their profit and leave.

Even though Buffalo was on track in the 1830s, the economic struggle facing the rest of the country eventually caught up with the booming canal shipping town. Though this caused business to slow somewhat, the 1840s did bring many new features to Buffalo, including the first railroad east, first university, first hospital, first automated grain elevator, first Roman Catholic bishop, first wave of immigrants not of German or Irish descent and first mayoral election.

By 1845, a person could board a train from New York City to Buffalo and then take a boat to Chicago. The entire trip from the Eastern seaboard to the Windy City would end up lasting a mere five days. Between the ballroom dancing aboard the cruise liners and the new and improved travel time, the trip to Chicago was a holiday in and of itself. Just a decade later, however, the rapid growth of the railroad system quickly slowed the popularity of canal boat travel.

Businessmen recognized this cultural change from boat to train, and shifted their focus back to the shipping trade, which had originally put Buffalo on the map. The area's local officials began marketing the city as a tourist destination, especially touting the attractions of Niagara Falls. Also, Buffalo's livestock trade, among other industries, continued its success on the canal.

The 20th century saw Buffalo through a series of changes and some hard times. Two main factors accounted for the trouble the city faced. The first was the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which allowed shippers to skip Buffalo on a faster route. The second factor was the suburban migration trend during the mid-1900s. Buffalo is one of the few cities in the United States that actually had a larger population in 1900 than it did in the year 2000.

The worst came in 2003 when Buffalo formed a "hard control board" that froze city employees' salaries and was in charge of approving major city expenses. Things began to look up in 2005, however, when the board's governing title was changed to a "soft approval board," now acting only in an advisory role. And from that point on, Buffalo has been a thriving metropolis that would serve as an ideal location to receive a college education.

Buffalo History Facts at a Glance

• Much of city founder Joseph Ellicott's planning has lasted to this day. The main pattern of the streets from Niagara Square still makes up most of the city's main thoroughfares.
• Ellicott's 1804 survey is the oldest known map of what would become current-day Buffalo.
• During the war of 1812, all but two of the buildings in Buffalo were burned to the ground.
• At the start of the 1900s, the city of Buffalo was the eighth-most-populated city in America, according to a government census.
• Buffalo's nearest competitor for the Erie Canal's most westward station was the village of Black Rock. Had it not been for hard work and some luck, the city's NFL franchise might be known today as the Black Rock Bills. Buffalo has since incorporated the whole area into the city, however.
• In 1832, Buffalo began a large water works project to replace "Water John." "Water John" had become a local institution, having made a living carrying potable water around town by horse and cart in the village's early years.
• The city's original charter from 1832 banned things ranging from "the operation of houses of ill-repute" to bowling. The bowling ban was later lifted.
• The area now known as Buffalo was originally developed by the Holland Land Company. They spent close to $600,000 investing over 45 years. By the end of the 1830s, the company packed up and left the area with close to $1.4 million dollars in profit.
• In September 1945, thousands of calls flooded in to local officials and governmental organizations from frightened citizens. The city had suffered a severe earthquake, yet citizens and scientists were baffled. Initially, panicked callers feared the city was being fire-bombed. Scientists later determined that a freak phenomenon of underground developments had caused an unsettling earthquake.
• After gaining control of the hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls, Buffalo became the first U.S. city to have widespread electricity. This earned Buffalo the famous nickname the "City of Light."
• Buffalo was once known as the "Queen City," because of its place as the second largest city in New York State.
• Buffalo also went by the moniker the "Nickel City," because of the picture of a bison on a Nickel in the 1920s. The city of Buffalo has also been known as "the city of good neighbors."
• The NAACP was founded and held its first conference in Buffalo in 1905.
• In 2005 Buffalo elected as its mayor Byron Brown, the first African American to hold that job in the city's history.
• The Anchor Bar is the legendary and supposed birthplace of the hot but oh-so-tasty Buffalo Wing.
• Jell-O was created in the Buffalo area.
• Buffalo was the first city to have a park system connected by parkways. It was designed by world-famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park in New York City.
• The Erie Basin Marina in Buffalo was designed and constructed in the shape of a Bison. The structure can be seen from the marina's observation tower.
• Buffalo's Kleinhans Music Hall is considered by many to be one of the few buildings in the world with perfect acoustics.
• Frank Lloyd Wright designed five beautiful homes in Buffalo - more than he did in any other city in the country.

Sources:
(http://www.buffalonet.org/)

(http://www.census.gov/population/documentation/twps0027/tab01.txt)

(http://www.buffalonian.com/history/index.html)

(http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/Home)

(http://www.visitbuffaloniagara.com/media_kit_9.html)