Cable partners we will explore the history of the city of just over 250,000 residents. The zero short of lake erie and the niagara river, it was the western terminus of the area canal. A thriving commercial and industrial metropolis. Coming up we will explore some of the close president ial history as we look at grover here as mayor. In the assassination of William Mckinley. Will the site where theater roosevelt was sworn into office after mckinleys death. We are in the library of the wilcox home. It is not a big room but it was filled with approximately 50 people. He stood in the middle of the room. There is no photographic representation of the actual aringin swear morning ceremony. Camera on that time were on tripods. They were very awkward. Unfortunately one of the cameras was knocked into, fell to the ground, roosevelt being nervous about all of this basically asked the reporters and photographers to leave. Later we will you about the buffalo Civil Rights Movement is the homee of reverend nash. He was a person who could read and write. A lot of the members of the community could not read or write. Spoke to different languages. Spokespersone the for all of the other ministers. There were very few black churches here in western new york at the time. We begin with a trip to silent city and talk about Grain Elevators. Silo city and talk about Grain Elevators. Brad hahn right now we are at silos city. This is a collection of Grain Elevators else at the bend of the buffalo river. By a they are all owned Metals Company on ohio street. Besides being regenerated for many different purposes, for arts, for music, for history to urs, therapeutical productions out here, opera, poetry reading, all different uses for the silo. The hearing canal opened in 1825 to the idea goes back before , and was a way to connect the great lakes and american midwest with the Atlantic Ocean. Anyone whoe canal , it would take about six weeks to get from ohio to new york city. So going back even to the 1700s, people said there has to be a way to connect these two parts of the country. George washington proposed building a canal through the Virginia Area on the potomac river, and the success the unsuccessful in completing it. Everybody ought he had lost his nobles eldest canal assembly lost his thought had marbles as it would cost 7 million to build. It was hundred 73 miles longer across new york state. People do not the rebuilding canal that links links. The canal structure and started in 1870 and without coordinate and without in each direction. Governor clinton started here in lakelo, took a barrel of erie water, and went down to the hardware and imported into the site saltwater the Atlantic Ocean symbolizing it was united. We have americas first superhighway of sorts. Travel from the interior of the country to the atlantic coast. Buffalo was basically a big toll right on the new superhighway. Prior to the erie canal, it was a little outpost, a little dirt road with a couple hundred settlers. In 1813 the british crossed the river during the war of 1812 and burned the village to the groundbreaking they started to rebuild after that. There was competition between the village of buffalo and the village of blackrock about three miles up the river. The village of buffalo did not have a great natural harbor like you see today. Veryiver entering out with sluggish and had a big sandbar. Toy had to create a harbor and determine its here at buffalo instead of lack rock. They got together, raise the money to do that, and once new york state saw buffalo had created a harbor they brought the canal here and that allowed bloom and overcome blackrock. The canal is buffalos reason to be as a city with the arrival of the urine canal. If boomed and prospered as a interest, commerce and industry. All of the ships could come into buffalo but not go any further on the canal because the andinal canal was more easy wide and four vd. Sailing ships would not be able to travel of the canal. It would be transferred to barges to continue the journey further east and buys first set and vice versa. Grain into buffalo we saw in large quantities coming here, the trouble started in the late 1820s and really mushroomed by the 1840s. Have green moving through buffalo that leaves to the emergence of flour milling, mulching, surreal making another Industries Like that. This is where buffalo gives as well from his all of these Raw Materials passing through. Of the great impact through buffalos harbor on the sailing ships would have been on the loaded by hand. The dockworkers commitment of them were irish, scoop out a basket of grain, carry it out, emptied into a warehouse or a canal barge, repeat this process over and over again. It was very manually intensive. We go from thousands of bushels of grain in the 1820s, and by the early 1840s they are moving billions of bushels of grain to the harbor by hand through the canal. They think of a better way to do this, as event our first great elevator which is simply a vertical Conveyor Belt with buckets on a powered by steam that would lower into the hold of the ship, scoop of those buckets of grain, carried them out in a continuous cycle and revolutionized the process is that of some that buffalo could move that were great through the city. The first great although learned that Grain Elevator belt was a wooden structure which we will not see any of buffalo anymore because most of them burned down. They were highly flammable. You had grain dust in large quantities. A lot of sparks from the steam engine. A wooden structure, basically a big tinderbox. The wooden Grain Elevators burned down very quickly. Engineers that were working on different needs of construction, and little experiment with terracotta silos that are here in buffalo. Breck, and steel, but concrete was the solution for the problem of the Grain Elevators burning down. That is what we see all around us now. Companies silos this was the real engineering achievement, particularly the ones right behind me into thousands 1906 being the first continuous slot for. They built the forms out of this out of woods, and then continuously poured new layers of concrete while raising up on screw jacks ought six inches per hour. It was built at about 10 days. Basement we are in the of the elevators. This is where the grain would come down from the silos of above the silos are about hundred feet over our heads. The great would be stored there and when they wanted to take it out it would come through that funnel behind me and about the hopper and there was a Conveyor Belt building along the ground level. It would corralled in which would carry it down to the work has worked with the moved over to the malt houses. They were taking the barley, turning it into molten shipping youtuber resigned her either in buffalo or elsewhere around the east coast. The technology has not changed all that much from what was invented in 1842, either than just getting much larger over time. The original elevator was pretty small compared to what we see today. This structure would have held about one million bushels of grain, and it is one of the smallest standing along the river. The elevators themselves did not employ a lot of people as many people think they did. Many people think there might the hundreds working here. In general the Grain Elevators would have 25 to 30 people working in them. It is a mechanical process committed they turn those comparables on, let them run, and there was not a lot of manual and labor involved. Where you had a lot more workers were on the docks, particularly the scoopers who were the workers who would go into hold then get come down and the grain that cannot be gotten of the engines out of the edges of the whole. In the associated businesses, for example, the house next door, if lower mills, that is where you see hundreds of employees. General mills in buffalo still 400 employees working at their place. We have the invention of the elevator, that meant that the ships were no longer be loaded by hand. There would have less labor needed for that particular process of the amount of grain grew so much as a result of an alleged so many other industries that really the overall effect was a real net positive or the city of buffalo. As part of the ongoing use of this property here in silent city, a lot of musical acts take lace, either in this space or in the marine elevators. You can possibly hear my voice has a bit of an at. We are at a big concrete room. So sometimes they will have either an opera here, which is a unique effect to have in this space, or a poetry reading, or a regular position coming down here, instrumental or vocal, performing in this space. People are coming from around the world which have heard about this unix performing space at what to perform and record their work here. The structures, having renovated for quite a few years along the river were a real magnet or now as and graffiti and lot of artists are coming here and actually are invited to do art on some of the walls. Some of the art that you see around the site is intentional. A lot of it is done in a temporary way so it is either wheat pasted on the wall, it is not chalk, it can be removed. In some instances it is done over graffiti. Companies werehe covering up graffiti that had been there. As you can see from up here, the silos dominate buffalos waterfront. Every direction you can see from elevator, top of the they are along the river. They dominated the waterfront and they were the early skyline with the church singles and Grain Elevators, and they still continue the state to dominate the waterfront that are bringing people from around the world to see buffalo and the Grain Elevators. As the largest collection of great elevators in the world. There are still 14 here, three are in use for grade and the others arent is for the arts, music, and to educate others about the grain trade, and the history of the United States and the rest of the world. Therailroad really kept industry running here in buffalo, and they took over from the eureka now as being faster and more efficient ways to ship the grain from buffalo to the east coast. We saw a transition through the lattereating hundreds 1800s to canal barges transferring to the rail lines. We became the second largest real city check into chicago second to chicago. Central, the area railroad. Boston had big areas. Doeslos ron ron waterfront had a great recliner because of the Saint Lawrence seaway which enabled the lake past five to buffalo and go to the Atlantic Ocean. You cannot tell the full story get the full effect without actually going through them and one thing to look at them and see them in a history book or in photographs, but to actually stand inside of the structures and look at a silo and get the full sense of what it is to have one of the structures 90 feet overhead story brain, millions and millions of bushels, to give you a full sense of the scale of what happened here in buffalo when the grain trade came here in the city. All we American History tv is featuring buffalo, new york. Construction of the urine canal in 1825 established and all water passage from the great lakes through buffalo to the port of new york and the world. Transforming buffalo into one of the nations largest great hubs. Staff cities to her teaches you about buffalo here on American History tv. Melissa brown the panamerican exposition was a worlds fair in advance that took place in spring,in 1901 from the may 2 19 01 to november 2 of that same year. They actually had a late start. The grand opening was may 20, 1901. It really was a time to showcase exciting at new and the turn of the last century. Many different cities competed to host worlds fairs annex positions. Really it was a wonderful opportunity to showcase your city. For buffalo, many of the same reasons that buffalo has had such a significant task in general plate into why they were able to host the exhibition. The first and most important thing is location. They estimated in 1901 that 40 Million People were one days trouble from buffalo which is really staggering when about before aviation and that there was still that many people who were able to get here in a relatively short amount of time. Also, the location on the great lakes and just what was happening in buffalo at that time. We were the largest city in the United States. 60 millionaires living in buffalo that time. There was an enormous amount of personal wealth that was also really important to bring the exhibition here. Think the final thing that really made buffalo a standout for the 1901 exhibition is the availability of electricity. Alternating current from Niagara Falls became accessible to the city in 1896. That was a major selling point for the exposition because it was cute cheap availability for hydroelectric power and the amount of it was also exciting when you consider the nighttime showcase that they wanted to set the exposition off with with the lighting effect. Im excited to welcome you to the Buffalo History Museum resource center. This is the second side that we havent the History Museum. It is actually in 1890s era streetcar repair barn that we have created an active use on in the 1990s. We opened an exhibit about the panamerican exhibition for the centennial in 2001. Markey artifacts related to the asibition are housed here well as our artifacts and we keep a storage outside that are not on exhibit. The exhibition in buffalo was distinctive first because it was not a worlds fair in the way that we know worlds fairs as far as being inclusive everyone. They were really focused on the relationship between north and south america. That is why disparate american panamerican exposition. Focused on the relationships between those countries and what was happening. Whether it was technology and electricity and those types of innovative advances versus ideas. When you attended the exposition it would have been struck by the collar. That was a big enough the thesition, compared to chicago classic style, white architecture. The pan am was known as the rainbow city. Was the spanish renaissance style of architecture so it was really celebrating those ideas of relating north and south america and that was resident in the design of the exhibition. The panamerican exhibition was also a marketing engine. They had mastery over how to market these worlds fairs by that point. The spirit of an aggregate the iconic image that comes up from the buffalo panamerican exposition. It was designed by a local artist here, and it is that euro thrillseeking with the woman in the fog. There was a school group who did not come to the exhibition because it was seen as risque to some. The newspaper put her in a rain slicker as a social commentary. Bilingualas also on postcards. You would find some of the advertising in spanish and english which i think is very interesting at that time. Of reinforcing the relationship between north and south america. Panamericano exhibition they were estimated about 40 Million People were a days trouble buffalo. That is the number they were using as a selling point for bringing people to the exhibition actually had about 8 Million People attend. Not quite the figure there were hoping for, but still a Staggering Amount of people coming into buffalo for that month timeframe. , you could have afforded to go to exhibition. Depending on the different days, like buffalo day where there were discounts, average attendance was about 1. 50. That would be about 14 in todays money. Most people, just like going to the erie county fair, you could have afforded to go to in just the gate and walk around. What you have done and experience would have been dictated by your means. If can effective picnic instead of eating at a restaurant, the same types of decisions people make today, those with the decisions they were making about attending the exhibition in 1901. Many of the signature events were planned for later in the exhibition was something that he did with other worlds fairs as well. The organizers were very deliberate and how they planned the kind of key days for different people to attend. Railton day, and new york state day, buffalo day was october 19, 1901. Civic holiday. People do not have to go to work a day, there was discounted at michigan and the 160,000 people went to the grounds adjust for buffalo day. President s day was also planned for later in the exhibition, and of mckinleys illfated visit. But with september 6, 1901. The was a key Signature Day of the exhibition, and lot of the were built up at the end to keep bolstering attendance all the way to the november closing date. Waspanamerican exhibition in place for six months. From may until november. In the property was situated on it north the hello was actually dexter and ramsey and runs the. The intent, as was other worlds fairs and exhibitions was always to return the parcel back to the previous condition. Our building, the Main Building of the Buffalo History Museum is the only structure remaining from the panamerican exhibition on the site. That was intentional at the time. It was a brilliant move on the lateof our board in the 1800s. They were looking for permanent building for the History Museum. They had raced about 80,000 at the time but they did not have quite enough for what they wanted. So they approached the state and they were able to merge this states contributions and our contributions and a small contribution from the city of buffalo as well to create a permanent building that would then become a house of history after the exhibition ended. In 1902. Right in aside from that, most of the buildings were gone within six months. It isof people think unusual that they would make such an invest