Return to Made in Buffalo
The links below represent less than1% of Buffalo's commercial and industrial history. Preference is given to links for defunct firms and for surviving companies that date back to before the Great Depression.
Sorely lacking is much online material about Buffalo's rich labor history. Please contact us if you know of Buffalo labor history websites.
Commercial Services
Food & Drink
Hardware & Tools
Health & Medicine
Household
Iron & Steel
Raw Materials
Transportation
Utilities
Various/More Than One
Monuments, Music, Photography, Stained Glass, Theater
Charles Viner Organ Company
Denton, Cottier & Daniels 75th Anniversary in English and German
Denton, Cottier & Daniels--the world's oldest Steinway & Sons dealer still has a music store
The Old Curiosity Shop: McDonnell & Sons Monument Company by the author of this website
When
Buffalo Was the Melodeon Capital of the World--about
the George A.
Prince Melodeon company. Originally published in the Winter 1997 issue
of Western New York Heritage
Magazine
Banking, Deliveries, Insurance, Law
New York Bank History--an alphabetical index of banks in NY State with a short chronology of each bank's history
Spaulding's Penny Post--an early private mail delivery service
Agriculture, Breweries, Farms, Grain, Groceries, Public Markets, Restaurants, Taverns
Broadway Market--dates back to at least 1890
Buffalo Foods is an online ordering service for many beloved Buffalo edibles
Dairy Stations & Factories, Erie County--a list from 1916. Be sure to see pp. 1158-1160East
Buffalo, 1846-1976-- focuses on
meatpacking and stockyards and has
business histories of several Polish-American meatpacking companies
Excise
Certificate Holders, Erie County, 1918--this
is a nifty list of
saloon/tavern owners & liquor dealers on the eve of
Prohibition. See pp. 63-102.
Fowler's Chocolates--in business in Buffalo since 1901
Grain
Elevators: Buffalo's Lost Industry
History
of Brewing in Tonawanda, 1867-1948
History of Drinking and Brewing in Buffalo
Western
New York Food History includes
articles about agriculture, brewers,
food companies, restaurants, vineyards, and more.
Instruments, Machinery, Tool & Die
Buffalo PharGo--started out in 1891 as Buffalo Belting and Weaving
Eastman Machine Tool, Inc. still in business after 100 years
Farrer & Trefts 1870s Engine Restoration
Old Woodworking Machines--search on Buffalo to find over a dozen vintage woodworking toolmakers with a Buffalo connection
Spencer Lens Company was founded in Geneva, NY but later moved to Buffalo
Hospitals, Pharmaceuticals
Early Buffalo Medicine Bottles--a four-part series with photos, drawings, and descriptions of patent medicines and their makers
History of the Comstock Patent Medicine Business and Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills
Western New York Hospitals--a list of some past and present institutions compiled by genealogist Katharine M. KoppAppliances, Dry Goods, Furniture, Garments, Interior Decoration
Birge Wallpaper--search the wallpaper database of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities to see some Birge wallpaper designs
Buffalo
Pottery/China--now named Niagara
Ceramics and still made in Buffalo
George
N. Pierce Co. Illustrated Catalogue of Refrigerators, Ice Chests--the
1893 catalogue is online in full text
Kittinger Furniture Company is being revived
Larkin Company: A Brief History and John D. Larkin
Larkin Company: Selected Items in the Collection of the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society
M. Wile Co.--garment maker now known as HMX Tailored
Foundries
Pratt & Letchworth--as descibed in the New York Times in 1872
Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna, NY
Bethlehem Steel Maps & Photos--undated, unsigned and untitled website with a bunch of pop-ups, but some good pictures
Lackawanna Steel Company and Buffalo and Susquehanna Iron Company--reproduced verbatim from "A History of the City of Buffalo," published by the the Buffalo Evening News, 1908
Steel Plant a Certainty, from the Buffalo Evening News, December 30, 1899
Steel Plant
Museum--honoring
the workers of Bethlehem and Republic Steel
Employees, Strikes, Trade Unions, Workers
Buffalo Police Then and Now--includes a small number of vintage newspaper clippings, names of officers killed in the line of duty, pictures of vehicles and badges, and more.
Erie Railroad Employee Rosters
Greater
Buffalo Industrial Union Council--their
records, 1937-1958, are in
the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives at
Cornell University. This page describes the collection, which must be
used in person.
Labor
Matters: A Tribute to Auto Workers
Steel Plant Museum, honoring the workers of Bethlehem and Republic Steel
US Railroad Retirement Board--Buffalo was the nation's second largest rail center and railroads were our largest industry at one time. The US Railroad Retirement Board was founded in 1936 and may have pension records for those employed by the railroads on or after that date.
Books, Films, Magazines, Motion Pictures, Newspapers, Publishers, Radio, TV
Beadle & Adams--an online history of the early dime-novel publishing house, which was founded in Buffalo ca. 1850
Buffalo Broadcast Pioneers--preserving the sights and sounds of Buffalo's rich radio and television heritage
Courier-Express Newspaper--its archives are in Butler Library at Buffalo State College
William S.
Hein
& Co., Inc--the legal
publishing house traces
their origins back to the 1920s
Building Materials, Chemicals, Lumber, Minerals
Historical Register of Chemical Companies in NY State--scroll down for Buffalo
National Aniline & Chemical Co.
National
Gypsum Company Annual Reports--currently
1939-1941 are online
courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania
Automobiles, Boats, Buses, Canals, Planes, Railroads,Trains
American Ship Building Company--had shipbuilding facilities in Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, and elsewhere on the Great Lakes
Bell Aircraft--records from the Buffalo plant are at the Lawrence D. Bell Museum in Indiana. Click on "Articles" for a brief description of the collection
Buffalo Car Works--makers of wooden railway cars starting in 1853
Directory
of Airplanes--searchable
database of manufacturers and models,
brought to you by the Smithsonian Institution
Erie Railroad Employee Rosters
General Motors Powertrain Group, Plant 5--an architectural reconaissance survey and history of the Tonawanda Engine Plant
Glenn H. Curtiss--has a lot of historical Buffalo aviation material
Great Lakes Vessels Online Index--search on Buffalo and Black Rock to get lists of the many boats built here. Images are available in some cases.
How Western New York Gave Wings to the World--early aviation history
Maritime History of the Great Lakes has a lot of Buffalo content, including material about local shipping companies and shipbuilders
Pierce-Arrow Sixes--a catalog
US Railroad Retirement Board--Buffalo was the nation's second largest rail center and railroads were our largest industry at one time. The US Railroad Retirement Board was founded in 1936 and may have pension records for those employed by the railroads on or after that date.
Western NY Has Fueled Auto Industry Growth--early automobile industry history from Business First of Buffalo
Western New York Railroad Archive--not an actual archive with company records, but a site by a rail history buff with some memorabilia and transcribed newspaper articles
Coal, Electricity, Gas, Water
The Day They Turned The Falls On: The Invention Of The Universal Electrical Power System--a lengthy article about the origins of electricity from Niagara Falls
Early Electrification of Buffalo--a 14-part series
Directories and businesses of different kinds listed together
Blue Book of Buffalo Commerce--the 1920 membership directory of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce
Buffalo Business Directory, 1855--online in full text
Buffalo in 1860 as described in French's Gazetteer--includes descriptions of manufacturing and commerce before the Civil War
The
Buffalo Niagara Partnership (our
Chamber of Commerce) has a
searchable directory of member businesses online
Buffalo Online City Directories--a good selection of mid-19th century Buffalo city directories are online and searchable by company or personal names
Buffalo to-day, industrial and commercial--a 1909 guide to businesses and manufacturers
Buffalo's East Side Working Group--has lists, pictures, and descriptions of businesses, saloons, theaters, hotels, photographers, etc., on Buffalo's east side
Companies
in Erie County, 1898--These
short company histories are transcribed
from Our
County and Its People,
edited by Truman C. White (Boston History Company, 1898).
Erie
County Manufacturers Web Index--a
database of firms currently in
business
Five
Minutes' Talk about the Commerce, Industries and Resources of Buffalo--a
full text promotional pamphlet from 1882
Lost
Buffalo
features color pictures of recently-closed businesses from Buffalo's
Polish east side
Manufacturing
Interests of the City of Buffalo--this
1866 book is online in full
text
Selected
Government Funded WWII Industries--scroll
down to NY and Buffalo
for a partial list of defense manufacturers and what they produced for
the war effort
That's because no one has created a website about it, or if they did, I have not yet learned of it. Remember, the past is not online.
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