Buffalo, New York

June 3, 2015

Day 57

What a fabulous day in Buffalo! Our friends Tom and Sue had arranged a very fun-filled and interesting day. After coffee and breakfast, we met up with Michael whom we had also met on our trip in Germany in December. He is a member of the preservation society here in Buffalo and a guide of the buildings of Buffalo and City Hall. 

 City Hall

Jack, Michael, Sue and Tom

First skyscraper

We learned what makes a skyscraper a skyscraper instead of just a tall building. A skyscraper has a uniform design and leads the eye up. He explained the history and architecture of the city buildings, took us in many of them and then into City Hall which has an observation deck which allowed us to look out on the city that was designed with the streets going out in a radial pattern from the center at City Hall. We could see a great view of the humongous Lake Erie, the Niagara River and all the city. It was a great tour! Thank you to Michael, Sue and Tom!

View from City Hall

Inside Buffalo City Hall

After our tour we went out for lunch and had a beef on welk sandwich which is a local specialty, delicious. We walked around canal park and read about the history of the Erie Canal which really put Buffalo on the map as the wealthiest city in America of its time and had 500,000 people living here at that time. The canal linked Buffalo to Albany which is on the Hudson river, therefore ultimately connecting it with New York City.

Erie Canal

Coca Cola Field - Home to the Triple A Buffalo Bisons, the farm league for the Toronto Blue Jays

 The price of shipping decreased substantially via the canal instead of over land. After the St. Lawrence Seaway was built the Erie Canal was used much less and the city fell into hard times. The current population is about 250,000. We then stopped at Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica which is a large and fabulous church. It was built from 1921-1925 and at the time of completion the dome was the nation's second largest behind the U.S. Capitol Building. Father Nelson H Baker had no money set aside for the project when he started, yet, through donations from all over the country, the Basilica was finished on time and completely dept free in 1925. Father Baker developed the “city of charity” including the basilica, an orphanage for boys, an infants home, a home for unwed mothers, a home for nurses and a school. He is honored in his home community as “Buffalo's most influential citizen of the 20th century". The parishioners of Our Lady of Victory and the Diocese of Buffalo have been working to secure canonization (sainthood). There are more than 1500 angels in the Basilica and magnificent statues for the Stations of the Cross, each carved out of one piece of marble.

Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica

We went back to their house for pizza and a brief rest and then off to a wonderful concert at Kleinhans Music Hall. It was the subscriber's appreciation concert. They did many beautiful relatively short works and featured a violinist and a soprano as well as 2 guest conductors. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was a fantastic day! The weather was divine. I know Buffalo gets a lot of snow but otherwise you may be shocked to hear I think it is now a fine city with an undeserved bad reputation!