jayg Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 I've never seen these. Absolutely fantastic pictures. Cut to 104 years later. 1901 Pan-American
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 I've never seen these. Absolutely fantastic pictures. Cut to 104 years later. 1901 Pan-American 282923[/snapback] Amazing how the corrupt politicos killed Western New York. At one time, Buffalo was the "Silicon Valley" of its day. Now it's a rusted hulk, crumbling to dust. Yay government!
zow2 Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 Some beautiful buildings. The numerous lights at night were magical during those times. I love this caption under one of the pictures though....some things never change.... "Unfortunately the summer of 1901 was unusually cold and rainy and the Exposition was failing to draw the number of visitors that the organizers had anticipated."
JoeFerguson Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 From what I gathered from that website, most of those buildings were intended to be temporary anyway. The only one still up is the Buffalo Historical Society building.
SouthernMan Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 Aren't they all parking lots now? 283155[/snapback] Good question. Where was the exhibition held and the locale of all those buildings? It looks like some amazing architecture that even George Constanza would have appreciated. Are they all gone are some of those buildings still in place. Can't remember seeing any of them. It's hard to imaging they could have torn them all down. A great Frank Lloyd Wright highrise building in Buffalo was torn down several years ago to make room for something else (probably a row of Nabisco grain silos) Is Buffalo possibly the stupidest and most short-sighted city ever? Could they be the perfect model for how not to run a metropolis?
JCBoston Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 Good question. Where was the exhibition held and the locale of all those buildings? It looks like some amazing architecture that even George Constanza would have appreciated. Are they all gone are some of those buildings still in place. Can't remember seeing any of them. It's hard to imaging they could have torn them all down. A great Frank Lloyd Wright highrise building in Buffalo was torn down several years ago to make room for something else (probably a row of Nabisco grain silos) Is Buffalo possibly the stupidest and most short-sighted city ever? Could they be the perfect model for how not to run a metropolis? 283185[/snapback] The area where the Expo was is largely homes right now - north of the Scajaquada, west of Delaware Ave and east of Elmwood. Most of the buildings were made of plaster on temporary frames. The folks that ran the Expo had real-estate deals in place in order to finance it; once the Expo was over, the buildings were torn down and the land was sold off. I read somewhere once that people were finding bits of the plaster in their backyard gardens even into the 80's and 90's.
slothrop Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 the casino and the bridge at Hoyt Lake were original expo structures. The bridge can be seen in some of those photos
loadofmularkey Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 Good question. Where was the exhibition held and the locale of all those buildings? It looks like some amazing architecture that even George Constanza would have appreciated. Are they all gone are some of those buildings still in place. Can't remember seeing any of them. It's hard to imaging they could have torn them all down. A great Frank Lloyd Wright highrise building in Buffalo was torn down several years ago to make room for something else (probably a row of Nabisco grain silos) Is Buffalo possibly the stupidest and most short-sighted city ever? Could they be the perfect model for how not to run a metropolis? 283185[/snapback] Basically right at the spot where Buff State, Albright-Knox and Hoyt Lake are.
SF Bills Fan Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 From what I gathered from that website, most of those buildings were intended to be temporary anyway. The only one still up is the Buffalo Historical Society building. 283184[/snapback] Yeah, most of the building were made of chiken wire and cheap siding. They were only made for the expo. The Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society building was the only one made of stone. They had a similar kind of expo here in San Francisco long ago and they did the same thing. There is only one building left from that one too. http://www.sanfranciscomemories.com/ppie/buildings.html
Hogboy Swine Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 Amazing how the corrupt politicos killed Western New York. At one time, Buffalo was the "Silicon Valley" of its day. Now it's a rusted hulk, crumbling to dust. Yay government! 283048[/snapback] I don't think it can all be blamed on the politicians. I think the opening of the St Lawrence Seaway and the railroads had alot to do with the Erie Canal becoming obsolete. And the widespead use of air conditioning made many flee Buffalo for warmer climates And of course the Federal pollution regulations of the 60's and 70's made much of the industry choose to flee to right to work states or overseas and completely rebuild rather than invest in cleaner operations in Buffalo...the sky in Lackawanna and the shores of the Niagara River and Lake Erie aren't orange anymore, but nobody has a job
nobody Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 Yeah, most of the building were made of chiken wire and cheap siding. So they were made about just as well as new buildings are nowadays?
Spun Posted March 24, 2005 Posted March 24, 2005 Fascinating photos. The Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site (Wilcox Mansion) is on Delaware Avenue. Here is their web site: http://www.nps.gov/thri/pphtml/facilities.html I have often wondered about what kind of relics, photos and data the Buffalo Historical Society has stuffed away in it's storage area.
Cookie Gilchrist Posted March 24, 2005 Posted March 24, 2005 Good question. Where was the exhibition held and the locale of all those buildings? It looks like some amazing architecture that even George Constanza would have appreciated. Are they all gone are some of those buildings still in place. Can't remember seeing any of them. It's hard to imaging they could have torn them all down. A great Frank Lloyd Wright highrise building in Buffalo was torn down several years ago to make room for something else (probably a row of Nabisco grain silos) Is Buffalo possibly the stupidest and most short-sighted city ever? Could they be the perfect model for how not to run a metropolis? 283185[/snapback] Below is a link to a 1902 panoramic map at the LOC site. The Pan Am grounds are marked just north of Delaware Park. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?gmd:...p6O::@@@mdb=gmd
clumping platelets Posted March 24, 2005 Posted March 24, 2005 My Great-Grandmother (my grandmother's mother - father's side) witnessed the assassination from about 20 ft away. She was in her early 20s
runner Posted March 24, 2005 Posted March 24, 2005 If you haven't read the novel "The City of Light", go get it. It's a historical fiction set in the era of the Pan-Am and Buffalo's highest point. Lots of cool info about setting up the Pan Am, getting electricity from the Falls, and the assassination of McKinley. Very good read.
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted March 24, 2005 Posted March 24, 2005 It is such a shame. Buffalo had such huge potential. Abundant natural resources, ideal location, a hard-working populace. All of that, ALL of it was squandered by short-sighted, criminal politicos. I love my hometown, but it's dying the death of a thousand cuts.
MattyT Posted March 24, 2005 Posted March 24, 2005 If you haven't read the novel "The City of Light", go get it. It's a historical fiction set in the era of the Pan-Am and Buffalo's highest point. Lots of cool info about setting up the Pan Am, getting electricity from the Falls, and the assassination of McKinley. Very good read. 285568[/snapback] And if you like that, check out The Devil in the White City which is set during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Lots of good architectural history and a decent serial killer story to boot.
runner Posted March 24, 2005 Posted March 24, 2005 And if you like that, check out The Devil in the White City which is set during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Lots of good architectural history and a decent serial killer story to boot. 285641[/snapback] I thought about adding that to my post...I've read it too, and I agree....a pretty cool book, although a bit creepy. That era must have been amazing to live in, especailly incities like Buffalo and Chicago.
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