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 piano dealer still has a music store
McDonnell & Sons Memorials--the full text of a ca. 1910 catalog by the granite monument company
The Old Curiosity Shop: McDonnell & Sons Monument Company by the author of this website
Photographers 1855-1881, Buffalo New York--a list of names & addresses
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
Beer, Breweries, and Breweriana of Upstate New York
Breweries, Temperance & Prohibition in Buffalo, NY--a list of items in the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society
Broadway Market--dates back to at least 1890
Buffalo Foods is an online ordering service for many beloved Buffalo edibles
Buffalo Pitts manufactured all kinds of agricultural equipment
Dairy Stations & Factories, Erie County--a list from 1916. Be sure to see pp. 1158-1160Excise
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 in Buffalo, NY--a list of items in the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society
Grain
Elevators: Buffalo's Lost Industry
History of Brewing in Tonawanda, 1867-1948
Menus
from the Miss Frank E. Buttolph Collection--includes
the Statler and a few other prominent Buffalo restaurants, care of the
New Yorkj Public Library
Instruments, Machinery, Office Supplies, Tool & Die
Buffalo Forge, 1877-1952
Buffalo Pitts--steam engine manufacturer
Buffalo PharGo--started out in 1891 as Buffalo Belting and Weaving
Farrer & Trefts 1870s Engine Restoration
McKaig-Hatch, Inc.--makers of pliers & wrenches
Remington Rand Presents its Solution for Congested Offices--a filing cabinet catalog from ca. 1935
Spencer Lens Company was founded in Geneva, NY but later moved to Buffalo
Spencer Lens Company/American Optical--a history from the Optical Heritage Museum
VintageMachinery.org--search on Buffalo to find over a dozen vintage woodworking toolmakers and steam engine makers with a Buffalo connection
Hospitals, Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Pierce's Hospital and Patent Medicine Empire
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, Kitchenware
Birge Wallpaper Company--includes recollections by an artist on the staff
Birge Wallpaper--search the wallpaper database of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities to see some Birge 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
Jewett
& Root--their 1868
brochure promoting the "Ventilator" stove is online in full text
Kittinger Furniture Company is being revived
Kittinger Company--according to Wikipedia
Larkin Company: A Brief History and John D. Larkin
Larkin Company: Selected Items in the Collection of the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society
Foundries, Forges, Coke Ovens
Bethlehem Steel--its records are in the Hagley Museum in Delaware. Here is more of what they have.
Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna, NY
Bethlehem Steel Maps & Photos--undated, unsigned, and untitled website with a bunch of pop-ups, but some good pictures
Buffalo Forge & Howard Iron Works--makers of fire hydrants
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
Pratt & Letchworth--as descibed in the New York Times, 1872
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, Television
American Type Founders Company--their 1897 catalog of typefaces is online in full text
Beadle & Adams--an online history of the early dime-novel publishing house, which was founded in Buffalo ca. 1850
Buffalo Broadcasters Association--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
Chemical Companies Historical Index--a list of companies in NY state, arranged geographically by city
Historical Register of Chemical Companies in NY State--scroll down for Buffalo
National Aniline & Chemical Co.
National
Gypsum Company Annual Reports--1939-1941
are online
courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania
Automobiles, Bicycles, 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.
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 Canal--a thorough link collection
Erie
Canal--the records of the
planning, design, construction, administration, expansion, and
maintenance of the Erie & Barge canals are in the New York
State Archives
Erie Railroad Employee Rosters
Farrell-Birmingham--an
architectural reconaissance
survey and history of a lost building at the Tonawanda Engine Plant
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 from 1911-1912
Pierce Bicycles--a 17-page sales catalog from around 1915
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
Authorized Federally Funded WWII Industries--This compilation contains company names and plant locations for industrial facilities built or expanded in NY State during World War II at a cost of over $50,000 each from U.S. government funds. It is derived from a larger list that includes privately-funded plant expansions authorized, but not financed by, the United States. The authorizations cover the time period from July 1940 through August 1945 as reported by the Civilian Production Administration in 1946.
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
Business Records from Buffalo, NY Companies--a list of collections in the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society
Commerce, Manufactures & Resources of Buffalo and Environs--published in 1880 and features short descriptions of a lot of companiesCompanies based in Buffalo--a list of past & present businesses from Wikipedia
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).
Federally Funded WWII Industries--This listing includes industrial plants and plant sites purchased, constructed or acquired in NY State by the United States government for World War II production. The properties included on this list were identified through several sources, including voluminous card files and publications of the Defense Plant Corporation. Many facilities in this group will duplicate entries in the "authorized" list above.
Five Minutes' Talk about the Commerce, Industries and Resources of Buffalo--a full text promotional pamphlet from 1882
History of American Manufactures from 1608 to1860--the classic compendium is online in full text Lost
Buffalo
features color pictures of things that aren't there anymore
Manufacturing Interests of the City of Buffalo--this 1866 book is online in full text
Obsolete American Securities and Corporations--published in 1904, this functions as a guide to buyouts and other reasons for a company's demise. Several Buffalo firms are included.
That's because no one has created a website about it, or if they did, I have not yet discovered it. Remember, the past is not online.
 Contact Us We welcome your mail but we regret that we cannot undertake research for you. |