Very early on a January morning, the force of nature met early steel span technology, resulting in a tremendous wreck; a record number of people rushed to view the scene, and many of them brought cameras.

A drama created not from the imagination but from concrete excavation, paintings and drawings of the time, legal documents and site observation. What it was like to stand on the Buffalo waterfront before the railroads, when the only highway was on the water.

The Silsbee homes that survive in Buffalo are a distinguished group of Queen Anne and Shingle Style buildings that continue to be enjoyed by both inhabitants and passers-by; they are the largest known concentration of his domestic work.

Photographic review of the extant buildings that offered lodgings during the Pan-American Exposition.