Archive - WNY Heritage

Death by Fire and Water: The Steamship Erie Disaster

The Erie Canal opened the West-- but getting there could be a deadly gamble, as this 1841 tragedy demonstrated.

Eighty Years From Infamy: A Western New Yorker Remembers Pearl Harbor

Though living in Western New York since 1956, Alberta Deinhart still vividly remembers that Sunday morning in December 1941.

Mister Buffalo River— The Environmental Advocacy of Stan Spisiak

We examine the environmental efforts of this unassuming Buffalo jeweler to reclaim the waterfront of the city he loved.

Endnotes: Snowstorms – Past and Present

Buffalo and Western New York are known for wintry weather and the recent lake effect event the area witnessed in November was only the latest addition to the region’s snowy heritage.

Conflagration in the Cobblestone District: The Birge Factory Fire of 1880

When a fire erupted in the M.H. Birge & Sons Wallpaper Company factory in December 1880, the workers – many of whom were children – had little time to escape. John H. Grandits looks at the Birge fire as an example of the dangers of child labor.

Pictorial

Niagara Starch Works Explosion - July 1898

Buffalo Express photo of the damage from the July 14, 1898 explosion.

Pictorial

South Buffalo Flood - 1900

Images from Seneca Street & Bailey Avenue in 1900.

Lackawanna Steel and the Battleship Maine

Filled with rage, Americans vowed to never forget the USS Maine, which exploded near Cuba in 1898. Now we remember the key role a local steel company played in raising the wreckage and honoring her crewmembers.

Western New York Heritage

The Archive