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288 ERIE COUNTY.
the largest and most costly in the city.1 St. Paul’s2 and St. John’s, (Prot. E.,) and the North and
Central Presb. churches, are elegant and substantial structures.
The earliest notice of the site of the city of Buffalo is found in the travels of Baron La Hontan,
who visited this locality in 1687.3 No white settlers located here until after the American Revo¬
lution. A village of the Seneca Indians lay on Buffalo Creek, about 3 mi. from its mouth. In
March, 1791, Col. Thos. Proctor, U. S. Commissioner, visited “Buffalo Creek’’—as this village was
then called,—on an embassy to the Indians. The locality around the mouth of the creek was then
called “Lake Erie,” and Cornelius Winney, an Indian trader, resided there.4 The place was
visited in 1795 by La Rochefoucault Liancourt, a French nobleman, who says that “ at the post
on Lake Erie there was a small collection of four or five houses.”5 Buffalo was laid out by the
agent of the Holland Land Company in 1801, and was called by them “New Amsterdam.”s Set¬
tlement was commenced at Black Rock in 1807.4 In 1808 “ New Amsterdam” was made the county
seat of Niagara co.; and its name was then changed to Buffalo. In 1812 it became a military
post. In Dec. 1813, a party of British and Indians crossed over from Canada, defeated the Ameri¬
can forces, and fired the villages of Black Rock and Buffalo. Only two dwelling houses were left
standing.8 The rebuilding of the village was not commenced until 1815. Buffalo had from the
first a formidable rival in Black Rock. While the mouth of Buffalo Creek was obstructed by a
bar, Black Rock possessed an excellent harbor and monopolized the infant commerce of the lake.
The “ Walk-in-the- Water,” the first steamboat on Lake Erie, was built at Black Rock in 1818. The
construction of Buffalo harbor was commenced in 1820, by the citizens ;5 and in 1827 the General
Government assumed its completion and built the present pier and lighthouse. The Erie Canal
was finished in 1825; and from that time to the present Buffalo has increased in wealth and popu¬
lation with the characteristic rapidity of the cities of the West.10
CIIICTAWAUGA 11—was formed from Amherst, March 22,1839; and a part of West Seneca
was taken off in 1851. It is an interior town, lying sr. of the center of the co. The surface is
level. The principal streams are Eleven Mile, Cayuga, and Slate Bottom Creeks The soil is a
heavy, tough clay. Cliictawsa.uga and Four Mil© Creell are p. offices. The first settle-
ment was made by Apollos Hitchcock, in 1808.6 There is but 1 church (R. C.) in town.
CLAH.EMCE—was formed from “ Willink,” (now Aurora,) March 11, 1808. Buffalo was
taken off in 1810, Alden in 1823, and Lancaster in 1833. It lies upon the n. border of the co.,
e. of the center. Its surface is level. A limestone terrace about 50 feet high, with a wall-like
front facing the n., extends e. and w. through the center of the town. The streams are Tona-
wanda Creek, on the n. border, and Ransoms Creek, flowing n. w. through near the center of
the town. The soil in the N. part is clayey, and in the s. a sandy and gravelly loam underlaid by
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streets are laid where it will either be impracticable or i
to open them soon. It may, notwithstanding, be useful now to
contemplate, in the plans of towns, what will be necessary ar¬
rangements a century hence. Such plans on record, while for
the present they can be productive of no harm, may prevent
those aberrations from order that might hereafter be a cause
of much inconvenience; and, without being governed by ex¬
travagant calculations, no doubt can be entertained that the
future importance of this place will justify extensive views in
the projection of its arrangements.” The village, like Lewiston,
Oswego, Salina, and Fort Covington, was patented in small
parcels.
8 See p. 280. In 1825, Congress made an appropriation of
80,000 to compensate the inhabitants for the losses incurred by
this disaster.
9 The sum of $1,861.25 was raised by subscription, and a loan
of $12,000 was obtained from the State. A pier, extending 80
rods into the lake, was built, and a lighthouse erected upon the
land. The Superior—the second steamboat launched upon
Lake Erie—was built at Buffalo in 1822.
10 The population at different periods has been as follows:—
1810............ 1,508 1830............ 8,668 1845............ 29,773
1814............ 1,060 1835............19,715 1850............42,261
1820............ 2,095 1840............18,213 1855 ............ 74,214
1825............ 5,141
The population of Black Bock (now about 12,000) is included in
the returns of 1855 only.
11 This name was given at the suggestion of Alex. Hitchcock.
It is a corruption of the Seneca word “ Jiilc-d<Hwaah-geJi,” signi¬
fying “ the place of the crab-apple tree,” the Indian name of
this locality.
12 Among the early settlers were Sam’l Lasure, Boswell Judson,
Abraham Hatch, and Maj. Noble. The first birth was that of a
child of Boswell Hatch, in 1810; and the first death, that of
Franklin Hitchcock, in 1818. The first mill was built by Sam’l
Lasure. in 1810; and the first inn was kept by Jesse Munson, in
1815. |
1
The cathedral is 236 ft. long, 86 ft. wide in the body, and 120
at the transept. The ceiling is 75 ft. high, the roof outside 90
feet, and the spire, when finished, will be 220 ft. high. The
windows are all of beautiful stained glass, the larger ones in
figures representing sacred scenes and characters. The tri¬
partite window above the altar represents the birth, cruci¬
fixion, and ascension of Christ. This window was executed in
Munich, at a cost of $5,000.
2
s This church was erected at a cost of about $100,000. It has
a chime of 10 bells, which cost $15,000.
3
8 La Hontan recommended to the French Government the
erection of a fort at this place.
4
ing of their office at “Hansoms Grove,” now Clarence Hollow,
in 1801.
5
Strip—into lots and report to the legislature. This was ac¬
cordingly done; and in his report the surveyor general stated
his belief that this was the best, if not the only, place at
this end of the lake where a harbor of proper size could be
6
eiosed with the following words:—“It will be observed that
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