Regional Industrial History · Buffalo, NY
Buffalo's 19th-Century Heavy Manufacturing Ecosystem: Erie Canal Foundries & Machine Works
By 1900, Buffalo, New York, stood among the top industrial cities in the United States—powered by Erie Canal barge transport, twelve intersecting railroad trunk lines, Great Lakes iron-ore steamers, and the world's first long-distance alternating-current hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls.
1. Peers of the Buffalo Pitts Works in Western New York
Operating alongside the Buffalo Pitts Company at Fourth and Carolina Streets were world-renowned machinery builders including the Buffalo Forge Company (founded 1878, where Willis Carrier developed modern air conditioning in 1902), Farrar & Trefts (marine and oil-country steam boilers), E. & B. Holmes Machinery Co., Snow Steam Pump Works, and Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company.
Explore the Buffalo Pitts Historical & Industrial Series