“ANOTHER MANCHESTER.”
In a very able leading editorial, printed in the New York Tribune of February 7, 1892, the future of Buffalo was glowingly mirrored. Such utterances from such a source speak volumes, and show the commanding position to which Buffalo has risen--a position that attracts the attention of the newspapers of national eminence as well as of the greatest capitalists of the country. The article referred to is herewith printed entire:
“Chicago has been so intent upon rivaling New York in population and commercial importance that it has overlooked the chances of competition from another city in the Empire State. Buffalo, with Niagara Falls behind it, is looming up as the chief manufacturing and shipping center of the interior. In the course of a few months the practicability of converting the Falls into a source of power, light, heat and refrigeration is to be demonstrated. If the company which is now constructing tunnels and setting a series of turbine-wheels, succeeds in obtaining 120,000 horse-power, every wheel in Buffalo can be turned and every house lighted and heated at the lowest cost. With this enormous electrical power transmitted and distributed throughout the city, coal will no longer be burned and steam engines will be dispensed with in manufacturing processes. Buffalo, by virtue of having the cheapest power for turning its wheels, will inevitably become the manufacturing center of the nation. This is the forecast made, not only by sanguine electricians, but also by shrewd, practical business men, who have watched the remarkable progress of the city during the last decade.
“Even without the successful operation of the tunnel plant at Niagara, Buffalo since 1880 has increased its population 89 per cent., its grain receipts 101 per cent., its lumber shipments 125 per cent., its iron receipts 226 per cent., and its coal business 367 per cent. The commerce of the great lakes has involved exchanges of wheat and coal. All the coal-carrying corporations have made Buffalo their shipping point for the West because the grain-laden fleet is available for return cargoes. The city is not only the largest grain-receiving and coal-distributing center in the world, but it is also the principal lumber port of the country and one of the greatest live-stock and fish markets. With coal, iron, lumber and salt available for the founding of new industries, it has increased its number of manufacturing industries over 200 per cent. during the last decade. These are substantial results which warrant the conclusion that the success of the project for converting Niagara Falls into a source of electric power will raise the population of Buffalo from 300,000 to 1,000,000 in another decade. The manufacturing interests of the country will inevitably center where electric power costing a fraction of either water or steam power can be supplied together with all raw materials. With the help of Niagara, Buffalo now seems destined to gain steadily upon Chicago in the race for commercial supremacy.
“It has been fortunate for Buffalo that prosperity has not overwhelmed it suddenly, and that it has had leisure for preparing for its good fortune. Already it is the handsomest residence city in America, with broad, heavily-shaded streets paved with asphalt, with a well-designed series of beautiful parks, and with public buildings, hotels, libraries and music halls worthy of a great town. If its wealthy class live in luxurious palaces incomparably finer than the residences of Eastern millionaires, its poor and humble artisans are housed in neat and tasteful cottages. It is a charming city of homes and domestic comfort, which is gradually being transformed into one of the busiest hives of American manufacturing industry. It is at least a pleasant thought that through the transmission of power now going to waste at Niagara this well-kept and wholesome town may escape the smudge of coal-burning which has fouled Chicago and impaired the freshness and beauty of Cleveland. If by the end of another decade every wheel in it from the trolleys on the electric railways to the largest iron lathe in its engineering works be turned by power generated by the turbines at Niagara, it will be another Manchester, but without smoke and grime.”
AMERICA’S HANDSOMEST CITY.
The latter portion of the Tribune article draws attention to some very noteworthy facts connected with Buffalo. When the Tribune says that Buffalo is “the handsomest residence city in America,” it tells the exact truth. All Buffalonians are deservedly proud of the beauties of their city. Many times has the writer heard exclamations of surprise and delight from the lips of strangers who, for the first time, were being driven through our beautiful avenues and park roads. Our streets are exceptionally wide and well-paved. Care in tree-planting has led to magnificent results. Well-kept, velvety lawns of spacious extent are the rule, and make fine setting for the thousands of architectural gems of homes with which the city is studded. It has been said over and over again by traveled strangers that Buffalo has more fine architecture in residences, more beautiful homes than any other city of its size in the world.
We had, at the close of the summer of 1891, about 105 lineal miles of asphalted streets. It is hard as a rock and smooth as a floor and full of restful delight to those who drive over its smooth, clean surface. Personal pride taken by the property-owners in its trim beauty leads to its being swept and cleaned daily, which is done at trifling expense. Asphalt is being laid in this city at the rate of about twenty lineal miles per year, and we have now more miles of asphalted streets than any other city in the world.
VIEW OF AN ASPHALTED RESIDENCE STREET.