The Buffalo History Museum Podcast

In 1917, six women's suffragists from Buffalo were arrested and sent to Virginia's Occoquan Workhouse for picketing in front of the White House. This is the story of the Buffalo Six. 

For over a half-century, Highmark Stadium has been the backdrop to many of our best (and worst) memories. Today we share a history of the beloved gathering place and discuss what's it's meant to Western New York. 

In this episode, we revisit late December 1813, when British forces crossed the Niagara River and set the village of Buffalo ablaze. Through the eyes of frontier doctor and militia leader Cyrenius Chapin, terrified families fleeing into the snow, and survivors like Margaret St. John, we explore the chaos, courage, and cruelty of one of the most defining moments in the city’s history. 

On December 8, 1980, as U2 played to a sparse crowd outside Buffalo, the world was upended by the murder of John Lennon, transforming an ordinary night into a defining moment in music and cultural history. Thank you to Jeff Miers, WKBW, Willie Nile, and Billy Sheehan for providing audio and other assistance on this very special episode. The audio of Bruce Moser is taken from an interview done by W...

Ely S. Parker was a Tonawanda Seneca leader, engineer, Civil War officer, and later U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs—and his story begins in the shadow of the Erie Canal. While the canal is often celebrated as a triumph of American innovation, we explore its deeper impact as a force of dispossession that carved through Haudenosaunee homelands and helped shape Parker’s lifelong fight for Indigen...

Edward Caleb Randall was a highly-respected lawyer from Buffalo. In 1892, his life would change forever. That's when he met Mrs. Emily S. French, a psychic medium from nearby Rochester, New York. 

The Erie Canal was an engineering marvel that shaped our city, state, and nation. Digging the man-made waterway not only required innovation, but also the efforts of thousands of laborers, man of them Irish immigrants. This is a story of the excavation of the canal's most challenging sections and how the Irish played a vital role. 

After fleeing from Tulsa in 1921, Andrew Smitherman made his way to Boston before later settling in Buffalo. While in Boston, he penned a poem describing his experiences during the Tulsa Race Massacre. Reading the poem is Jillian Hanesworth, Buffalo's Poet Laureate Emeritus. This episode is being published in conjunction with the previous episode titled, And a Shot Rang Out: Andrew Smitherman and...

In late May of 1921, racial tensions erupted in Tulsa, Oklahoma's Greenwood District in what would become known as the Tulsa Race Massacre. Among the leaders of Tulsa's Black community was Andrew J. Smitherman, publisher of the Tulsa Star newspaper. After being charged with inciting the riot, Smitherman fled north and settled in Buffalo. There, he started a new newspaper, the Buffalo Star. This is...

In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to serve in Congress, representing New York’s 12th District. Four years later, she became the first woman and first Black candidate to seek a major party’s presidential nomination. Following her career in politics, Shirley moved to Buffalo with her husband, State Legislator Arthur Hardwick. She's buried in the city's historic Forest La...

In September 1850, Swedish opera star Jenny Lind began an 18-month tour of American cities promoted by P.T. Barnum. The tour brought her to Buffalo four times in 1851, but one of the performances was special. It was a fundraiser, bringing relief to victims of a fire in the city’s Canal District. This is the story of Lind’s American tour, her visits to Buffalo, and the 1851 Canal District fire.   P...

In the 1860s, Buffalo Bishop John Timon commissioned a 43-bell carillon for the city's St. Joseph's Cathedral. The bells, however, would run into a series of problems which prevented them from being heard for more than a half century--and then for nearly another century after that. This is the story of the bells, their unlucky journey, and their eventual installation at Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemet...

October 26, 1825 marked the ceremonial opening of the Erie Canal, a waterway that would shape the future of the nation. To celebrate, Governor DeWitt Clinton led a cross-state procession, stopping in each town along the man-made waterway. 

On July 1, 1902, the Pan-American Exposition's Goddess of Light statue was torn to the ground. The statue, which adorned the fair's tallest structure, had become a symbol of the Exposition. Now, it had been sold off. However, it would never make it to its new owner. 

112 years ago today, RMS Titanic disappeared into the icy depths of the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg. The disaster would take the lives of more than 1,500 passengers and crew, two of whom were Buffalo's own. This is their story.

On August 23, 1923, a team of Federal Prohibition Agents raided Buffalo's elite Saturn Club in search of illegal alcohol. The raid, which uncovered large amounts of booze, was led by one of the Saturn Club's own members, "Wild" Bill Donovan. 

Between 1910 and 1956, the Canadiana ferried passengers between Buffalo and Canada's Crystal Beach Amusement Park. This is the story of the ship, her demise, and her near resurrection. 

Twenty years after Hooker Chemical buried its last metal drum in the depths of William Love's abandoned canal, local residents begin experiencing health problems. The ensuing years become a fight for their lives. 

Fifty years after William Love abandoned his Model City settlement in Niagara Falls, a local chemical manufacturer made use of his half-excavated canal. Part III coming next week. 

In 1894, William T. Love broke ground on his grand vision—a utopian community which he called "Model City." His dream however, would never come to pass. In time, what remained of his project would become the epicenter of one our nation's worst environmental disasters. Stay tuned for part two.

On March 31, 1954, a wooden annex of Cheektowaga's Cleve Hill School caught fire in seconds, taking the lives of fifteen children.  Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review us! 

We're joined today by Barbara Seals Nevergold, PhD to discuss the life of Ida Dora Fairbush, the first African American teacher in the Buffalo Public School District.    To learn more about Ida, clink below: https://www.buffaloschools.org/cms/lib/NY01913551/Centricity/Domain/9000/Ida-Fairbush-Biography.pdf  

At just 26" tall, Chiquita was one of the Pan-American Exposition's tiniest attractions. In November of 1901, she and a worker at the fair married in secret, much to the dismay of her manager, Frank Bostock, aka The Animal King. 

For over three decades, legendary escape artist and magician Harry Houdini made Buffalo's theaters a regular destination. Today, we recap the King of Handcuff's many visits to Western New York. 

In March 1930, police arrested two Indigenous women, Nancy Bowen and Lila Jimerson, for the murder of a white woman in Buffalo, New York. Their arrests, trials, and coverage in the media would highlight issues of Indigenous sovereignty and clashing belief systems. Dr. Joe Stahlman, Director of the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum joins us to discuss the case.