This vintage postcard shows the Buffalo, New York Harbor on Lake Erie in 1900.
Buffalo has been a transportation and industrial center since the 1800s. Situated on the eastern end of Lake Erie, the city serves as an inland port to the rest of the state of New York. The Welland Ship Canal and St. Lawrence Seaway provide a shipping outlet to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Erie Canal connects Buffalo to the rest of the New York State Canal System.
The postcard shows many steam smoke stacks on ships parked at the docks, so it looks like this old picture of the Buffalo harbor is from the time when steam ships take over the shipping from sailing vessels. The granaries located along the docks are evidence that food was shipped in and out of the Buffalo port. You can see some sailing masts behind the first steam ship on the front left in the postcard.
This vintage postcard really captures well the turn-of-the-century 1900s Buffalo harbor and the shipping industry at that time.
This old-fashioned image of the harbor in Buffalo circa 1900 is also part of our Vintage Buffalo, NY Wall Calendar created from this and other vintage postcards of Buffalo.