Buffalo

Compared to other cities in the original 13 colonies, Buffalo is relatively young. While French explorer Robert LaSalle is credited as the first white man to view the area in around 1628, it would be another 130 years before the first permanent French settlement was established.

Control of the area changed hands several times before the turn of the 19th century with the British and the Dutch each having a turn. Finally, the land was sold for development to a group called the Holland Land Company, which was led by Joseph Ellicott, known as the founder of Buffalo.

Ellicott named the settlement New Amsterdam to please his Dutch superiors, and began to plan the new village. The system of major arteries radiating from the central hub—what is now Niagara Square—was copied from the design of Washington, D.C.