ERIE COUNTY BICENTENNIAL begins

Erie County officially recognized 200 years ago last week

On April 2, 1821, New York State officially recognized Erie County. After the American Revolution, the Holland Land Company purchased 3.2 million acres of land from the Seneca Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois).  In 1808, New York organized the western most land as Niagara County.  By 1821, the population had increased so much that Niagara County was split.

Erie County, the land south of Tonawanda Creek, consisted of ten towns and the Buffalo Creek Reservation.  Today, Erie County has twenty-five towns, three cities, two tribal reservations, and a population of approximately 920,000.

Once heavily forested frontier, the Erie Canal brought prosperity and made the region one of the largest shipping and rail center in the country.  Erie County is home to numerous inventors.  The Ball Jar, the Barca Lounger, and air conditioning were invented in Buffalo.

Wilson Greatbatch developed the implantable pacemaker in Clarence, and Bell Aircraft was one of the largest suppliers of aircraft during World War II.  The county boasts major works by both local and national architects:  Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, H.H. Richardson, E.B. Green, William Wicks and Louise Bethune.

Famous writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Twain and Lauren Beifer have called the area “home.”  The county has given the world Fisher Price toys and the chicken wing.

Today, we celebrate our heritage and look forward to a bright future.  The county has capitalized on history, art and architecture to become a heritage tourism destination.  The bio-medical research corridor is at the forefront of international scientific research.  Companies from across the county do business internationally and even in outer space.

Join us over the next year for a celebration of our county’s bicentennial as we commemorate the past and look forward to the future.

Douglas Kohler

Erie County Historian