Keluarga Katolik Indonesia New York
Primary and secondary education
The Buffalo Public Schools have about thirty-four thousand students enrolled in their primary and secondary schools.[260] The district administers about sixty public schools, including thirty-six primary schools, five middle high schools, fourteen high schools and three alternative schools, with a total of about 3,500 teachers.[261] Its board of education, authorized by the state, has nine elected members who select the superintendent and oversee the budget, curriculum, personnel, and facilities.[262][263] In 2020, the graduation rate was seventy-six percent.[264] The public City Honors School was ranked the top high school in the city and 178th nationwide by U.S. News & World Report in 2021.[265] There are twenty charter schools in Buffalo, with some oversight by the district.[266] The city has over a dozen private schools, including Bishop Timon – St. Jude High School, Canisius High School, Mount Mercy Academy, and Nardin Academy—all Roman Catholic, and Darul Uloom Al-Madania and Universal School of Buffalo (both Islamic schools); nonsectarian options include Buffalo Seminary and the Nichols School.[267]
Performing arts and music
Buffalo is home to over 20 theater companies, with many centered in the downtown Theatre District.[141] Shea's Performing Arts Center is the city's largest theater. Designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and built in 1926, the theater presents Broadway musicals and concerts.[142] Shakespeare in Delaware Park has been held outdoors every summer since 1976.[143]
Stand-up comedy can be found throughout the city and is anchored by Helium Comedy Club, which hosts both local talent and national touring acts.
The Nickel City Opera (known as NC Opera Buffalo and NCO) is an American opera company based at Shea's Performing Arts Center in Buffalo and is today one of the leading operas[144] in the United States and, with more than 3,000 seats, one of the largest opera houses in the world.[145] Founded in 2004 by Valerian Ruminski, the Nickel City Opera has commissioned operas, and has staged world premieres of notable works.[146][147] Matthias Manasi was music director and chief conductor of NCO from 2017 to 2021,[148] his predecessor Michael Ching was music director and chief conductor of NCO from 2012 to 2017.[149][150]
The NCO collaborates with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, producing a wide range of operas, from 18th-century Baroque and 19th-century Bel canto to the Minimalism of the 20th century and to contemporary operas of the 20th and 21st centuries. [151] These operas are presented in staged productions that range in style from those with elaborate traditional decors to others that feature modern conceptual designs.
The NCO is based at the 3,019-seat Shea's Performing Arts Center in the Buffalo Theatre District of downtown Buffalo.[152] Shea's Performing Arts Center was designed by the well-known Chicago firm Rapp and Rapp.[153] The opera house was modeled in the style of European operahouses and decorated in a combination of French and Spanish Baroque and Rococo styles.[154] The interior design was designed by the world-renowned designer and artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, and many of its elements are still there today.[155] Originally there were nearly 4,000 seats, but in the 1930s the number of seats was reduced to the current number of 3,019 seats last but not least to increase the place for the orchestra by increasing the size of the orchestra pit.[156] The NCO also performs at the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, at the Nichols Flickinger Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, at the Artpark Mainstage Theatre and the Artpark Amphitheatre at the Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park located on the Niagara Gorge in Lewiston.
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra was formed in 1935 and performs at Kleinhans Music Hall, whose acoustics have been praised.[157] Although the orchestra nearly disbanded during the late 1990s due to a lack of funding, philanthropic contributions and state aid stabilized it.[158] Under the direction of JoAnn Falletta, the orchestra has received a number of Grammy Award nominations and won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2009.[159]
KeyBank Center draws national music acts year-round. Sahlen Field hosts the annual WYRK Taste of Country music festival every summer with national country music acts. Canalside regularly hosts outdoor summer concerts, a tradition that spun off from the defunct Thursday at the Square concert series.[160][161] Colored Musicians Club, an extension of what was a separate musicians'-union chapter, maintains jazz history.[162]
Rick James was born and raised in Buffalo and later lived on a ranch in the nearby Town of Aurora.[163] James formed his Stone City Band in Buffalo, and had national appeal with several crossover singles in the R&B, disco and funk genres in the late 1970s and early 1980s.[164] Around the same time, the jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra and jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. also got their start in the city.[165][166]
The Goo Goo Dolls, an alternative rock group which formed in 1986, had 19 top-ten singles. Singer-songwriter and activist Ani DiFranco has released over 20 folk and indie rock albums on Righteous Babe Records, her Buffalo-based label.[167]
Underground hip-hop acts in the city partner with Buffalo-based Griselda Records, whose artists include Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, and Benny the Butcher, who all occasionally refer to Buffalo culture in their lyrics.[168]
The city's cuisine encompasses a variety of cultures and ethnicities. In 2015, the National Geographic Society ranked Buffalo third on its "World's Top Ten Food Cities" list.[169] Teressa Bellissimo first prepared Buffalo wings (seasoned chicken wings) at the Anchor Bar in 1964.[170] The Anchor Bar has a crosstown rivalry with Duff's Famous Wings, but Buffalo wings are served at many bars and restaurants throughout the city (some with unique cooking styles and flavor profiles).[171][172] Buffalo wings are traditionally served with blue cheese dressing and celery.[172] In 2003, the Anchor Bar received a James Beard Foundation Award in the America's Classics category.[173]
The Buffalo area has over 600 pizzerias, estimated at more per capita than New York City.[174] Several craft breweries began opening in the 1990s, and the city's last call is 4 am.[175] Other mainstays of Buffalo cuisine include beef on weck, butter lambs,[176] kielbasa, pierogi, sponge candy,[177] chicken finger subs (including the stinger - a version that also includes steak), and the fish fry (popular any time of year, but especially during Lent).[178] With an influx of refugees and other immigrants to Buffalo, its number of ethnic restaurants (including the West Side Bazaar kitchen incubator) has increased.[179][180] Some restaurants use food trucks to serve customers, and nearly fifty food trucks appeared at Larkin Square in 2019.[181][180]
Buffalo was ranked the seventh-best city in the United States to visit in 2021 by Travel + Leisure, which noted the growth and potential of the city's cultural institutions.[182] The Albright–Knox Art Gallery is a modern and contemporary art museum with a collection of more than 8,000 works, of which only two percent are on display.[183] With a donation from Jeffrey Gundlach, a three-story addition designed by the Dutch architectural firm OMA opened June 2023 .[184] Across the street, the Burchfield Penney Art Center contains paintings by Charles E. Burchfield and is operated by Buffalo State College.[185] Buffalo is home to the Freedom Wall, a 2017 art installation commemorating civil-rights activists throughout history.[186] Near both museums is the Buffalo History Museum, featuring artwork, literature and exhibits related to the city's history and major events, and the Buffalo Museum of Science is on the city's East Side.[187][188]
Canalside, Buffalo's historic business district and harbor, attracts more than 1.5 million visitors annually.[189] It includes the Explore & More Children's Museum, the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, LECOM Harborcenter, and a number of shops and restaurants. A restored 1924 carousel (now solar-powered) and a replica boathouse were added to Canalside in 2021.[190][191] Other city attractions include the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site, the Michigan Street Baptist Church, Buffalo RiverWorks, Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino, Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum, and the Nash House Museum.[161]
The National Buffalo Wing Festival is held every Labor Day at Sahlen Field.[192] Since 2002, it has served over 4.8 million Buffalo wings and has had a total attendance of 865,000.[193] The Taste of Buffalo is a two-day food festival held in July at Niagara Square, attracting 450,000 visitors annually.[194] Other events include the Allentown Art Festival, the Polish-American Dyngus Day, the Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts, Juneteenth in Martin Luther King Jr. Park, the World's Largest Disco in October and Friendship Festival in summer, which celebrates Canada-US relations.[161]
Buffalo has two major professional sports teams: the Buffalo Sabres (National Hockey League) and the Buffalo Bills (National Football League). The Bills were a founding member of the American Football League in 1960, and have played at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park since they moved from War Memorial Stadium in 1973. They are the only NFL team based in New York State.[i] Before the Super Bowl era, the Bills won the American Football League Championship in 1964 and 1965. With mixed success throughout their history, the Bills had a close loss in Super Bowl XXV and returned to consecutive Super Bowls after the 1991, 1992, and 1993 seasons (losing each time).[195] The Sabres, an expansion team in 1970, share KeyBank Center with the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League. The Bandits are the most decorated of the city's professional teams, with six championships.[196] The Bills, Sabres and Bandits are owned by Pegula Sports and Entertainment.
Several colleges and universities in the area field intercollegiate sports teams; the Buffalo Bulls and the Canisius Golden Griffins compete in NCAA Division I. The Bulls have 16 varsity sports in the Mid-American Conference (MAC);[197] the Golden Griffins field 15 teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), with the men's hockey team part of the Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA).[198] The Bulls participate in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of college football. Buffalo's minor-league teams include the Buffalo Bisons (Triple-A baseball), who play at Sahlen Field, and the Buffalo eXtreme (American Basketball Association), who play at XGen Elite Sports Complex in West Seneca.
Frederick Law Olmsted described Buffalo as being "the best planned city [...] in the United States, if not the world".[199] With encouragement from city stakeholders, he and Calvert Vaux augmented the city's grid plan by drawing inspiration from Paris and introducing landscape architecture with aspects of the countryside.[200] Their plan would introduce a system of interconnected parks, parkways and trails, unlike the singular Central Park in New York City.[200] The largest would be Delaware Park, across Forest Lawn Cemetery to amplify the amount of open space.[200] With construction of the system finishing in 1876, it is regarded as the country's oldest; however, some of Olmsted's plans were never fully realized.[199] Some parks later diminished and succumbed to diseases, highway construction, and weather events such as Lake Storm Aphid in 2006.[96][200] The non-profit Buffalo Olmsted Park Conservancy was created in 2004 to help preserve the 850 acres (340 ha) of parkland.[201] Olmsted's work in Buffalo inspired similar efforts in cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston.[200]
The city's Division of Parks and Recreation manages over 180 parks and facilities, seven recreational centers, twenty-one pools and splash pads, and three ice rinks.[202] The 350-acre (140 ha) Delaware Park features the Buffalo Zoo, Hoyt Lake, a golf course, and playing fields. Buffalo collaborated with its sister city Kanazawa to create the park's Japanese Garden in 1970, where cherry blossoms bloom in the spring.[203] Opening in 1976, Tifft Nature Preserve in South Buffalo is on 264 acres (107 ha) of remediated industrial land. The preserve is an Important Bird Area, including a meadow with trails for hiking and cross-country skiing, marshland and fishing.[204] The Olmsted-designed Cazenovia and South Parks, the latter home to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, are also in South Buffalo.[205] According to the Trust for Public Land, Buffalo's 2022 ParkScore ranking had high marks for access to parks, with 89 percent of city residents living within a ten-minute walk from a park. The city ranked lower in acreage, however; nine percent of city land is devoted to parks, compared with the national median of about fifteen percent.[206][needs update]
Efforts to convert Buffalo's former industrial waterfront into recreational space have attracted national attention, with some writers comparing its appeal to that of Niagara Falls.[207] Redevelopment of the waterfront began in the early 2000s, with the reconstruction of historically aligned canals on the site of the former Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Placemaking initiatives would lead to the area's popularity, rather than permanent buildings and attractions.[208] Under Mayor Byron Brown, Canalside was cited by the Brookings Institution as an example of waterfront revitalization for other U.S. cities to follow.[209] Summer events have included paddle-boating and fitness classes, and the frozen canals permit ice skating, curling, and ice cycling in winter.[207] Its success spurred the state to create Buffalo Harbor State Park in 2014; the park has trails, open recreation areas, bicycle paths and piers.[210] The park's Gallagher Beach, the city's only public beach, has prohibited swimming due to high bacteria levels and other environmental concerns.[211]
The Shoreline Trail passes through Buffalo near the Outer Harbor, Centennial Park, and the Black Rock Canal.[212] The North Buffalo–Tonawanda rail trail begins in Shoshone Park, near the LaSalle metro station in North Buffalo.[213]
Buffalo has a Strong mayor–council government. As the chief executive of city government, the mayor oversees the heads of the city's departments, participates in ceremonies, boards and commissions, and is as the liaison between the city and local cultural institutions.[214] Some agencies, including utilities, urban renewal and public housing, are state- and federally-funded public benefit-corporations semi-independent of city government.[215] Christopher Scanlon has served as acting mayor since 2024, following the resignation of Byron Brown.[216] No Republican has been mayor of Buffalo since Chester A. Kowal in 1965.[217]
With its nine districts, the Buffalo Common Council enacts laws, levies taxes, and approves mayoral appointees and the city budget.[218] Bryan Bollman has been the Common Council president since 2024.[219] Generally reflecting the city's electorate, all nine councilmen are members of the Democratic Party. Buffalo is the Erie County seat, and is within five of the county's eleven legislative districts.[220]
The city is part of the Eighth Judicial District. Court cases handled at the city level include misdemeanors, violations, housing matters, and claims under $15,000; more severe cases are handled at the county level.[221] Buffalo is represented by members of the New York State Assembly and New York State Senate. At the federal level, the city takes up most of New York's 26th congressional district and has been represented by Democrat Tim Kennedy since 2024.
Federal offices in the city include the Buffalo District of the United States Army Corps of Engineers' Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation,[222] and the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.
In 2020, the city spent $519 million (~$602 million in 2023) on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.[223] The city in 2024 is hampered with a severe budget deficit attributed to the Byron Brown administration.[224]
Buffalo is served by the Buffalo Police Department. The police commissioner is Byron Lockwood, who was appointed by Mayor Byron Brown in 2018.[226] Although some criminal activity in the city remains higher than the national average, total crimes have decreased since the 1990s; one reason may be the gun buyback program implemented by the Brown administration in the mid-2000s.[227] Before this, the city was part of the nationwide crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s and its accompanying record-high crime levels.[227] In 2018, city police began wearing 300 body cameras.[228] A 2021 Partnership for the Public Good report noted that the BPD, which had a 2020–21 budget of about $145.7 million, had an above-average police-to-citizen ratio of 28.9 officers per 10,000 residents in 2020 – higher than peer cities Minneapolis and Toledo, Ohio.[229] The force had a roster of 740 officers during the year, about two-thirds of whom handled emergency requests, road patrol and other non-office assignments.[229] The department has been criticized for misconduct and brutality, including the 2004 wrongful termination of officer Cariol Horne for opposing police brutality toward a suspect[230] and a 2020 protest-shoving incident.[231]
The Buffalo Fire Department and American Medical Response (AMR) handle fire-protection and emergency medical services (EMS) calls in the city.[232] The fire department has about 710 firefighters[233] and thirty-five stations, including twenty-three engine companies and twelve ladder companies.[234] The department also operates the Edward M. Cotter, considered the world's oldest active fireboat.[235]
With vacant and abandoned homes prone to arson, squatting, prostitution and other criminal activities, the fire and police department's resources were overburdened before the 2010s. Buffalo ranked second nationwide to St. Louis for vacant homes per capita in 2007, and the city began a five-year program to demolish five thousand vacant, damaged and abandoned homes.[236][237] On May 14, 2022, there was a mass shooting in a Tops supermarket on the East Side of Buffalo where 13 victims were shot in a racially motivated attack by a white supremacist who was not a Buffalo native. Ten victims, all of whom were black, were murdered and three were injured.[238][239]
Buffalo's major daily newspaper is The Buffalo News. Established in 1880 as the Buffalo Evening News, the newspaper is estimated to have a daily circulation of 87,000 and 125,000 on Sundays (down from a high of 300,000).[240] The newspaper announced a pending sale of its building in February 2023, and the relocation of its printing operations to Cleveland, Ohio.[241][242] Other newspapers in the Buffalo area include the Black-focused Buffalo Criterion and Challenger Community News, The Record of Buffalo State University,[243] The Spectrum of the University at Buffalo,[244] and Buffalo Business First.[245]
Eighteen radio stations are licensed in Buffalo, including an FM station at Buffalo State College.[246] Over ninety FM and AM radio signals can be received throughout the city.[247] Eight full-power television outlets serve the city. Major stations include WKBW-TV (ABC), WIVB-TV (CBS), WGRZ (NBC), WUTV (Fox, received in parts of Southern Ontario), and WNED-TV (PBS); WNED reported that most of the station's members live in the Greater Toronto Area.[248] According to Nielsen Media Research, the Buffalo television market was the 51st largest in the United States as of 2020[update].[249]
Movies shooting significant footage in Buffalo include Hide in Plain Sight (1980),[250] Tuck Everlasting (1981),[250] Best Friends (1982),[250] The Natural (1984),[250] Vamping (1984),[250] Canadian Bacon (1995),[250] Buffalo '66 (1998),[250] Manna from Heaven (2002),[250] Bruce Almighty (2003),[251] The Savages (2007),[250] Slime City Massacre (2010), Henry's Crime (2011),[250] Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014),[251] Killer Rack (2015), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016),[252] Marshall (2016),[251] The American Side (2017),[253] The First Purge (2018),[254] The True Adventures of Wolfboy (2019)[255] and A Quiet Place Part II (2021).[256] Although higher Buffalo production costs led to some films being finished elsewhere, tax credits and other economic incentives have enabled new film studios and production facilities to open.[257] In 2021, several studio projects were in the planning stages.[258][259]
Late 19th and early 20th century
In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was dedicated in New York Harbor. The statue welcomed 14 million immigrants as they came to the U.S. via Ellis Island by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is a symbol of the United States and American ideals of liberty and peace.[109][110]
In 1898, the City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then a separate city), the County of New York (which then included parts of the Bronx), the County of Richmond, and the western portion of the County of Queens.[111] The opening of the New York City Subway in 1904, first built as separate private systems, helped bind the new city together.[112] Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication.[113]
In 1904, the steamship General Slocum caught fire in the East River, killing 1,021 people.[114] In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the city's worst industrial disaster, killed 146 garment workers and spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and major improvements in factory safety standards.[115]
New York's non-White population was 36,620 in 1890.[116] New York City was a prime destination in the early 20th century for Blacks during the Great Migration from the American South, and by 1916, New York City had the largest urban African diaspora in North America.[117] The Harlem Renaissance of literary and cultural life flourished during the era of Prohibition.[118] The larger economic boom generated construction of skyscrapers competing in height.[119]
New York City became the most populous urbanized area in the world in the early 1920s, overtaking London. The metropolitan area surpassed 10 million in the early 1930s, becoming the first megacity.[120] The Great Depression saw the election of reformer Fiorello La Guardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance.[121]
Returning World War II veterans created a post-war economic boom and the development of large housing tracts in eastern Queens and Nassau County, with Wall Street leading America's place as the world's dominant economic power. The United Nations headquarters was completed in 1952, solidifying New York's global geopolitical influence, and the rise of abstract expressionism in the city precipitated New York's displacement of Paris as the center of the art world.[122]
Steel, challenges, and the modern era
At the start of the 20th century, Buffalo was the world's leading grain port and a national flour-milling hub.[49] Local mills were among the first to benefit from hydroelectricity generated by the Niagara River. Buffalo hosted the 1901 Pan-American Exposition after the Spanish–American War, showcasing the nation's advances in art, architecture, and electricity. Its centerpiece was the Electric Tower, with over two million light bulbs, but some exhibits were jingoistic and racially charged.[50][51][52] At the exposition, President William McKinley was assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz.[53] When McKinley died, Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in at the Wilcox Mansion in Buffalo.[54]
Attorney John Milburn and local industrialists convinced the Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company to relocate from Scranton, Pennsylvania to the town of West Seneca in 1904. Employment was competitive, with many Eastern Europeans and Scrantonians vying for jobs.[47] From the late 19th century to the 1920s, mergers and acquisitions led to distant ownership of local companies; this had a negative effect on the city's economy.[55][56] Examples include the acquisition of Lackawanna Steel by Bethlehem Steel and, later, the relocation of Curtiss-Wright in the 1940s.[57] The Great Depression saw severe unemployment, especially among the working class. New Deal relief programs operated in full force, and the city became a stronghold of labor unions and the Democratic Party.[58]
During World War II, Buffalo regained its manufacturing strength as military contracts enabled the city to manufacture steel, chemicals, aircraft, trucks and ammunition.[57] The 15th-most-populous US city in 1950, Buffalo's economy relied almost entirely on manufacturing; eighty percent of area jobs were in the sector.[57] The city also had over a dozen railway terminals, as railroads remained a significant industry.[56]
The St. Lawrence Seaway was proposed in the 19th century as a faster shipping route to Europe, and later as part of a bi-national hydroelectric project with Canada.[57] Its combination with an expanded Welland Canal led to a grim outlook for Buffalo's economy. After its 1959 opening, the city's port and barge canal became largely irrelevant. Shipbuilding in Buffalo wound down in the 1960s due to reduced waterfront activity, ending an industry which had been part of the city's economy since 1812.[59] Downsizing of the steel mills was attributed to the threat of higher wages and unionization efforts.[57] Racial tensions culminated in riots in 1967.[57] Suburbanization led to the selection of the town of Amherst for the new University at Buffalo campus by 1970.[57] Unwilling to modernize its plant, Bethlehem Steel began cutting thousands of jobs in Lackawanna during the mid-1970s before closing it in 1983.[55] The region lost at least 70,000 jobs between 1970 and 1984.[55] Like much of the Rust Belt, Buffalo has focused on recovering from the effects of late-20th-century deindustrialization.[60]
Panorama of downtown Buffalo and its waterfront in 1880
Buffalo is on the eastern end of Lake Erie opposite Fort Erie, Ontario. It is at the head of the Niagara River, which flows north over Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario.
The Buffalo metropolitan area is on the Erie/Ontario Lake Plain of the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands, a narrow plain extending east to Utica, New York.[61][62] The city is generally flat, except for elevation changes in the University Heights and Fruit Belt neighborhoods.[63] The Southtowns are hillier, leading to the Cattaraugus Hills in the Appalachian Upland.[61][62] Several types of shale, limestone and lagerstätten are prevalent in Buffalo and its surrounding area, lining their stream beds.[64]
According to Fox Weather, Buffalo is one of the top five snowiest large cities in the country, receiving, on average, 95 inches of snow annually.
Although the city has not experienced any recent or significant earthquakes, Buffalo is in the Southern Great Lakes Seismic Zone (part of the Great Lakes tectonic zone).[65][66] Buffalo has four channels within its boundaries: the Niagara River, Buffalo River (and Creek), Scajaquada Creek, and the Black Rock Canal, adjacent to the Niagara River.[67] The city's Bureau of Forestry maintains a database of over seventy thousand trees.[68]
According to the United States Census Bureau, Buffalo has an area of 52.5 sq mi (136 km2); 40.38 sq mi (104.6 km2) is land, and the rest is water.[69] The city's total area is 22.66 percent water. In 2010, its population density was 6,470.6 per square mile.[69]
Buffalo's architecture is diverse, with a collection of 19th- and 20th-century buildings.[70] Downtown Buffalo landmarks include Louis Sullivan's Guaranty Building, an early skyscraper;[71][72] the Ellicott Square Building, once one of the largest of its kind in the world;[73] the Art Deco Buffalo City Hall and the McKinley Monument, and the Electric Tower. Beyond downtown, the Buffalo Central Terminal was built in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood in 1929; the Richardson Olmsted Complex, built in 1881, was an insane asylum[74] until its closure in the 1970s.[75] Urban renewal from the 1950s to the 1970s spawned the Brutalist-style Buffalo City Court Building and Seneca One Tower, the city's tallest building.[76] In the city's Parkside neighborhood, the Darwin D. Martin House was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in his Prairie School style.[77] Since 2016, Washington DC real estate developer Douglas Jemal has been acquiring, and redeveloping, iconic properties throughout the city.[78]
Skyline of Buffalo, looking east from Lake Erie
According to Mark Goldman, the city has a "tradition of separate and independent settlements".[79] The boundaries of Buffalo's neighborhoods have changed over time. The city is divided into five districts, each containing several neighborhoods, for a total of thirty-five neighborhoods.[80] Main Street divides Buffalo's east and west sides, and the west side was fully developed earlier.[79] This division is seen in architectural styles, street names, neighborhood and district boundaries, demographics, and socioeconomic conditions; Buffalo's West Side is generally more affluent than its East Side.[81][82]
Several neighborhoods in Buffalo have had increased investment since the 1990s, beginning with the Elmwood Village.[83] The 2002 redevelopment of the Larkin Terminal Warehouse led to the creation of Larkinville, home to several mixed-use projects and anchored by corporate offices.[84] Downtown Buffalo and its central business district (CBD) had a 10.6-percent increase in residents from 2010 to 2017, as over 1,061 housing units became available;[85] the Seneca One Tower was redeveloped in 2020.[86] Other revitalized areas include Chandler Street, in the Grant-Amherst neighborhood, and Hertel Avenue in Parkside.[83][87]
The Buffalo Common Council adopted its Green Code in 2017, replacing zoning regulations which were over sixty years old. Its emphasis on regulations promoting pedestrian safety and mixed land use received an award at the 2019 Congress for the New Urbanism conference.[88]
Buffalo has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfa),[89][90] and temperatures have been warming with the rest of the US.[91] Lake-effect snow is characteristic of Buffalo winters, with snow bands (producing intense snowfall in the city and surrounding area) depending on wind direction off Lake Erie.[92] However, Buffalo is rarely the snowiest city in the state.[93][94] The Blizzard of 1977 resulted from a combination of high winds and snow which accumulated on land and on the frozen Lake Erie.[95] Although snow does not typically impair the city's operation, it can cause significant damage in autumn (as the October 2006 storm did).[96] In November 2014 (called "Snowvember"), the region had a record-breaking storm which produced over 5+1⁄2 ft (66 in; 170 cm) of snow.[97] Buffalo's lowest recorded temperature was −20 °F (−29 °C), which occurred twice: on February 9, 1934, and February 2, 1961.[98]
Although the city's summers are drier and sunnier than other cities in the northeastern United States, its vegetation receives enough precipitation to remain hydrated.[90] Buffalo summers are characterized by abundant sunshine, with moderate humidity and temperatures;[90] the city benefits from cool, southwestern Lake Erie summer breezes which temper warmer temperatures.[90][62] Temperatures rise above 90 °F (32.2 °C) an average of three times a year.[90] No official recording of 100 °F (37.8 °C) or more has occurred to date, with a maximum temperature of 99 °F (37 °C) reached on August 27, 1948.[98] Rainfall is moderate, typically falling at night, and cooler lake temperatures hinder storm development in July.[90][99] August is usually rainier and muggier, as the warmer lake loses its temperature-controlling ability.[90]
Several hundred Seneca, Tuscarora and other Iroquois tribal peoples were the primary residents of the Buffalo area before 1800, concentrated along Buffalo Creek.[107] After the Revolutionary War, settlers from New England and eastern New York began to move into the area.
From the 1830s to the 1850s, they were joined by Irish and German immigrants from Europe, both peasants and working class, who settled in enclaves on the city's south and east sides.[41] At the turn of the 20th century, Polish immigrants replaced Germans on the East Side, who moved to newer housing; Italian immigrant families settled throughout the city, primarily on the lower West Side.[79]
During the 1830s, Buffalo residents were generally intolerant of the small groups of Black Americans who began settling on the city's East Side.[41][g] In the 20th century, wartime and manufacturing jobs attracted Black Americans from the South during the First and Second Great Migrations. In the World War II and postwar years from 1940 to 1970, the city's Black population rose by 433 percent. They replaced most of the Polish community on the East Side, who were moving out to suburbs.[108][109] However, the effects of redlining, steering,[110] social inequality, blockbusting, white flight[110] and other racial policies resulted in the city (and region) becoming one of the most segregated in the U.S.[109][111][112]
During the 1940s and 1950s, Puerto Rican migrants arrived en masse, also seeking industrial jobs, settling on the East Side and moving westward.[113] In the 21st century, Buffalo is classified as a majority minority city, with a plurality of residents who are Black and Latino.
Buffalo has experienced effects of urban decay since the 1970s, and also saw population loss to the suburbs and Sun Belt states, and experienced job losses from deindustrialization.[114] The city's population peaked at 580,132 in 1950, when Buffalo was the 15th-largest city in the United States – down from the eighth-largest city in 1900, after its growth rate slowed during the 1920s.[49] Buffalo finally saw a population gain of 6.5% in the 2020 census, reversing a decades long trend of population decline. The city has 278,349 residents as of the 2020 census, making it the 76th-largest city in the United States.[10] Its metropolitan area had 1.1 million residents in 2020, the country's 49th-largest.[6]
Compared to other major US metropolitan areas, the number of foreign-born immigrants to Buffalo is low. New immigrants are primarily resettled refugees (especially from war- or disaster-affected nations) and refugees who had previously settled in other U.S. cities.[115] During the early 2000s, most immigrants came from Canada and Yemen; this shifted in the 2010s to Burmese (Karen) refugees and Bangladeshi immigrants.[115] Between 2008 and 2016, Burmese, Somali, Bhutanese, and Iraqi Americans were the four largest ethnic immigrant groups in Erie County.[115]
A 2008 report noted that although food deserts were seen in larger cities and not in Buffalo, the city's neighborhoods of color have access only to smaller grocery stores and lack the supermarkets more typical of newer, white neighborhoods.[116] A 2018 report noted that over fifty city blocks on Buffalo's East Side lacked adequate access to a supermarket.[109]
Health disparities exist compared to the rest of the state: Erie County's average 2019 lifespan was three years lower (78.4 years); its 17-percent smoking and 30-percent obesity rates were slightly higher than the state average.[117] According to the Partnership for the Public Good, educational achievement in the city is lower than in the surrounding area; city residents are almost twice as likely as adults in the metropolitan area to lack a high-school diploma.[118]
During the early 19th century, Presbyterian missionaries tried to convert the Seneca people on the Buffalo Creek Reservation to Christianity. Initially resistant, some tribal members set aside their traditions and practices to form their own sect.[119][107] Later, European immigrants added other faiths. Christianity is the predominant religion in Buffalo and Western New York. Catholicism (primarily the Latin Church) has a significant presence in the region, with 161 parishes and over 570,000 adherents in the Diocese of Buffalo.[120] Major Protestant denominations in the area include Lutheran, Baptist, and Methodist. Pentecostals are also significant, and approximately 20,000 persons are non-denominational adherents.[needs update][121]
A Jewish community began developing in the city with immigrants from the mid-1800s; about one thousand German and Lithuanian Jews settled in Buffalo before 1880. Buffalo's first synagogue, Temple Beth El, was established in 1847.[122] The city's Temple Beth Zion is the region's largest synagogue.[123]
With changing demographics and an increased number of refugees from other areas on the city's East Side,[124] Islam and Buddhism have expanded their presence. In this area, new residents have converted empty churches into mosques and Buddhist temples.[125] Hinduism maintains a small, active presence in the area, including the town of Amherst.[126]
A 2016 American Bible Society survey reported that Buffalo is the fifth-least "Bible-minded" city in the United States; 13 percent of its residents associate with the Bible.[127]
The Erie Canal was the impetus for Buffalo's economic growth as a transshipment hub for grain and other agricultural products headed east from the Midwest. Later, manufacturing of steel and automotive parts became central to the city's economy.[129] When these industries downsized in the region, Buffalo's economy became service-based. Its primary sectors include health care, business services (banking, accounting, and insurance), retail, tourism and logistics, especially with Canada.[129] Despite the loss of large-scale manufacturing, some manufacturing of metals, chemicals, machinery, food products, and electronics remains in the region.[130] Advanced manufacturing has increased, with an emphasis on research and development (R&D) and automation.[130] In 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis valued the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls MSA at $53 billion (~$62.3 billion in 2023).[131]
The civic sector is a major source of employment in the Buffalo area, and includes public, non-profit, healthcare and educational institutions.[132] New York State, with over 19,000 employees, is the region's largest employer.[133] In the private sector, top employers include the Kaleida Health and Catholic Health hospital networks and M&T Bank, the sole Fortune 500 company headquartered in the city.[134] Most have been the top employers in the region for several decades.[135] Buffalo is home to the headquarters of Rich Products, Delaware North and New Era Cap Company; the aerospace manufacturer Moog Inc. and toy maker Fisher-Price are based in nearby East Aurora. National Fuel Gas and Life Storage are headquartered in Williamsville, New York.
Buffalo weathered the Great Recession of 2006–09 well in comparison with other U.S. cities, exemplified by increased home prices during this time.[136] The region's economy began to improve in the early 2010s, adding over 25,000 jobs from 2009 to 2017.[130] With state aid, Tesla, Inc.'s Giga New York plant opened in South Buffalo in 2017.[137] The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, however, increased the local unemployment rate to 7.5 percent by December 2020.[138] The local unemployment rate had been 4.2 percent in 2019,[139] higher than the national average of 3.5 percent.[140]
Ferries, taxis and trams
The Staten Island Ferry is the world's busiest ferry route, carrying more than 23 million passengers from July 2015 through June 2016 on a 5.2-mile (8.4 km) route between Staten Island and Lower Manhattan and running 24/7.[566][567] Other ferry systems shuttle commuters between Manhattan and other locales within the city and the metropolitan area. NYC Ferry, a NYCEDC initiative with routes planned to travel to all five boroughs, was launched in 2017.[568]
Identified by their color and taxi medallion, the city's 13,587 yellow taxicabs are the only vehicles allowed to pick up riders making street hails throughout the city.[569] Apple green-colored boro taxis can pick up street hails in Upper Manhattan and the four outer boroughs.[570] Long dominated by yellow taxis, high-volume for hire vehicles from Uber and Lyft have provided the most trips in the city since December 2016, when the for-hire vehicles and cabs each had about 10.5 million trips. By October 2023, the 78,000 vehicles-for-hire from such companies as Uber and Lyft combined for 20.3 million trips, while 3.5 million trips were in yellow taxis.[571][572]
The Roosevelt Island Tramway, an aerial tramway that began operation in May 1976,[573] transports 2 million passengers per year the 3,140 feet (960 m) between Roosevelt Island and a station at 59th Street and Second Avenue on Manhattan Island.[574]
New York City has mixed cycling conditions which include urban density, relatively flat terrain, congested roadways with stop-and-go traffic, and many pedestrians. The city's large cycling population includes utility cyclists, such as delivery and messenger services; recreational cycling clubs; and an increasing number of commuters. Cycling is increasingly popular in New York City; in 2022 there were approximately 61,200 people who commuted daily using a bicycle and 610,000 daily bike trips, with both numbers nearly doubling over the previous decade.[224] As of 2022[update], New York City had 1,525 miles (2,454 km) of bike lanes, including 644 miles (1,036 km) of segregated or "protected" bike lanes citywide.[224]
Streets are also a defining feature of the city. New York has been found to lead the world in urban automobile traffic congestion.[29] Commissioners' Plan of 1811 greatly influenced its physical development. New York City has an extensive web of freeways and parkways, which link the city's boroughs to each other and to North Jersey, Westchester County, Long Island, and southwestern Connecticut through bridges and tunnels. Because these highways serve millions of outer borough and suburban residents who commute into Manhattan, it is common for motorists to be stranded for hours in traffic congestion that are a daily occurrence, particularly during rush hour.[575][576] Congestion pricing in New York City was approved in March 2024 and is expected to enter into force in mid-June if lawsuits will not overturn it.[577]
Unlike the rest of the United States, New York State prohibits right or left turns on red lights at traffic signals in cities with a population greater than one million, to reduce traffic collisions and increase pedestrian safety. In New York City, therefore, all turns on red lights are illegal unless a sign permitting such maneuvers is present.[578]
The boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island are located on islands with the same names, while Queens and Brooklyn are at the west end of the larger Long Island, and the Bronx is on New York State's mainland. Manhattan Island is linked to New York City's outer boroughs and to New Jersey by an extensive network of bridges and tunnels. The 14-lane George Washington Bridge, connecting Manhattan to New Jersey across the Hudson River, is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge.[579][580] The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, spanning the Narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island, is the longest suspension bridge in the Americas and one of the world's longest.[581][582] The Brooklyn Bridge, with its stone neo-Gothic suspension towers, is an icon of the city itself; opened in 1883, it was the first steel-wire suspension bridge and was the longest suspension bridge in the world until 1903.[583][584] The Queensboro Bridge "was the longest cantilever span in North America" from 1909 to 1917.[585] The Manhattan Bridge, opened in 1909, "is considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges", and its design "served as the model for the major long-span suspension bridges" of the early 20th century.[586] The Throgs Neck Bridge and Whitestone Bridge connect Queens and the Bronx, while the Triborough Bridge connects the three boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx.
The Lincoln Tunnel, which carries 120,000 vehicles a day under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Midtown Manhattan, is the busiest vehicular tunnel in the world.[587] The tunnel was built instead of a bridge to allow unfettered passage of large passenger and cargo ships that sailed through New York Harbor and up the Hudson River to Manhattan's piers. The Holland Tunnel, connecting Lower Manhattan to Jersey City, New Jersey, was the first mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel when it opened in 1927.[588][589] The Queens–Midtown Tunnel, built to relieve congestion on the bridges connecting Manhattan with Queens and Brooklyn, was the largest non-federal project in its time when it was completed in 1940.[590] The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel (officially known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) is the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in North America and runs underneath Battery Park, connecting the Financial District in Lower Manhattan to Red Hook in Brooklyn.[591]
Jadwal Sholat Bulanan untuk New York - Tahun 2024 M
Pre-Columbian era to European exploration
Before the arrival of Europeans, nomadic Paleo-Indians inhabited the western New York region from the 8th millennium BCE. The Woodland period began around 1000 BC, marked by the rise of the Iroquois Confederacy and the spread of its tribes throughout the state.[11][12] Seventeenth-century Jesuit missionaries were the first Europeans to visit the area.[13]
During French exploration of the region in 1620, the region was sparsely populated and occupied by the agrarian Erie people in the south and the Neutral Nation in the north, with a relatively small tribe, the Wenrohronon, between and the Senecas, an Iroquois tribe, occupying the land just east of the region.[11] The Neutral grew tobacco and hemp to trade with the Iroquois, who traded furs with the French for European goods.[11] The tribes used animal- and war paths to travel and move goods across what today is New York State. (Centuries later, these same paths were gradually improved, then paved, then developed into major modern roads.)[11] Traditional Seneca oral legends, as recounted by professional storytellers known as Hagéotâ, were highly participatory. These tales were told only during winter, as they were believed to have the power to put even animals and plants to sleep, which could affect the harvest. At the conclusion, audience members typically offered gifts, such as tobacco, to the storyteller as a sign of appreciation.[14] During the Beaver Wars in the mid-17th century the Senecas conquered the Erie and Neutrals in the region.[15][16][17] Native Americans did not settle along Buffalo Creek permanently until 1780, when displaced Senecas were relocated from Fort Niagara.[13]
Louis Hennepin and Sieur de La Salle explored the upper Niagara and Ontario regions in the late 1670s.[18] In 1679, La Salle's ship, Le Griffon, became the first to sail above Niagara Falls near Cayuga Creek.[19] Baron de Lahontan visited the site of Buffalo in 1687.[20] A small French settlement along Buffalo Creek lasted for only a year (1758). After the French and Indian War, the region was ruled by Britain.[13] After the American Revolution, the Province of New York—now a U.S. state—began westward expansion, looking for arable land by following the Iroquois.[21]
New York and Massachusetts were vying for the territory which included Buffalo, and Massachusetts had the right to purchase all but a one-mile-(1600-meter)-wide portion of land. The rights to the Massachusetts territories were sold to Robert Morris in 1791.[22] Despite objections from Seneca chief Red Jacket, Morris brokered a deal between fellow chief Cornplanter and the Dutch dummy corporation Holland Land Company.[a][23][24] The Holland Land Purchase gave the Senecas three reservations, and the Holland Land Company received 4,000,000 acres (16,000 km2) for about thirty-three cents per acre.[23]
Permanent white settlers along the creek were prisoners captured during the Revolutionary War.[25][13] Early landowners were Iroquois interpreter Captain William Johnston, former enslaved man Joseph "Black Joe" Hodges and Cornelius Winney, a Dutch trader who arrived in 1789.[13][26] As a result of the war, in which the Iroquois sided with the British Army, Iroquois territory was gradually reduced in the late 1700s by European settlers through successive statewide treaties which included the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784) and the First Treaty of Buffalo Creek (1788).[27] The Iroquois were moved onto reservations, including Buffalo Creek. By the end of the 18th century, only 338 sq mi (216,000 acres; 880 km2; 88,000 ha) of reservations remained.[28]
After the Treaty of Big Tree removed Iroquois title to lands west of the Genesee River in 1797, Joseph Ellicott surveyed land at the mouth of Buffalo Creek.[25][29] In the middle of the village was an intersection of eight streets at present-day Niagara Square. Originally named New Amsterdam, its name was soon changed to Buffalo.[30]
Late 20th and early 21st centuries
In 1969, the Stonewall riots were a series of violent protests by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village.[126] They are widely considered to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement[123][127][128][129] and the modern fight for LGBT rights.[130][131] Wayne R. Dynes, author of the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, wrote that drag queens were the only "transgender folks around" during the June 1969 Stonewall riots. The transgender community in New York City played a significant role in fighting for LGBT equality.[132]
In the 1970s, job losses due to industrial restructuring caused New York City to suffer from economic problems and rising crime rates.[133] Growing fiscal deficits in 1975 led the city to appeal to the federal government for financial aid; President Gerald Ford gave a speech denying the request, which was paraphrased on the front page of the New York Daily News as "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD."[134] The Municipal Assistance Corporation was formed and granted oversight authority over the city's finances.[135] While a resurgence in the financial industry greatly improved the city's economic health in the 1980s, New York's crime rate continued to increase through that decade and into the beginning of the 1990s.[136]
By the mid-1990s, crime rates started to drop dramatically due to revised police strategies, improving economic opportunities, gentrification, and new residents, both American transplants and new immigrants from Asia and Latin America.[citation needed] New York City's population exceeded 8 million for the first time in the 2000 United States census;[137] further records were set in 2010, and 2020 U.S. censuses.[138] Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley, emerged in the city's economy.[139]
The advent of Y2K was celebrated with fanfare in Times Square.[140] New York City suffered the bulk of the economic damage and largest loss of human life in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks.[141] Two of the four airliners hijacked that day were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, resulting in the collapse of both buildings and the deaths of 2,753 people, including 343 first responders from the New York City Fire Department and 71 law enforcement officers.[142]
The area was rebuilt with a new World Trade Center, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, and other new buildings and infrastructure,[143] including the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, the city's third-largest hub.[144] The new One World Trade Center is the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere[145] and the seventh-tallest building in the world by pinnacle height, with its spire reaching a symbolic 1,776 feet (541.3 m), a reference to the year of U.S. independence.[146][147][148]
The Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan began on September 17, 2011, receiving global attention and popularizing the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality worldwide.[149]
New York City was heavily affected by Hurricane Sandy in late October 2012. Sandy's impacts included flooding that led to the days-long shutdown of the subway system[150] and flooding of all East River subway tunnels and of all road tunnels entering Manhattan except the Lincoln Tunnel.[151] The New York Stock Exchange closed for two days due to weather for the first time since the Great Blizzard of 1888.[152] At least 43 people died in New York City as a result of Sandy, and the economic losses in New York City were estimated to be roughly $19 billion.[153] The disaster spawned long-term efforts towards infrastructural projects to counter climate change and rising seas, with $15 billion in federal funding received through 2022 towards those resiliency efforts.[154][155]
In March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in the city was confirmed.[156] With its population density and its extensive exposure to global travelers, the city rapidly replaced Wuhan, China as the global epicenter of the pandemic during the early phase, straining the city's healthcare infrastructure.[157][158] Through March 2023, New York City recorded more than 80,000 deaths from COVID-19-related complications.[159]
New York City is situated in the northeastern United States, in southeastern New York State, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston. Its location at the mouth of the Hudson River, which feeds into a naturally sheltered harbor and then into the Atlantic Ocean, has helped the city grow in significance as a trading port. Most of the city is built on the three islands of Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island.
During the Wisconsin glaciation, 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, the New York City area was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet.[160] The erosive forward movement of the ice (and its subsequent retreat) contributed to the separation of what is now Long Island and Staten Island. That action left bedrock at a relatively shallow depth, providing a solid foundation for most of Manhattan's skyscrapers.[161]
The Hudson River flows through the Hudson Valley into New York Bay. Between New York City and Troy, New York, the river is an estuary.[162] The Hudson River separates the city from New Jersey. The East River—a tidal strait—flows from Long Island Sound and separates the Bronx and Manhattan from Long Island. The Harlem River, another tidal strait between the East and Hudson rivers, separates most of Manhattan from the Bronx. The Bronx River, which flows through the Bronx and Westchester County, is the only entirely freshwater river in the city.[163][importance?]
The city's land has been altered substantially by human intervention, with considerable land reclamation along the waterfronts since Dutch colonial times; reclamation is most prominent in Lower Manhattan, with developments such as Battery Park City in the 1970s and 1980s.[164] Some of the natural relief in topography has been evened out, especially in Manhattan.[165]
The city's total area is 468.484 square miles (1,213.37 km2). 302.643 sq mi (783.84 km2) of the city is land and 165.841 sq mi (429.53 km2) of it is water.[166][167] The highest point in the city is Todt Hill on Staten Island, which, at 409.8 feet (124.9 m) above sea level, is the highest point on the eastern seaboard south of Maine.[168] The summit of the ridge is mostly covered in woodlands as part of the Staten Island Greenbelt.[169]
New York City is sometimes referred to collectively as the Five Boroughs.[170] Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of New York State, making New York City one of the U.S. municipalities in multiple counties.
Manhattan (New York County) is the geographically smallest and most densely populated borough. It is home to Central Park and most of the city's skyscrapers, and is sometimes locally known as The City.[171] Manhattan's population density of 70,450.8 inhabitants per square mile (27,201.2/km2) in 2022 makes it the highest of any county in the United States and higher than the density of any individual American city.[172] Manhattan is the cultural, administrative, and financial center of New York City and contains the headquarters of many major multinational corporations, the United Nations headquarters, Wall Street, and a number of important universities. The borough is often described as the financial and cultural center of the world.[173][174]
Brooklyn (Kings County), on the western tip of Long Island, is the city's most populous borough. Brooklyn is known for its cultural, social, and ethnic diversity, an independent art scene, distinct neighborhoods, and a distinctive architectural heritage. Downtown Brooklyn is the largest central core neighborhood in the Outer Boroughs. The borough has a long beachfront shoreline including Coney Island, established in the 1870s as one of the earliest amusement grounds in the U.S.[175] Marine Park and Prospect Park are the two largest parks in Brooklyn.[176] Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a thriving hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms,[177][178] and of postmodern art and design.[178][179] Brooklyn is also home to Fort Hamilton, the U.S. military's only active duty installation within New York City,[180] aside from Coast Guard operations. The facility was established in 1825 on the site of a battery used during the American Revolution, and it is one of America's longest-serving military forts.[181]
Queens (Queens County), on Long Island north and east of Brooklyn, is geographically the largest borough, the most ethnically diverse county in the United States,[182] and the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world.[183][184] Queens is the site of the Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, and hosts the annual U.S. Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, with plans to build Etihad Park, a soccer-specific stadium for New York City FC.[185] Additionally, two of the three busiest airports serving the New York metropolitan area, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, are in Queens.[186]
The Bronx (Bronx County) is both New York City's northernmost borough and the only one that is mostly on the U.S. mainland. It is the location of Yankee Stadium, the baseball park of the New York Yankees, and home to the largest cooperatively-owned housing complex in the United States, Co-op City.[187] It is home to the Bronx Zoo, the world's largest metropolitan zoo,[188] which spans 265 acres (1.07 km2) and houses more than 6,000 animals.[189] The Bronx is the birthplace of hip hop music and its associated culture.[190] Pelham Bay Park is the largest park in New York City, at 2,772 acres (1,122 ha).[191]
Staten Island (Richmond County) is the most suburban in character of the five boroughs. It is connected to Brooklyn by the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and to Manhattan by way of the free Staten Island Ferry. In central Staten Island, the Staten Island Greenbelt spans approximately 2,500 acres (10 km2), including 28 miles (45 km) of walking trails and one of the last undisturbed forests in the city.[192] Designated in 1984 to protect the island's natural lands, the Greenbelt comprises seven city parks.
Under the Köppen climate classification, New York City has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), and is the northernmost major city on the North American continent with this categorization. The suburbs to the immediate north and west are in the transitional zone between humid subtropical and humid continental climates (Dfa).[193][194] The city receives an average of 49.5 inches (1,260 mm) of precipitation annually, which is relatively evenly spread throughout the year. New York averages over 2,500 hours of sunshine annually.[195]
Winters are chilly and damp, and prevailing wind patterns that blow sea breezes offshore temper the moderating effects of the Atlantic Ocean; yet the Atlantic and the partial shielding from colder air by the Appalachian Mountains keep the city warmer in the winter than inland North American cities at similar or lesser latitudes.[196] The daily mean temperature in January, the area's coldest month, is 33.3 °F (0.7 °C).[197] Temperatures usually drop to 10 °F (−12 °C) several times per winter,[198] yet can also reach 60 °F (16 °C) for several days even in the coldest winter month. Spring and autumn are unpredictable and can range from cool to warm, although they are usually mild with low humidity. Summers are typically hot and humid, with a daily mean temperature of 77.5 °F (25.3 °C) in July.[197]
Nighttime temperatures are 9.5 °F (5.3 °C) degrees higher for the average city resident due to the urban heat island effect, caused by paved streets and tall buildings.[199] Daytime temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average of 17 days each summer and in some years exceed 100 °F (38 °C), although this is a rare occurrence, last noted on July 18, 2012.[200][201][202][203] Similarly, readings of 0 °F (−18 °C) are extremely rare, last occurring on February 14, 2016.[204] Extreme temperatures have ranged from 106 °F (41 °C), recorded on July 9, 1936, down to −15 °F (−26 °C) on February 9, 1934;[197] the coldest recorded wind chill was −37 °F (−38 °C) on the same day as the all-time record low.[205] Average winter snowfall between 1991 and 2020 was 29.8 inches (76 cm); this varies considerably between years. The record cold daily maximum was 2 °F (−17 °C) on December 30, 1917, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum was 87 °F (31 °C), on July 2, 1903.[200] The average water temperature of the nearby Atlantic Ocean ranges from 39.7 °F (4.3 °C) in February to 74.1 °F (23.4 °C) in August.[206]
Hurricanes and tropical storms are rare in the New York area.[207] Hurricane Sandy brought a destructive storm surge to New York City on the evening of October 29, 2012, flooding numerous streets, tunnels, and subway lines in Lower Manhattan and other areas of the city and cutting off electricity in many parts of the city and its suburbs.[208] The storm and its profound impacts have prompted the discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around the shorelines of the city and the metropolitan area to minimize the risk of destructive consequences from another such event in the future.[154]
See Climate of New York City for additional climate information from the outer boroughs.
The city of New York has a complex park system, with various lands operated by the National Park Service, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. In its 2023 ParkScore ranking, the Trust for Public Land reported that the park system in New York City was the tenth-best park system among the most populous U.S. cities, citing the city's park acreage, investment in parks and that 99% of residents are within 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) of a park.[210]
Gateway National Recreation Area contains over 26,000 acres (110 km2), most of it in New York City.[211] In Brooklyn and Queens, the park contains over 9,000 acres (36 km2) of salt marsh, wetlands, islands, and water, including most of Jamaica Bay and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Also in Queens, the park includes a significant portion of the western Rockaway Peninsula, most notably Jacob Riis Park and Fort Tilden.[212] In Staten Island, it includes Fort Wadsworth, with historic pre-Civil War era Battery Weed and Fort Tompkins, and Great Kills Park.[213]
The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island Immigration Museum are managed by the National Park Service and are in both New York and New Jersey. They are joined in the harbor by Governors Island National Monument. Historic sites under federal management on Manhattan Island include Stonewall National Monument; Castle Clinton National Monument; Federal Hall National Memorial; Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site; General Grant National Memorial (Grant's Tomb); African Burial Ground National Monument; and Hamilton Grange National Memorial. Hundreds of properties are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or as a National Historic Landmark.
There are seven state parks within the confines of New York City. They include: the Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve, a natural area that includes extensive riding trails; the Riverbank State Park, a 28-acre (11 ha) facility;[214] and the Marsha P. Johnson State Park, a state park in Brooklyn and Manhattan that borders the East River renamed in honor of Marsha P. Johnson.[215]
New York City has over 28,000 acres (110 km2) of municipal parkland and 14 miles (23 km) of public beaches.[216] The largest municipal park in the city is Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, with 2,772 acres (1,122 ha),[191][217] and the most visited urban park is the Central Park, and one of the most filmed and visited locations in the world, with 42 million visitors in 2023.[218]
Environmental issues in New York City are affected by the city's size, density, abundant public transportation infrastructure, and its location at the mouth of the Hudson River. For example, it is one of the country's biggest sources of pollution and has the lowest per-capita greenhouse gas emissions rate and electricity usage. Governors Island is planned to host a US$1 billion research and education center to make New York City the global leader in addressing the climate crisis.[221]
As an oceanic port city, New York City is vulnerable to long-term manifestations of global warming like sea level rise exacerbated by land subsidence.[222] Climate change has spawned the development of a significant climate resiliency and environmental sustainability economy in the city. New York City has focused on reducing its environmental impact and carbon footprint. Mass transit use is the highest in the United States.
New York's high rate of public transit use, more than 610,000 daily cycling trips as of 2022[update],[224] and many pedestrian commuters make it the most energy-efficient major city in the United States.[225] Walk and bicycle modes of travel account for 21% of all modes for trips in the city; nationally, the rate for metro regions is about 8%.[226] In both its 2011 and 2015 rankings, Walk Score named New York City the most walkable large city in the United States,[227][228][229] and in 2018, Stacker ranked New York the most walkable U.S. city.[230] Citibank sponsored public bicycles for the city's bike-share project, which became known as Citi Bike, in 2013.[231] New York City's numerical "in-season cycling indicator" of bicycling in the city had hit an all-time high of 437 when measured in 2014.[232]
The New York City drinking water supply is extracted from the protected Catskill Mountains watershed.[233] As a result of the watershed's integrity and undisturbed natural water filtration system, New York is one of only four major cities in the United States the majority of whose drinking water is pure enough not to require purification through water treatment plants.[234] The city's municipal water system is the largest in the United States, moving more than 1 billion U.S. gallons (3.8 billion liters) of water daily from a watershed covering 1,900 square miles (4,900 km2)[235][236]
According to the 2016 World Health Organization Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database,[237] the annual average concentration in New York City's air of particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5) was 7.0 micrograms per cubic meter, or 3.0 micrograms within the recommended limit of the WHO Air Quality Guidelines for the annual mean PM2.5.[238] The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in partnership with Queens College, conducts the New York Community Air Survey to measure pollutants at about 150 locations.[239]
New York City is the most populous city in the United States,[5] with 8,804,190 residents as of the 2020 United States census, its highest decennial count ever, incorporating more immigration into the city than outmigration since the 2010 census.[4][242][243] More than twice as many people live in New York City as in Los Angeles, the second-most populous U.S. city.[5] The city's population in 2020 was 31.2% White (non-Hispanic), 29.0% Hispanic or Latino, 23.1% Black or African American (non-Hispanic), 14.5% Asian, and 0.6% Native American (non-Hispanic), with 8.9% listing two or more races.[4] A total of 3.4% of the non-Hispanic population identified with more than one race.[244]
Between 2010 and 2020, New York City gained 629,000 residents, more than any other U.S. city, and a greater amount than the total sum of the gains over the same decade of the next four largest U.S. cities (Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix) combined.[245][246] The city's population density of 27,744.1 inhabitants per square mile (10,712.1/km2) makes it the densest of any American municipality with a population above 100,000.[172] Manhattan's population density is 70,450.8 inhabitants per square mile (27,201.2/km2), the highest of any county in the United States.[172]
Based on data from the 2020 census, New York City comprises about 43.6% of the state's population of 20,202,320,[4] and about 39% of the population of the New York metropolitan area.[247] The majority of New York City residents in 2020 (5,141,539 or 58.4%) were living in Brooklyn or Queens, the two boroughs on Long Island.[248] As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York,[22][249][250][251] and the New York City metropolitan statistical area has the largest foreign-born population of any metropolitan region in the world. The New York region continues to be by far the leading metropolitan gateway for legal immigrants admitted into the United States, substantially exceeding the combined totals of Los Angeles and Miami.[252] Nearly seven times as many young professionals applied for jobs in New York City in 2023 as compared to 2019, making New York the most popular destination for recent college graduates.[253]
Erie Canal, grain and commerce
The village of Buffalo was named for Buffalo Creek.[b][32] British military engineer John Montresor referred to "Buffalo Creek" in his 1764 journal, the earliest recorded appearance of the name.[33] A road to Pennsylvania from Buffalo was built in 1802 for migrants traveling to the Connecticut Western Reserve in Ohio.[34] Before an east–west turnpike across the state was completed, traveling from Albany to Buffalo would take a week; a trip from nearby Williamsville to Batavia could take over three days.[35][c]
British forces burned Buffalo and the northwestern village of Black Rock in 1813.[36] The battle and subsequent fire was in response to the destruction of Niagara-on-the-Lake by American forces and other skirmishes during the War of 1812.[37][38][13] Rebuilding was swift, completed in 1815.[39][38] As a remote outpost, village residents hoped that the proposed Erie Canal would bring prosperity to the area.[23] To accomplish this, Buffalo's harbor was expanded with the help of Samuel Wilkeson; it was selected as the canal's terminus over the rival Black Rock.[13] It opened in 1825, ushering in commerce, manufacturing and hydropower.[23] By the following year, the 130 sq mi (340 km2) Buffalo Creek Reservation (at the western border of the village) was transferred to Buffalo.[28] Buffalo was incorporated as a city in 1832.[40] During the 1830s, businessman Benjamin Rathbun significantly expanded its business district.[23] The city doubled in size from 1845 to 1855. Almost two-thirds of the city's population was foreign-born, largely a mix of unskilled (or educated) Irish and German Catholics.[41][42]
Fugitive slaves made their way north to Buffalo during the 1840s.[43] Buffalo was a terminus of the Underground Railroad, with many free Black people crossing the Niagara River to Fort Erie, Ontario;[44] others remained in Buffalo.[41] During this time, Buffalo's port continued to develop. Passenger and commercial traffic expanded, leading to the creation of feeder canals and the expansion of the city's harbor.[45] Unloading grain in Buffalo was a laborious job, and grain handlers working on lake freighters would make $1.50 a day (equivalent to $49 in 2023[46]) in a six-day work week.[45] Local inventor Joseph Dart and engineer Robert Dunbar created the grain elevator in 1843, adapting the steam-powered elevator. Dart's Elevator initially processed one thousand bushels per hour, speeding global distribution to consumers.[45] Buffalo was the transshipment hub of the Great Lakes, and weather, maritime and political events in other Great Lakes cities had a direct impact on the city's economy.[45] In addition to grain, Buffalo's primary imports included agricultural products from the Midwest (meat, whiskey, lumber and tobacco), and its exports included leather, ships and iron products. The mid-19th century saw the rise of new manufacturing capabilities, particularly with iron.[45]
By the 1860s, many railroads terminated in Buffalo; they included the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad, Buffalo and Erie Railroad, the New York Central Railroad, and the Lehigh Valley Railroad.[20] During this time, Buffalo controlled one-quarter of all shipping traffic on Lake Erie.[20] After the Civil War, canal traffic began to drop as railroads expanded into Buffalo.[47] Unionization began to take hold in the late 19th century, highlighted by the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and 1892 Buffalo switchmen's strike.[48]
