With the declining role of American manufacturing after the second world war due to globalization, open trade, and changing technologies, the fortunes of these industrial centers declined. The Erie Canal connected boat and rail traffic from the American mid-west via the Great Lakes to the eastern seaboard, forming the heart of the American manufacturing industry that was termed the Factory Belt. During its industrial peak, the city was the largest grain port in the world, with massive storage capacity with over 30 concrete grain elevators along the inner and outer harbours of Lake Erie. Giant reminders of Buffalo’s prosperous past, these behemoths are today abandoned and decaying – though a select few are still in limited use. Located just south of downtown on the banks of the Buffalo River, near the working class First Ward neighbourhood, Silo City (part of what’s known as “Elevator Alley”) is a cluster of grain elevators and silos built during the early 1900s. For others, the future is uncertain, relics of past industrial glory attracting urban explorers and the curious. Sometimes an area is resurrected and given a new lease on life, such as the Canalside historic district and Riverside entertainment complex. The history of the once-thriving areas, the stories of the people who lived and worked there, and the dramatic turn of fortunes that led to today’s empty crumbling structures have always fascinated me. Regular followers of this website will know I love photographing derelict buildings and abandoned places. ![]() The last stop on our mini-roadtrip to Western New York was also my favorite.
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