{"id":427401,"date":"2023-04-20T09:34:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T13:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitbuffaloniagara.com\/?page_id=427401"},"modified":"2023-06-15T09:03:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T13:03:27","slug":"the-rebirth-of-buffalo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.visitbuffaloniagara.com\/the-rebirth-of-buffalo\/","title":{"rendered":"The ReBirth of Buffalo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Rebirth of Buffalo\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby Ed Healy<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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by Ed Healy<\/h1>\n

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It was a warm summer evening as more than 500 bicyclists gathered in the shadow of Buffalo\u2019s Central Terminal for a Monday night ride organized by Slow Roll Buffalo<\/a>. That week\u2019s 10-mile route was named the \u201cNew Good Neighbors Ride\u201d in recognition of the new immigrants from places like Bangladesh and Burma who are helping to repopulate the city. The diverse group of riders shared a sense of community and the joy of being on their bikes as they set off down Paderewski Drive. It was a pedal party that not too long ago would have been unimaginable. Now it\u2019s just a typical happening in the \u201cnew\u201d Buffalo.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>

Elmwood Village<\/p><\/div>\n

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Slow Rolls, as well as any number of amenities, attractions, festivals, walks, talks and tours that today are woven deeply into the fabric of Buffalo were not even a gleam in the city\u2019s collective imagination forty years ago when Buffalo\u2019s reign as an industrial powerhouse was coming to an end.<\/p>\n

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As local historian Mark Goldman enumerates in the opening chapter of his new book, City of My Heart, at that time there was no Olmsted Parks Conservancy, no Garden Walk<\/a>, no Slow Roll, no \u201cElmwood Village,\u201d no Juneteenth<\/a>, no Burmese Water Festival, no bike paths, no farmers\u2019 markets, and very few places to simply sit outside and have a cup of coffee. Buffalo was a post-industrial city that couldn\u2019t envision a future beyond industry.<\/p>\n

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Buffalo had been a classic 19th<\/sup> century American boomtown, a center of shipping, flour milling, railroads and eventually, industries like steel, automobiles, and aerospace.<\/p>\n

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Buffalo became a wealthy city whose aspirations to greatness were reflected in its palatial homes, broad boulevards, expansive parks, seminal cultural institutions, and ambitious architecture. By the middle of the 20th century, however, Buffalo\u2019s glory had begun to fade, and its legacy of greatness entered a long period of decline.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEach time a cherished building was demolished, a park and parkway trashed, a piece of the waterfront despoiled, the people of Buffalo gradually began to lose their connection to their roots,\u201d Goldman says. \u201cAnd as they did, their city, like a flower or plant, began to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

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