Zach Klein's Blog

Buffalo, 1900

Before I became a loyal Hoosier, I was born in Rochester, NY then raised in Buffalo for 8 years. Almost all of my extended family still lives in Erie and Wyoming counties

I’m torn between my hometown allegiances, but what I’ve recently realized is how similar a story of these Great Lake, Rust Belt cities share: The epic of a boom town built on the shoulders of immigrants, and the tragedy of its collapse when her canals were outpaced by railroads and industry and the swells of people flooding the country moved past them further out West.

These old bones — Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Toledo and Fort Wayne — are still strong. I’m certain that the generation — we’re makers! — that inherited these places will weld something with the scraps.

BTW, here’s a current view of that scene.