NTHP conference, day 4

I started the day with a tour of the grain elevators downtown. They were very important to the building up of Buffalo, especially after the building of the Erie Canal. Buffao was the main port to get things from the East Coast to the inland areas.  There are still about 15 elevators left, and we saw about 4 of them.

We walked by the General Mills plant, but we were told repeatedly not to take any pictures in there. The tour guides gave out little boxes of General Mills cereal, though. I got Lucky Charms. They also make Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, Total, and Wheaties at the plant that services the entire Northeast.



We also saw a crew team on the river:

And the E.M. Cotter, the oldest working fireboat in the world:

We also saw one of the boats that are working to dredge the Buffalo river and remove some of the pollutants in the sediment.



We walked through the Cobblestone district, with cobblestone streets that Ellen Kost, who works with us on the HPC helped to clear the asphalt from:



There are some beautiful, but abandoned buildings in need of some major TLC.

That area is only about a block from the major hockey and event arena. It's amazing that it is so run-down when it used to have so much activity there. There is so much potential!

After the tour I went to have lunch with the other scholarship participants at D'Arcy McGee's. It was just sandwiches, but it was nice to have another free meal :). I sat with the county historian for Wayne County. He is retired from Eastman Kodak, and went to work there after he found out that the position was vacant. He was interesting to talk to. It gave me an idea to have our county historian come talk at an event sponsored by the HPC, since this man said he speaks wherever and whenever it's requested of him.

When I got home and looked up Erie County's historian, I found out it's a volunteer position held by a Clarence Middle School teacher. How lame is that? Wayne County, which has a total population of 90,000, has 1.6 staff members, and Erie County with a population of 919,000 has 0. But I think we should still have our county historian come speak - the website says he's willing to do it.

It was a great conference, and I'm glad I was able to go. I learned a lot and I think out commission can do a lot, I just have to find the time to do it  (that's the hard part).