The Erie Basin Marina is a municipal

inland harbor An inland harbor (or inland harbour) is a harbor that is quite far away from the ocean or sea, such as Berlin, Germany or Paris, France. Inland harbors are connected to a large body of water by an important river or canal passing near the center o ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. The marina is primarily for residential usage, containing a large array of boat docks, gardens, and a public observatory overlooking the city and waterfront. The marina's harbor discharges into the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

and

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

. Erie Basin Marina sits immediately south of the Black Rock Canal and the north of Buffalo's

Inner Harbor The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and landmark of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. It was described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as "the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world". The ...

and Naval Park area, where it is joined by a promenade walkway. It is protected by a long breakwall constructed and maintained by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

. The harbor was designed to resemble an

American buffalo American Buffalo may refer to: *American Buffalo (play), ''American Buffalo'' (play), a play by David Mamet *American Buffalo (film), ''American Buffalo'' (film), a 1996 film of Mamet's play directed by Michael Corrente *American Buffalo (coin), a ...

when viewed from overhead.

History

Before the marina was constructed, it was the site of the Erie Basin, one of two connections from Buffalo's Outer Harbor to the Erie Canal in the 19th and early 20th-centuries. The excavation occurred between 1848 and 1852, then protected by a

seawall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation ...

of stones, wood and gravel. Its entrance was the site of Buffalo's first waterfront

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...

constructed by Joseph Dart. Later on, railroad tracks for

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...

were put in place in the same location, specifically for loading ships with coal ore. It was reported that in 1900, a steamer owned by the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

, ''Columbia'', was stolen by two tugboats from the basin on a June night. 20190611 - 02 - Erie Basin Marina

Constructed began in the 1950s and was completed by 1974, from slag of

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

and

Republic Steel Republic Steel is an American steel manufacturer that was once the country's third largest steel producer. It was founded as the Republic Iron and Steel Company in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899. After rising to prominence during the early 20th Centu ...

. When viewed from above, Erie Basin Marina has the shape of a buffalo, an intentional design feature paying homage to the city's

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...

. In recent years, contamination and sewage has become an issue for the harbor. The

Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) is a New York State public-benefit corporation responsible for the public transportation oversight of Erie and Niagara counties. The NFTA, as an authority, oversees a number of subsidiaries, ...

, which operates the marina, routinely clears logs and debris from the marina inlet. In addition, 10 million gallons of city sewage overflows in 2010 was cut down to four million in 2017 after infrastructure improvements were completed. $1 million was spent in 2010 on the reconstruction of the marina seawall, an extension of the boardwalk, and a concrete pier besides the observation tower. In 2013, developer Carl Paladino planned to construct a 14-story apartment complex at the entrance to the site. A new restaurant, William K's, opened in 2015, joining The Hatch at the marina.

References

External links

Official website
{{Culture of Buffalo, New York Marinas in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Buffalo, New York Tourist attractions in Buffalo, New York 1974 establishments in New York (state)

History

See also

References

External links