Buffalo is an American city in western New York State. With a population of 279,745 as of the United States Census Bureau's 2005 estimate [1], it is the state's second-largest city, after New York City, and is the county seat of Erie County.GR6 The Buffalo-Niagara metropolitan area has a diverse population of 1.1 million. Buffalo's thriving arts, cultural, and nightlife scenes is considered the hub of the greater bi-national region in New York and Ontario.

Buffalo lies at the eastern end of Lake Erie near the head of the Niagara River, which connects to Lake Ontario. European-Americans first settled there in the late-18th century. Growth was slow until the city became the western terminus of the Erie Canal some forty years later. By the turn of the next century, Buffalo was one of the country's leading cities, and by far its largest inland port. The huge grain elevators and industrial plants that the canal spawned began to disappear in the mid-20th century as the Saint Lawrence Seaway enabled water traffic to bypass the city.