

How to Use
the Map


Inquiry Question

Historical Context




Table of

Locating the Site

National Park Service

By the mid 1820s, Buffalo, New York, had become a transportation hub as the western terminus of the newly completed Erie Canal. The city eventually earned the title "Queen City of the Lakes." In 1901, Buffalo had the honor of hosting the Pan-American Exposition, a great technological world's fair. Leslie's Weekly wrote, "Few cities in the Western Hemisphere present more remarkable evidences of rapid growth and material progress than does...the Queen City of the Lakes."¹ Buffalo boasted railroads, steamship lines, and an extensive trolley car network. In addition, its close proximity (20 miles) to the waterpower of Niagara Falls gave Buffalo electricity 10 years before most other major cities.

Questions for Map 1

1. Locate Buffalo. What nearby natural features can you identify that may have influenced settlement in the area?

2. Use the map's scale to calculate the approximate length of the Erie Canal.

3. Why do you think Buffalo was a likely place to be chosen to host the Pan-American Exposition, which showcased new technology?

4. Locate the Adirondack Mountains where Roosevelt was vacationing when he learned that McKinley would probably not survive his injuries. What means of transportation would have been available to him to travel to Buffalo? (More information is provided in Reading 1.)

¹Leslie's Weekly Magazine, May 11, 1901.




Comments or Questions

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