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Strange looks appeared on people’s faces when I told them, “We are going to Buffalo!”

While many have the impression of Buffalo as a city in decline, I had read good things about the new Buffalo and wanted to check it out.

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Buffalo, founded in 1801, quickly grew to become the dominant city of the eastern Great Lakes, a major headquarters for grain, steel and automobile industries. It became one of the wealthiest cities in North America by the end of the 19th century.

By the middle of the 20th century, Buffalo was a city in decline as the result of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which created a new and preferred waterway to the Atlantic and the emergence of trucking as an alternative to rail. Every city has its heyday — Buffalo’s was from 1880 to 1950.

Today, Buffalo is reinventing itself and is on the upswing. I thought it might be interesting to do a Calgary/Buffalo comparison given Calgary’s struggles with a changing economy.