Two centuries ago, Buffalo began to develop around the Commercial Slip and the mouth of the Buffalo River. That origin is being explored in a play being staged in the same area at Canalside.
The producers and the actors and the writers are making their plan clear, with the name "It Happened Here: The Story of Buffalo Play."
They also make it clear, this isn't about the rich merchants or developers but about the people who kept going with strong backs and determination to survive. Some did become rich, like businessman and newspaper publisher William "Fingy" Connors.
"This is a very, very specific site in Buffalo. It's where the lake met the Hudson River, right here," said Mark Goldman, President of Friends of the Buffalo Story.
Friends of the Buffalo Story President Mark Goldman says the play shows history.
"So, we've created a site-specfic performance piece that brings to life six or seven of the characters who lived and worked down here."
Goldman has written several books about Buffalo history.
Besides the play, the group is also running waterfront tours and lectures to tell the story of the people who physically built this city. Peter Dow points to Fingy Connors who started with nothing and wound up in a Delaware Avenue mansion.
"Fingy Connors started out as a dockworker. Ended up with a house on Delaware Avenue. Made a ton of money, exploited a lot of people in the process," Dow explained.
"Dock workers worked for him but his father taught him that if you want to make it in this life, you run your own show. That's what he ended up doing. It's a wonderful story."
The Connors mansion still stands at Delaware and West Ferry. That story and that of many other one-time local residents goes on stage at seven tonight in Canalside.
More information can be found here.
