Buffalo Maps

In case it isn’t clear, we don’t own any old maps. We watch for when map owners digitize and upload theirs, then we add links. Links to commercial sites should not be considered endorsements.

Date Range	Name & Link	Description
Undated	Street Name Changes in Buffalo	There were a lot of street name changes around the turn of the 20th century. A list courtesy of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.
1785-1835	Holland Land Company	Over 1300 full color, hand-drawn maps online here of Buffalo, Erie County, and all of Western New York. Courtesy of SUNY/Fredonia.
1800	Plan of New Amsterdam on Lake Erie	Possibly the first map ever drawn of what later became Buffalo
1800	Plan of the Village of New Amsterdam	Another rendering of what became Buffalo
1802	Original Land Subdivisions in Buffalo	A black & white map showing the names and outlines of large tracts of land in early Buffalo, including the Buffalo Creek reservation
1802	Original Land Subdivisions in Buffalo	This map, produced in 1901, takes the tract boundaries shown in the map above and superimposes modern-day city streets over them. Shows the original boundaries of Black Rock.
1804	Proposed Plan of Black Rock	Proposed plan of the village at Black Rock
1804?	Village of New Amsterdam	A color version of Joseph Ellicott’s map
1804	Village of New Amsterdam	As designed by Joseph Ellicott, before the name Buffalo stuck
ca. 1805	Village of Buffalo	The inner lots, essentially the Niagara Square/Main Street portion of downtown Buffalo
ca. 1805	Village of Buffalo	Courtesy of the New York State Archives
ca. 1810	Village of Black Rock Prior to War of 1812	Includes the location of the actual black rock
1812	War of 1812 Sites	A Google map of sites in the Buffalo area associated with the War of 1812
1813	Village of Black Rock	Peter Porter’s hand-drawn map showing location of major buildings and the location of the original black rock on the left edge of the image
1813	Buffalo Village	Shows buildings and some land owners prior to the burning of Buffalo
1813	Map of Burned Buffalo	A diagram of the tiny village of Buffalo that was burned during the War of 1812. Includes buildings.
1813	Battle of Buffalo: Buildings Destroyed and Burnt	A contemporary map of downtown Buffalo with an overlay of the buildings that were burned during the War of 1812
1814	Niagara River	Shows “Buffaloe Creek” and Black Rock
1822	Plan of Inner Lots, 206-214	On the Buffalo Creek
1826	Plan for Locating Public Lands on the Margin of Black Rock Harbor	Courtesy of the New York State Archives
1827	South Village of Black Rock	Courtesy of the New York State Archives
1829	Black Rock	Part of the Niagara River and plan of the proposed harbor at Black Rock
1829	Niagara River	Shows Unity (formerly Squaw) Island and harbor at Black Rock
1830s-1864	Underground Railroad	A modern Google map by this webmaster showing Underground Railroad sites in Buffalo, according to period sources
1834	Erie Canal Surveys	Maps of the Erie Canal from Buffalo to Royalton, brought to you by the New York State Archives
1835	Black Rock	Southwest of Fort Porter. Courtesy of the New York State Archives
1836	Village of Black Rock	Courtesy of the New York State Archives
1836	Buffalo	Shows ward boundaries for the 1840 and 1850 censuses. By W.B. Gilbert.
1836	Buffalo	Same as above, with greater zoom & download sizes. Courtesy of the NY Public Library.
1838	Buffalo	An interesting negative (white on black background) map of the downtown area
1840	Map of the vicinity of Buffalo	Bathymetric map of the harbor. Courtesy of the NY Public Library
ca. 1840?	Niagara River	Shows proposed bridge crossings and ship canal at Buffalo
1841	Buffalo Creek Reservation	A basic outline map showing the changing boundaries of the Seneca territory
1842	Buffalo Creek Reservation	Shows part of the reservation territory north of the Buffalo River
1846	Black Rock Village	Shows the lots along the Niagara River south of Albany Street. Courtesy of the New York State Archives
1849	Buffalo	Includes ward boundaries for the 1840 & 1850 censuses. Look for numbers 1-5 and subtle dotted lines
1851	Buffalo	Shows lot lines, lot numbers, acreages, and street names. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
1853	Buffalo Harbor	A bird’s eye view of the foot of Main Street
1854	Buffalo Harbor	Shows the breakwater and water depths
1854	Quackenboss & Kennedy Atlas	Downtown Buffalo only. Courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum.
1855	Buffalo	Oddly printed with the Niagara River flowing east-west, but shows ward boundaries
1855-1890	Ward Map of Buffalo for Census Years 1855-1890	Title is self-explanatory
1858?	Niagara River at the City of Buffalo Shewing Proposed Bridge Crossings & Ship Canal	Shows a portion of the Niagara River beginning at Lake Erie and ending at Squaw Island (now called Unity Island). Includes the Black Rock Harbor.
Ca. 1860	State Land in Buffalo	Niagara River from York to Ferry Streets, including Fort Porter. Courtesy of the New York State Archives
1863	Bird’s Eye View of the City of Buffalo	Photos of an enormous lithograph in the “Neighbors” exhibit at The Buffalo History Museum. Shows individual buildings.
1866	Buffalo	From the Stone & Stewart Atlas of Erie County.  Shows some buildings as tiny black squares or undifferentiated blocks.
1866	Buffalo	Same as above, only this version is available as a reprint
1866	Buffalo	From the Stone & Stewart Atlas of Erie County. This site sells reproductions of the plates.
1866	Buffalo River	Shows Buffalo River with an overlay of a modern aerial photograph
ca. 1870	Buffalo Psychiatric Center, Plan of Grounds	As designed by Olmsted & Vaux for what we now call the Richardson complex
ca. 1870	Delaware Park	Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1870-1899	Front Park	39 drawings & plans. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1872	New York State Asylum for the Insane	Now called the Richardson-Olmsted complex. 25 plans & drawings. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1872	Cornelius Creek	The now-buried stream is shown with an overlay of a modern aerial photo
1872	Hopkins Atlas of Buffalo	This is the first atlas to show footprints of buildings for the entire city of Buffalo. Courtesy of the NY Public Library.
1872	Hopkins Atlas of Buffalo	This site sells reproductions of the plates.
1874	North Street Circle	Now Symphony Circle. 4 plans & drawings. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
ca. 1875	Improvement of Batavia Street	Now Broadway at Lafayette Square. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
ca. 1875	Lafayette Square	2 drawings. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
ca. 1875	Parkside neighborhood	37 plans & drawings. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1876	Prospect Place	Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1876	Refectory at the Parade	Now Martin Luther King Park. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1878-1879	Delaware Park	10 drawings & plans. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1880	Buffalo Ward Map	Shows names of large landowners. Reproduced from the Beers Atlas of Erie County. Courtesy of the NY Public Library.
1880	Buffalo Parks	A schematic map showing the street grid but not street names, with the Olmsted park system in contrasting black
1880	Bird’s Eye View of Buffalo	An artist’s conception showing downtown in the foreground
1881	Olmsted’s Sketch map of Buffalo	Buffalo’s park system as planned by Olmsted
1881	Olmsted’s Sketch Map of Buffalo	Same as above, but with greater zoom & download capability. Courtesy of the NY Public Library.
1882	Buffalo Harbor and Head of Niagara River	From House Document 72, 55th Congress, 1st Session
1883-1887	Terrace Park	5 plans & drawings. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1884	Trunk Sewer Line in Buffalo	Map showing new underground sewer system
1884	Western Terminus of the Erie Canal	The Canal District with a modern aerial photograph superimposed on it
1887	Bennett Park	5 plans & drawings. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1887	Day’s Park	3 plans & drawings. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1887	Masten Place	5 plans & drawings. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1887-1895	South Park	114 plans & drawings. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1888	All Roads Will Lead to Buffalo in September	BIrd’s eye view to promote the International Industrial Fair
1889	City of Buffalo	Street map by Rand McNally
1890s-1940s	Sanborn Maps	Show individual buildings. Multiple volumes are now online courtesy of the Library of Congress.
1891	Addition to the Front	4 drawings & plans. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1891	City of Buffalo	From Atlas of the World
1891	City of Buffalo atlas	The entire G.M. Hopkins atlas. Shows individual buildings.
1892	City of Buffalo	From The Indexed Atlas of the World
1892-1896	Cazenovia Park	13 drawings & plans. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1893	Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, and Buffalo atlas	The entire atlas by G.M. Hopkins. Shows individual buildings. Images are zoomable and can be purchased as reproductions.
1893	City of Buffalo	The Buffalo map from the G.M. Hopkins Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, and Buffalo atlas. Shows ward boundaries. Can be purchased as a reproduction.
1893	Christian Homestead Association Map	This is the notorious “brothel map” of Buffalo’s Canal District. Courtesy of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.
1894	City of Buffalo Atlas	All 3 volumes are online, courtesy of the County of Erie. Each volume has a clickable map to open the matching page in the atlas. Shows individual buildings.
1894	City of Buffalo	Shows ward boundaries
1894-1899	Jones Tract	Now called Riverside Park. 19 plans & drawings. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1895	Buffalo Ward Map	Full color sheet map published by Joseph Rudolph Bien. Courtesy of David Rumsey.
1895	Buffalo Ward Map	Same as above, brought to you by Historic Maps Restored. Available as a reprint.
1895	Buffalo	By Rand McNally & Company
1895	Borings for Natural Gas in the City of Buffalo	From the New York State Museum 49th Annual Report of 1895
1896	Buffalo	From Cram’s Universal Atlas Geographical, Astronomical and Historical
1897	Buffalo	From a Rand McNally’s Atlas of the World
1897-1902	Delaware Park	49 plans & drawings. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1897	Good Roads, Buffalo Section	A bicycling guidebook with maps
1898	Buffalo	From Cram’s Universal Atlas, Geographical, Astronomical and Historical
1898	Main Portion of Buffalo	From Rand McNally and Company
1900	City of Buffalo	From Universal Atlas of the World
1900	City of Buffalo	Another copy from Universal Atlas of the World
1900	Lake Erie Entrance to Black Rock Harbor and Erie Basin	From U.S. House of Representatives, 56th Congress, 1st Session, Doc. No. 143
1901	Buffalo	From Rand McNally’s Enlarged Business Atlas and Shippers Guide
1901	Buffalo	Another map from Rand McNally, fully zoomable
1901	Buffalo Church Map	A 1901 map recreated as a Google Map. Churches are color-coded by denomination, some with pictures. Courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum.
1901	New Map of the City of Buffalo	Shows the Pan American Exposition grounds in relation to the rest of the city. By George Cram.
1901	New Map of the City of Buffalo	Same as above, courtesy of the Boston Public Library.
1901	Pan-American Exposition Grounds	A large-scale, detailed black & while map
1901	Pan-American Exposition Grounds	A rendering in black, white, and red
1901	Pan-American Exposition Grounds	Another color rendering
1901	Pan-American Exposition Grounds	A bird’s eye view in full color
1901 & later	Pan-American Exposition Grounds and Neighborhood Overlay	Shows the Pan Am grounds with an overlay of the streets that were built there after the Exposition
1901 & later	Pan-American Exposition Then and Now	Shows the Pan Am grounds with an overlay of the streets that were built there after the Exposition, courtesy of the Buffalo History Museum. The Temple of Music and the New York State Building are highlighted in yellow.
1901 & 1926	1926 Aerial Photo Superimposed on the Map of the Pan-American Exposition	A cool animation that shows a small section of the Exposition map morphing into an aerial photograph from 1926
1901 & 2007	Pan-American Exposition	A map of the grounds superimposed on a modern aerial photograph
1901-1999	Black Businesses in 20th Century Buffalo	A Google map of Black-owned businesses in mid-20th century Buffalo. Compiled by The Buffalo History  Museum in 2020.
1902	Bird’s Eye View of Buffalo	Zoom in and see individual buildings! Expect artistic shortcuts–the artist couldn’t go and sketch every single factory, house, and shed. But still impressive.
1905	City of Buffalo	From Enlarged Business Atlas and Shippers Guide
ca. 1905	Humboldt Park/Martin Luther King Park	18 plans & drawings. As designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Courtesy of the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
1906	Geological Map of Buffalo	“Typical geologic map with fine detail including details of Buffalo city proper and cross section printed perpendicular to map along edge.”
1907	Buffalo	From Cram’s Standard American Atlas
1907	Buffalo	From Dodd, Mead & Co.’s International Encyclopedia
1909	Buffalo	Another version from Baedeker’s Guide
1909	Buffalo Ward Map	From the Century Atlas of Erie County
1911	Buffalo	From Rand McNally’s Indexed Atlas
1912	Buffalo	From The Library Atlas of the World
1912	Buffalo	From The Rand McNally Imperial Atlas of the World
1914	Buffalo River Area	Shows the downtown and South Buffalo area from roughly Tupper Street to the Buffalo River
1915	New Century Atlas, vol. 1	Covers Buffalo downtown and north of downtown, shows individual buildings & names of some land owners
1915	New Century Atlas, vol. 1	Same as above, courtesy of the NY Public Library
1915	New Century Atlas, vol. 2	Covers Buffalo south of downtown, shows individual buildings & names of some land owners
1915	New Century Atlas, vol.2	Same as above, courtesy of the NY Public Library
1916	Buffalo	In two sections. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
1916	Up-to-Date Map of Buffalo	By Matthews-Northrup, courtesy of the Boston Public Library
1917	Buffalo	A street map produced for the 1917 Buffalo city directory. Courtesy of the NY State Archives. You may need to disable your pop-up blocker.
1916	Buffalo	From the Commercial Atlas of America
ca. 1920	Railroad Map of Buffalo	Shows “pre-merger” railroad lines along the Niagara River and in Buffalo
1920	Extension of City Limits	Shows how the city expanded over time
1920-1923	Prohibition Raids in Buffalo & Erie County	A Google map with 650 addresses. Courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum, compiled in 2019
1921	Buffalo	From Gazetteer of Cities and Towns of the World
1922	Plan of Buffalo	Very few street names are shown, but parks and major traffic routes are color-coded.
1925	Buffalo	From the Commercial Atlas of America
1925	Plan of Elevators, Mills, Warehouses, Yards and Docks of the Washburn-Crosby Company and Frontier Elevator & Mill Co.	A black & white rendering of grain elevators courtesy of the Library of Congress
1927 to the present	Buffalo: World Capital of Drivers Hitting Buildings	Added for sheer silliness.
1920s-1950s	Buffalo Movie Theaters	Hand drawn by Carl Zoschke
1932	Buffalo Property Values	Color-coded. By Curtis Pub. Co.
1935	Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority	Maps of the spatial distribution of ethnic & immigrant groups; population density; crime, juvenile delinquency, venereal disease; and other social conditions. Includes a ward map. Courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum.
1935	International Railway Co. Street Car and Bus Routes	Shows trolley and bus routes in Buffalo
1935-1940	Redlining Map of Buffalo	Scan, shape file, and neighborhood narratives are downloadable here
1938	Buffalo Police Precincts	Title is self-explanatory.
1940	Buffalo	Scanned in four sections
1945-1970	Buffalo Jazz Clubs, 1945-1970	A Google Map courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum, compiled in 2012
1950	Downtown Buffalo	Shows the property owners in downtown Buffalo just before the advent of Urban Removal and surface parking blight
1950	Historic USGS Maps	Focuses on railroads in Buffalo
1950s	New York Central Trackage in, Buffalo	Includes the New York Central Terminal
1982	Buffalo, New York and Vicinity Railroads & Industries	Very detailed
1984	Buffalo Central Terminal	Sanborn maps of the entire complex
1984	Bethlehem Steel	Maps of the complex in Lackawanna
1987	Buffalo Zoning Map	In four sections and in black & white. Courtesy of the University at Buffalo. Now out of date.
2000	Average Housing Age Distribution	Shows age of Buffalo houses based on census figures but does not make distinctions among houses older than 50 years, which is most of the city
2003	Downtown Buffalo Parking Lots and Ramps	Contrary to the popular imagination, there is so much parking downtown that there is little to do BUT park. Scroll down for map.
2004	Broadway-Fillmore Neighborhood	Shows house lots but not buildings.  A PDF.
2004	Triangle Neighborhood	South Park-Abbott Rd area in South Buffalo. Shows house lots but not buildings. A PDF.
2010	Buffalo Neighborhood Map	Courtesy of the University at Buffalo
2011	Buffalo Common Council Districts	A PDF
2015?	Buffalo High Schools	A Google map courtesy of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library
2016	Grover Cleveland Sites	A Google map of places in Buffalo where Grover Cleveland lived, worked, and spent leisure time. Courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum.
2017	Buffalo Grain Elevators	A Google map of grain elevators, past and present. Courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum.
2017	Historic Markers	A Google map of historic markers in Buffalo and Erie County. Courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum.
2017	Local Landmarks & HIstoric Districts	A very detailed PDF courtesy of Preservation Buffalo Niagara.
2018	Buffalo Drinking Map	A Google map of breweries, distilleries, wineries, malt houses, and cider houses, past and present, in Buffalo and Erie County. Courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum.
2018	Frank Lloyd Wright in Western New York	A Google map of sites associated with the architect
2018	Landmarks & Historic Districts	A color-coded PDF showing if your address is in a designated landmark district. Courtesy of Preservation Buffalo Niagara.
2018 to present	Little Libraries	Unofficial Google map of Little Libraries (LLs) in Buffalo & Erie County. Most are not registered & don’t appear on the official Little Free Library map. Locations are color-coded by city & town.
2019	Religious Centers of Western New York	A map of current churches, mosques, synagogues, and other houses of worship
2019	Women’s History	A Google map of sites in Buffalo & Erie County associated with women. Courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum.
2020	Erie County Cemeteries	A Google map of cemeteries & burial grounds in Buffalo and Erie County, past and present. Courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum.
2020	African-American Churches in Buffalo	A Google map courtesy of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library
2020	Landgrid: Buffalo	Mouse over any parcel and it shows you the current owner. Also shows a photo which may not be accurate.

Since you read this far, here’s an appreciation of Buffalo’s cartographers (mapmakers).

Update, Dec. 8, 2020: All links open in new tabs