The City of Buffalo pictured above is the third (and last) lake passenger ship to be named after the city.* It was owned and operated
by the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company. A sidewheeler, it was launched in 1895 and was at that time the largest passenger
ship on the lakes at 308 feet long. It was capable of carrying 800 tons of general cargo and 3,000 passengers.

The City of Buffalo had a 250 foot grand salon, public and private dining rooms, 160 staterooms,
and 640 berths. It generally ran between Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Duluth.

View of the gallery above the salon (or "saloon" as it was called). The running time between Buffalo
and Cleveland was around 9 hours. In 1901, the fare between those cities was $2.50 ($50.00 dollars
in 2005). Berths ranged from $.75 to $1.25 ($15.00 - $25.00). A typical schedule of the time had
the City of Buffalo departing for Cleveland Saturdays at 9 p.m. and arriving at 7:30 a.m. Sunday;
it left Cleveland Sunday night at 9 p.m. and arrived at Buffalo at 7:30 a.m. Monday morning.

A typical stateroom. By the early 1920's, several steamers left Buffalo daily with full passenger loads.
The city was served by such steamship companies as the Great Lakes Transit Co., the C & B, the
Detroit and Cleveland, Clover Leaf Steamboat Line, Union Transit Co, Soo Line (aka the Minneapolis,
St. Paul, & Buffalo Line). In 1923, 2.7 million passengers traveled the Great Lakes by steamship. They
utilized ships for business as well as pleasure trips, often cruising to northern Minnesota in summer.
Special Sunday day excursions were offered at low prices for trips to Dunkirk and back.

The Depression severely curtailed passenger steamship traffic on the Great Lakes. The City of Buffalo
met its demise in March 1938 when it burned at its winter mooring in Cleveland as it was being prepared
for the season (generally June - August). After World War II, passenger traffic continued to decline until
only the liner South American docked in Buffalo. It ceased operations in 1969, signalling the end of
Great Lakes passenger service out of Buffalo.

 

*The first City of Buffalo was built in 1857 by the Buffalo firm of Bidwell & Banta. It was a "palace steamer"
as the first luxury passenger ships were called. For more information on Bidwell and Banta and the
age of "palace steamers," see the Spring 2003 issue of the Western New York Heritage Press magazine.
Copies are still available for purchase.