The Erie Basin Marina is a municipal inland harbor in Buffalo, New York. The marina is primarily for residential usage,[2]: 353 containing a large array of boat docks, gardens, and a public observatory overlooking the city and waterfront. The marina's harbor discharges into the Niagara River and Lake Erie.
Before the marina was constructed, it was the site of the Erie Basin, one of two connections from Buffalo's Outer Harbor to the Erie Canal in the 19th and early 20th-centuries.[5] The excavation occurred between 1848 and 1852, then protected by a seawall of stones, wood and gravel.[6] Its entrance was the site of Buffalo's first waterfront grain elevator constructed by Joseph Dart.[2]: 135 Later on,[when?] railroad tracks for Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad were put in place in the same location, specifically for loading ships with coal ore.[2]: 174
It was reported that in 1900, a steamer owned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Columbia, was stolen by two tugboats from the basin on a June night.[7]
View of the Observation Tower, June 2019
Constructed began in the 1950s[8] and was completed by 1974, from slag of Bethlehem and Republic Steel.[9] When viewed from above, Erie Basin Marina has the shape of a buffalo, an intentional design feature paying homage to the city's metonym.[8]
In recent years, contamination and sewage has become an issue for the harbor. The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, which operates the marina, routinely clears logs and debris from the marina inlet.[2]: 99 In addition, 10 million gallons of city sewage overflows in 2010 was cut down to four million in 2017 after infrastructure improvements were completed.[10]
$1 million was spent in 2010 on the reconstruction of the marina seawall, an extension of the boardwalk, and a concrete pier besides the observation tower.[11] In 2013, developer Carl Paladino planned to construct a 14-story apartment complex at the entrance to the site.[12] A new restaurant, William K's, opened in 2015, joining The Hatch at the marina.[13]
^Reports of selected cases decided in courts of the State of New York other than the Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court : miscellaneous reports. Williams Press. 1972. pp. 412–414.
^Remmey, G. Bickley; Cannell, Laura (2007). The Great Circle Route: A Guide to Planning and Cruising, Around the Eastern USA. Paradise Cay Publications. p. 45. ISBN9780939837687.
