I present to you....the Queen City

I grew up hearing people refer to Buffalo as "The Queen City." Various stores and shops have used the term as well:  Queen City Wine & Liquor, Queen City Bookstore, Queen City Taxi, Queen City Farm, and so on.  Not until last week did I ever stop to wonder what "The Queen City" means.

What it truly means is a city that is the second largest city in the state (or region).  Buffalo is far from the only city to have had this title. Just Google"Queen City" and you will find numerous cities claiming Queen City title-ship.

Not only is Buffalo referred to as Queen City for being second largest to NYC, but we were called the Queen City of the Great Lakes for being second largest to Chicago (which is on Lake Michigan).

The first recorded usage of this term in reference to Buffalo was in the 1840s.  NYC had over 300,000 people.  Buffalo was the Queen with rapid growth occurring.  In 1845, it was almost 30,000 people and just ten years later...nearly 75,000 people.  Today, NYC is over 8 million and Buffalo remains the Queen city with approximately 260,000 people (1 million when counting the suburbs).  We are proud  of our nickname and with our continued upward growth....intend to hold on to it for quite some time.