The Niagara Republic (or simply Niagara) is a state in the Northeastern United States. The state is bordered by Pennsylvania to the south, and New York to the east; it has a maritime border as well as an international border with the Canadian province of Ontario to the northwest. The most populous city is Hamilton. The next six most populous cities in the state are St. Catharine's, the state capital Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Niagara Falls, and Binghamton.
History[]
Well before the settlement of Europeans, indigenous people had long settled in the region of the Great Lakes. The Iroquois Confederacy had great influence in Pre-Colonial America and was one of the great native settlements of the continent. The land was first formally incorporated as part of New York Territory in 1788 before being purchased by the Holland Land Company in 1792. It continued to be a part of the territory well into New York's statehood. While much had not changed through the first two centuries, the turn of the millennium began to contemplate secession.
The Niagara Frontier became the principal war theater of the War of 1812 (which itself was the final war of the Six Years War that featured the entire of the Great Lakes region). Following the conclusion of the war, many integral figures from each side add additional prominence to the region. American General Winfield Scott would later go on to be Whig Presidential nominee in 1824, 1832, 1836, 1840, 1844, and 1852, being elected the 8th and 12th President of the United States in '32, '36, and '52. After leaving the White House, he returned to the service as commanding general in the US Civil War. Canadian journalist William Lyon Mackenzie was the catalyst of the Upper Canada Rebellion spawned by the Caroline Affair in 1937 which began the Patriot War as a result of unrest regarding a lack of political reform. This led to the declaration of the Republic of Canada, which consisted of Beaver, Buckhorn, Grand, Navy, Pirates, and Strawberry Islands. Squaw Island, though uninhabited, had long been American land. The nine islands near Niagara Falls were a part of the former Goat Island campus in what would become a New York (then subsequently Niagara Republic) state park, the oldest such state park in the country, in the late 1880s.
Compared to other areas of New York State, namely then New York City (now Manhattan), many citizens began to feel more strongly about how different life and culture were. This resulted in several attempts by local state legislators to draft secession proposals in Albany. Surprisingly, the notion gained traction following the support of Governor George Pataki who cited inflation caused by the New York City economy. However, he also called for a secession of Long Island and the remainder of Upstate. Western New York being the first formal proposals to the table had failed miserably on several grounds but were still being promoted by other state politicians. Then in 2006, a budget crisis in Erie County (see below) led to the renewed calls for secession. A joint resolution however was put forth that all of the regions seeking leave from New York do so in one piece of legislation and then file separately with the federal government in Congress simultaneously.
On April 12th of 2007, following months of budgeting and other formality preparations, all three segments seeking dissolution from New York were granted independence. Following a three month process, the new Niagara Republic was ratified as the 53rd state and the first new state since the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which became Ontonagon and second new state since Western Massachusetts in 2003 which became the first state to secede in recent years and the first granted statehood since 1959. Long Island and Westchester County (including New York City) both became states in early 2008 due to population complications.
Geography[]
Niagara shares its border with New York to the east at the foothills of both the Catskill and Adirondack ranges of the Appalachian Mountains. While the Alleghany Plateau extends into Pennsylvania to the south and also bleeds in to the aforementioned foothills, it is not a crossable area of the state line on foot. The only two main crossings are at the very southwestern border with Pennsylvania via the Interstate-90 or the Southerntier Expressway (I-86). It also shares an international border with Canada to the west and north, with the northern border sharing Lake Ontario as well as part of the Ontario Peninsula.
Due to several longstanding disputes with both Canadian federal and Ontario provincial governments, the four eastern most regional municipality governments sought accession to the United States, but as a part of New York instead of forming it's own state. The Peace Bridge linking Buffalo and Ft. Erie, the Whirlpool Bridge, the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge (all over the Niagara River) and the Rainbow Bridge (over state namesake Niagara Falls where the Niagara continues) were replaced by the Burlington Bay James N. Allan Skyway as the sole internationally recognized bridge border crossing though it shares a land border in several nearby communities as well. As a result of this change, Niagara Falls became an entirely American landmark. In Canadian politics, it is known as the worst disgrace in the country's history and is the blunder of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's administration known as the "Chrétien Catastrophe."
The western half of the state can be defined by visible reliefs in the landscape produced by the Niagara Escarpment in the north and the Chautauqua Ridge to the south. The escarpment is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. It has the oldest forest ecosystem and trees in eastern North America. The escarpment is not a fault line but the result of unequal erosion. It is composed of an outcrop belt of the Lockport Formation of Silurian age, and is similar to the Onondaga Formation, which runs in a parallel outcrop belt just to the south, through western New York and southern Ontario. The escarpment is the most prominent of several escarpments formed in the bedrock of the Great Lakes Basin. From its easternmost point near Watertown, New York, the escarpment shapes in part the individual basins and landforms of Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan.
As it pertains to Niagara, in Rochester, New York, the Genesee River flows through the city in three waterfalls over the scarp face. The escarpment thence runs westward to the Niagara River, forming a deep gorge north of Niagara Falls, which itself cascades over the scarp face. It then spans the Niagara Peninsula, closely following the Lake Ontario shore through the cities of St. Catharines and Hamilton, where it takes a sharp turn north toward southern Ontario in the town of Milton toward Georgian Bay. The escarpment was the major challenge in the building of the Erie Canal, which led to the locks that spanned the Canal upon its completion going in a parallels direction but intertwining the escarpment. The Welland Canal, however was constructed as the distance from one end of the Niagara Peninsula is both far shorter than the distance from Lake Erie to the Atlantic Ocean by water (via the Hudson River in New York State) and runs perpendicular to the escarpment so as to use it as a natural rise and sink point for locks to be incorporated.
The Chautauqua Ridge is actually a part of the much larger St. Lawrence River Divide which itself spans 14 states and provinces. The ridge can be used to mark the border between the Southerntier and the Niagara Frontier. It is also a significant dividing point in the county's geopolitics, with the "North County" being centered on Dunkirk and the "South County" centered on Jamestown each having their own interests. The county is generally composed of rolling hills and valleys, with elevations ranging anywhere between 1100 and 2100 feet, although the land within a few miles of Lake Erie is generally flat and at an elevation of 1000 feet or lower. The lowest point in the county is Lake Erie, at 571 feet (174 meters), and the highest point is Gurnsey Benchmark at 2180 feet (664 meters).
Regions[]
The state is comprised of regions Western Niagara, the Niagara Frontier, the Finger Lakes, the Southerntier, and Eastern Niagara. Due to its long history in New York State, Niagara has several overlapping and often conflicting definitions of regions within the state. The regions are also not fully definable due to colloquial use of regional labels.
State Parks[]
Upon secession from New York, Letchworth State Park remained a state park but now in Niagara. Other significant parks include Alleghany State Park, Cayuga Lake State Park, Chenango Valley State Park, Chestnut Ridge State Park, Chittenango Falls State Park, Clark Reservation State Park, Devil's Hole State Park, Evangola State Park, Fillmore Glen State Park, Fort George, Fort Niagara, James N. Allan Provincial Park, Lake Simcoe State Park, Old Erie Canal State Historic Park, Old Fort Erie, Selkirk Provincial Park, Short Hills Provincial Park, Stony Brook State Park, Verona Beach State Park Watkins Glen State Park, and Whirlpool State Park.
National Parks, Monuments, and Landmarks[]
Upon accession into the United states, Niagara Falls became a state park almost instantaneously though the surviving state parks that surrounded the area remained state parks and not absorbed into the national park system such as the nearby Devils Hole and Whirlpool State parks. For a brief period in the 1990s while a part of New York, Watkins Glen had been considered for national park status, but was rejected - the grounds for which were never disclosed, though speculation was it didn't generate enough foot traffic despite its popularity.
Administrative Divisions[]
Niagara is divided into 30 counties. Each of these counties is subdivided into towns and cities, incorporated under state law. Towns can contain incorporated villages or unincorporated hamlets. The major cities of the state developed along the key transportation and trade routes of the early 19th century, including the Erie Canal and railroads paralleling it. Today, Thruway Niagara acts as a modern counterpart to commercial water routes. Several towns and villages such as Madison County's Village of Hamilton voluntarily changed it's name to so as to not be confused with the recently absorbed came-named city formerly belonging to Ontario, Canada in which said city is the largest in the state.
Cities and Towns[]
Buffalo, the state capital, is the second-largest city in Niagara. The smallest city is Sherrill, New York, in Oneida County. Amherst is the most populous town in the state; if it were a city, it would be the second largest in Niagara, with 129,595 residents. New York contains six metropolitan areas, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Major metro areas include Hamilton, St. Catharine's, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Binghamton.
Demographics[]
Population[]
Niagara is a medium-sized state. Hamilton has held steady in it's population, while St. Cahtarine's, Buffalo, Niagara Falls (by way of absorption of the former Canadian population), Corning, and Syracuse have all seen increases in population. The shift in Rochester however has dropped somewhat sharply.
Race and ethnicity[]
While the cities of Hamilton and Buffalo specifically have long histories of immigration settlement, they are not as diverse as may seem. This is not because of a lack of diversity, but rather a large group of both Americans and immigrants considering themselves as a part of multiple ethnicities as indicated in the US Census. The 2010 Census in Niagara was the first in the history of the state and was issued the most amount of languages in this cycle with supplemental material provided in 59 of the 65 offered languages. This was repeated in 2020. Of the 34 percent minority, 20 percent make up either Hispanic/Latino or Black. The remaining 14 percent consists of 5% Native American or Alaskan 3% Asian, 2% Hawai'ian or Pacific Islander, 2% other race, or 2% two or more races. The First Nations that became part of Niagara were hailed with moderately positive reviews. While some cited it was a far improvement from what they left behind, there was still plenty of work to be done.
Languages[]
Though not the most common primary or secondary language, Seneca is a recognized state language despite the sovereignty of the Seneca Nation, the Six Nations, or First Nations reservations. After Spanish as the most widely spoken language between indigenous speakers and school-educated speakers, Polish, German, and Italian are the second, third, and fourth highest spoken languages in quick succession. by language family, the Slavic languages by far and large the most common root language.
Sexual orientation and gender identity[]
The granting of statehood was a blow to the status of married couples who did not identify as "straight" in the state of New York. While existing marriage licenses were allowed to be approved, further such licenses would not be issued. Many elected leaders view this issue the result of politicization by the American far left and cited the need to solve the mental health and opioid crisis, especially in Erie County.
Religion[]
Though Christianity has a significant following in the state, it is not the only faith that has strong amounts of worshippers. There are also many unaffiliated practitioners of faith which include spiritual but not religious and other such designations but not including paganists which hold their own classification of religion. It has been a recent practice due to disapproval of religion politics at the Vatican in Rome, many Christians practice but do not belong to any particular parish, thus making it difficult to get an accurate count. There are a notable amount of mosques, temples, and other houses of worship, but they are spread out enough that their notability is due to their separation.
Economy[]
Energy and Resources[]
Between the power plants near Niagara Falls for hydroelectricity and the abundance of Marcellus and Utica shale for fracking, it is one of the largest producers of energy in the United States. It powers much of the northeast of the continent Including parts of Quebec, Northern and Southern Ontario, and Maritime Canada. It is also the fourth largest producer of oil after Texas, California, and Florida.
Before Statehood[]
Republican Erie County Executive Joel Giambra lowered or declined to raise county taxes for years for a total of 31% lower taxes, financing his budget partly through the use of surpluses from the previous county administration and monies from the tobacco settlement. The county then had to accept either massive reductions of services or increases in taxation. Giambra said that "an end to county government as we know it" would occur without a sales tax hike, ending county libraries, snowplows and road patrols.
Giambra proposed this "red budget" of $940 million which eliminated services, and after failed negotiations to raise the sales tax in a "green budget" of $1 billion, a modified plan was adopted which laid off 2,000 county employees and closed many county services, including the Parks Department. In 2005, a Control Board was implemented by the state to monitor county finances. This, coupled with an investigation into patronage positions, led to Giambra's announcement that he would not seek reelection in 2007.
Renaissance of the Region[]
in 2009, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown was re-elected for his second term and got to see through the initial developments from his first term start to becoming a reality. He has been widely heralded by other legislative figures across the country for his ability to unify, but also for the economic rebirth of the region - a growth not seen in Buffalo in more than a half century.
Landrov Air[]
Main aritcle: Landrov Airlines
Following the choas of the airline industry in the mid-2010s, Landrov Air and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority extended an agreement that allowed the airline to operate at James D. Griffin Buffalo Niagara International Airport. However, the extension also initiated talks to expand service to the facility by adding airline branding to new and existing gates in 2019, ensuring the airline's commitment to the region.
Education[]
Higher education is widely available in the Niagara Republic, particularly the public institutions that make up the University System of Niagara. USN has a total of 27 colleges and universities belonging to it, though is outnumbered by the private offerings in the state. USN is known for it's arts program at Buffalo State as well as its law and medical schools at the University of Buffalo, sciences at the University of Rochester. The journalism at the private Syracuse University is well renown as is the hospitality department at Niagara University. Niagara is also home to the private Ivy League's Cornell University.
Transportation[]
Buffalo was an early industrial hub of the American Rust Belt and required the reliance of several modes of transportation. Rail yards are scattered across this part of the state including a railroad turntable in West Seneca that's listed on the national historic register and has since been repurposed as an industrial tourism destination with boutiques. restaurants. and a museum. The significance of Buffalo as a port city also prompted the heavy use of the Erie Canal as an alternative method of transport and as an alleviation of potential congestion on railways. This made it of prime importance to aid Buffalo as a regional mega-hub in its' heyday.
The Department of Transportation is responsible for all infrastructure within the state limits, with its headquarters located at 100 Seneca St. near Delta Sonic Park. Each of the the culturally significant cities in the state have their own airports, but only James D. Griffin Buffalo/Niagara has a noteworthy amount of passenger traffic, which for that purpose is undergoing expansion slated for completion in 2024. Most of said cities also provide light rail service in and around the city and all have a bus service available to commuters. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV Niagara) is responsible for the general welfare and safety of vehicular operators and auto workers, including registration, inspecting, and licensure. The state has constantly been introducing more intermodal transport, most recently the addition of a monorail around James Griffin International as a result of the expansion project. The monorail will also provide access to the NFTA MetroRail which will be located under Terminal 2.
Government[]
Niagara follow suit of most state governments and federal government structure with three coequal branches: executive, legislative and judicial. The primary executive positions of governor and lieutenant governor are elected as a ticket as well as having a separately elected attorney general and comptroller. The Government of Niagara embodies the governmental structure as established by the state constitution. It is composed of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The governor is the state's chief executive and is assisted by the lieutenant governor. Both are elected on the same ticket. Additional elected officers include the attorney general and the comptroller. The secretary of state, formerly an elected officer, is currently appointed by the governor. Prior to statehood, a proposal came that counties have at least one city in them to be considered such.
The state legislature is bicameral and consists of the state senate and the state assembly. The state assembly consists of two members per city and one member per town (569), while the state senate has two per county (total of 60). The legislature is empowered to make laws, subject to the governor's power to veto a bill. However, the veto may be overridden by the legislature if there is a two-thirds majority in favor of overriding in each house.
The state is divided into counties, cities, towns, and villages, all of which are municipal corporations with respect to their own governments, as well as various corporate entities that serve single purposes that are also local governments, such as school districts, fire districts, and Niagara state public-benefit corporations, frequently known as authorities or development corporations. Each municipal corporation is granted varying home rule powers as provided by the state's constitution. The state also has several Native American reservations.
State Court of Appeals[]
The highest court of appeal in the Unified Court System is the Court of Appeals whereas the primary felony trial court is the County Court (or the Supreme Court in Niagara Falls). The Niagara Supreme Court also acts as the intermediate appellate court for many cases, and the local courts handle a variety of other matters including small claims, traffic ticket cases, and local zoning matters, and are the starting point for all criminal cases. The Buffalo courts make up the largest local court system.
Politics[]
As a faction of New York State, the region known as Western New York was the strongest right-wing jurisdiction in the state by voter base between Republicans and Conservatives. Since statehood, Niagara has become a stronghold for both right-wing parties. The recently formed Legacy Party, though a conservative-libertarian hybrid, acts as a big tent for moderate democrats that have been displeased with the directional leadership of left-wing parties, namely the Democrat Party. The Legacy Party has challenged the Conservatives and Republicans well within the current election cycle. Presidents Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland have ties to the area as well as the infamous assassination of President William McKinley during the 1901 Pan American Exposition leading to the Teddy Roosevelt Presidency at the Wilcox Mansion.
Sports[]
Buffalo has representation in all of the major sports leagues in North America and whose teams are most successful. The two most popular of the professional teams are Major League Baseball's Buffalo Bisons and the Major Indoor Lacrosse League's Buffalo Bandits, the latter having the most MILL championships with 14 and the current record longest home sellout streak since it's first game in 1992. The NFL's Buffalo Bills also have four Super Bowl wins in the first two Super Bowls (1964 versus the Cleveland Browns and 1965 against the Green Bay Packers as AFL champions) as well as in 1990 against the New Jersey Giants and in 1993 against the Dallas Cowboys, and have also lost the NFL's penultimate game in the 1991, 1992, 2020, and 2021 seasons. The National Hockey League team, the Sabres, have four Stanley Cup championships in 1979-80 (Philadelphia Flyers), 1980-81 (NY Islanders), 1998-99 (Dallas Stars), and 2005-06 (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim), having lost Cup Finals series in 1974-75 (Philadelphia), 1997-98 (Detroit Red Wings), 1999-2000 (Colorado Avalanche), and 2006-07 (Anaheim).
The NBA's Buffalo Braves began in the 1970-71 season, winning the league championship back-to-back-to-back seasons in 1974-75 in seven games over the Golden State Warriors and the following season against the Phoenix Suns. In a twist of fate during the 1976-77 season in the NBA Finals, the Braves beat the Portland Trailblazers who tried to recruit Braves head coach Dr. Jack Ramsey after the Braves didn't wish to pay higher wages for the championship winning coach due to financial constraints. These obligations were alleviated with the retirements of Dale Schlueter, Jim Washington, and Bob Weiss, Shleuter in particular on the rise thus dues a large payout and thus not expected to retire assisting in the renewal of Ramsey's contract for four years. Following the 1981-82 season, the team changed it's nickname as ownership felt the identity had been wrongly associated with former and current sporting organizations that had also used the Braves moniker. During the name change process, it had been revealed that Braves was a placeholder name that stuck because of the deadline ownership had been up against at the time. Following trademark registration applications, the chosen name was Jaguars due to not dropping the orange, black, and white color scheme.
Buffalo is home to many secondary leagues including Major League Soccer's Buffalo Stallions, the National Indoor Professional Soccer League's Buffalo Blizzard, and the Arena Football League's Buffalo Destroyers. Suburban Buffalo is also the home of the International Museum for Sport and Play (IMSP), which recognizes less widely known sports such as curling and Australian football in addition to more popular world sports like soccer and cricket. The region also is pivotal in many of the above leagues. Syracuse though the smallest of the so called "Big-4" cities of the state has the second most professional organizations. These include the NBA's Nationals, AHL's Crunch, Minor League Baseball's Chiefs, and NLL's Smash. Rochester has a MiLB team in the RedWings, the oldest continuous team in all of the minors, participating in the International League at the Triple-A level. It is also home to the NBA's Royals, the MILL's Knighthawks, and Major League Lacrosse's Rattlers. Hamilton has a legacy team in the minor league American Hockey League by the name Bulldogs that played have split their games at the Hamilton Forum and Copps Coliseum. They also have a Canadian Football League Team, the Tiger Cats. Niagara/St. Catharine's is represented by the Niagara Thunder in the AHL, the St. Catharine's Steamers in the AFL, and the Niagara-St. Kit Gamblers of the MLL.
There are also several NCAA Division I athletic programs, many in the USN system. The USN flagship athletic department is that of the Buffalo State College Bengals. The Niagara University Purple Eagles have the most widely recognized program, but is a private institution. Buffalo is set to host the 2030 Winter Olympic Games and the Olympic flag will be handed to the Buffalo Mayor by Éric Fournier who is the Mayor of Chamonix, France during the twenty-fifth Olympiad. The initial bid was submitted on September 14, 2020 and was due by September 25 just two-and-a-half years after the completion of the 2018 Games in Rijeka, Croatia. The shortlist was announced on June 17, 2021 to be a finalist with Milan-Cortina for 2030 while the 2034 finalists were Oslo and Innsbruck. A decision was made on March 2, 2022 announcing the 2030 and 2034 winners as Buffalo and Oslo, respectively.
See Also[]
Notes[]
References[]
Further Reading[]
External Links[]