SIA Buffalo 2025 – Tours & Events
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CONFERENCE EVENTS – Included in Registration
Event schedules tentative and subject to change.
Thursday, May 29
6:30 PM – 8 PM Thursday’s Opening Reception will be held at the conference hotel.
Friday May 30 Tours
Choose one of the following all-day tours (lunch and transportation included). Details of the tours are subject to change.
F1 – Erie Canal Locks and Water Pumping Station
This tour requires a $45 surcharge to cover the cost of the canal cruise
This tour provides an in-depth look at the industrial interventions that historically shaped the waterways in Buffalo and Lockport, particularly the Erie Canal. The tour will begin in Lockport at the GM Lockport Components facility, where visitors will go on a guided process tour of the active automobile manufacturing site. A narrated drive through the town of Lockport will follow, providing insight into the growth of the town and its industrial sector owing to the presence of the Erie Canal since 1825. Lunch will occur before we join a guided ride on the Lockport Locks and Erie Canal Cruise, which will demonstrate the way the locks function up close, as well as pass bridges and industrial sites. Returning to Buffalo, the tour will have a guided tour inside the Colonel Ward Pumping Station. Built in 1907 to provide water to the city from Lake Erie, the centerpiece of the original design were five, six-story steam pumps, designed and built by Holly Manufacturing in Lockport. They still sit there, dwarfing the modern electric pumps. This facility is almost never open to the public, as it is still in operation, providing a rare opportunity to see one of the nation’s most stunning historic water station buildings with original equipment. We will finish the day with an in-depth walking tour of the Erie Canal Terminus and its history, in recognition of the 200th anniversary.
F2 – Buffalo’s Elmwood Village, West Side, and the Lake Erie Waterfront
This tour brings guests to two of Buffalo’s most notable neighborhoods, the Elmwood Village and the West Side. The tour’s first stop is the former Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Factory Building on Elmwood Avenue. Here guests can learn about a local company that produced some of the most coveted automobiles in the world, as Buffalo-made Pierce-Arrows were the first White House car. Just across the street we will visit Hadley Exhibits for a robust process tour. Learn more about the inner-workings of museums from one of the United States’s premier exhibit production and fabrication companies. For over 100 years, they have created state-of-the-art guest experiences at institutions such as the National September 11 Memorial Museum, American Museum of Natural History, and the National Museum of the Native American. Now mostly a vacant strip, gain insight into Buffalo’s rich industrial history with a quick visit to Chandler Street. Learn about the former companies that once existed here like the Jewett Refrigerator Company, the Double Truss Cornice Brake Factory, Linde Air Products, and more. Check out how some of Buffalo’s products made their way across international borders to Canada with a stop at the International Pivot Bridge. After lunch, Great Lakes Pressed Steel will tour us through their facility and explain how they have continued Buffalo’s involvement with the steel industry into the 21st century. Visitors will then travel to the waterfront to learn about how the city was once one of the largest grain producers in the country with a stop at the Ohio Street Bridge. The bridge was once used to connect Silo City with Buffalo’s historic First Ward neighborhoods. The last stop on this tour brings us to Rigidized Metals, a leader in engineered metal surfaces and panels, and one of the city’s largest manufacturers today.
F3 – Industrial Processes and Products, Past and Present
This tour will visit working facilities and adaptively reused sites in historic industrial neighborhoods on Buffalo’s east and south sides. We will begin by visiting the modern University at Buffalo Fabrication Workshops for a process tour of latest technologies at the School of Planning and Architecture. Then, we will visit the Oxford Pennant plant, a designer and manufacturer of wool felt pennants, flags and banners as well as other custom goods. After a tour of the company’s production processes, visitors will head to the Larkinville neighborhood, named after the major Larkin Company factory complex there. Walking through the repurposed building at 500 Seneca, the former F.N. Burt Company Factory, will serve as the backdrop for a history of the industrial heritage of the area. Following lunch, we will head to the Buffalo Naval Park (TBC) for a brief history of the ships moored there. For the last tour, we will walk around Silo City, an impressive complex of grain elevators that demonstrate the history of construction methods, transshipment networks, and industrial processes that stored and transformed grains into malts, flour, and other products for consumption nationwide. This site contains one of the world’s best extant collections to demonstrate the impact of Buffalo’s grain industry on the history of American production, economics, architecture, and technological innovations.
F4 – Harnessing the Power of Niagara Falls
This tour features the heritage of hydroelectricity as it developed and enabled industrial activity north of the city, including the famous power station at Niagara Falls. The tour heads past the often-overlooked Terminal A building on Niagara Street, designed by Louise Bethune to house Nikola Tesla’s electric transformers that made possible the first long-distance transmission of electricity in 1895. We will near a historic iron pivot bridge to visit North Tonawanda, a town north of the City of Buffalo, with an extensive history of lumber production in relation to the New York Canal system and nearby waterways. A historic process tour of the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum will provide insight into the industrial production of carousels there, including the wood carving floor and the still-operational, historic equipment in the Wurlitzer Music Roll Department which demonstrates the production of paper music rolls. This is the only public display of equipment of this type in the country. Heading to Niagara Falls, the tour will visit the Love Canal memorial, Echota, and the Buffalo Avenue Industrial District, passing the Adams Power Station Transformer House on the way. After lunch visitors will go on an in-depth process tour of the Niagara Power Station, Reservoir, and Water Intake plant, which together serve a critical role in harnessing hydroelectricity from the Niagara River in Niagara Falls. On the way back to Buffalo, we will pass the Customs House building, which played a key role in the exchange of goods across the international border with Canada and the former Whirlpool Bridge piers. The final process tour of the day will be a one-of-a-kind, behind the scenes visit to the Buffalo Sewer Authority sewage treatment plant. The day will end with a view of the Busti Power Station and Peace Bridge before returning to the hotel.
Friday Evening Around Buffalo
On Friday evening after the scheduled tours, conference attendees can enjoy the city on their own terms. With nothing planned, here are some suggestions for SIA Conference Guests: Visit the Elmwood Village or Allentown for restaurants, shopping, and nightlife. Take a stroll down Main Street to take in Buffalo’s historic Theatre District, home to the extravagant Shea’s Theatre. View one of the largest collections of modern art in the United States at the Buffalo AKG Museum (open until 8 p.m). If you are looking to indulge in some of the local cuisine, check out the Buffalo Wing Trail, which details the 13 best restaurants to eat chicken wings at in the area. If you want to enjoy Buffalo’s extensive waterfront, head down to Canalside for beautiful sights, walking paths, and multiple breweries like Southern Tier and the Labatt House.
Saturday, May 18
8:15 – 11:30 – MORNING PRESENTATION SESSIONS (Session topics, presentation titles, and a list of speakers will be posted on the SIA website: www.sia-web.org)
11:45 – 1:45 – ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING AND LUNCHEON (INCLUDED IN THE COST OF REGISTRATION)
1:45 – 5:20 – AFTERNOON PRESENTATION SESSION
ALL DAY – EXHIBITS, POSTERS & BOOK SALES
4:30 – 5:30 – Cash Bar, and Poster Presenters will be at their posters
Saturday Evening: Dinner on Your Own
OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES (Extra fees apply)
Thursday May 29 Tours
Choose one of the following all-day tours (lunch and transportation included). Details of the tours are subject to change.
T1 – Historic Walking Tour of Buffalo – $15 – Tour the city for 90 minutes with one of Explore Buffalo’s master docents to learn more about Buffalo’s rich history. Highlighting topics like architecture, industry, history, and present-day affairs, learn all about what Western New York has to offer. At the turn of the twentieth century, Buffalo had grown to become the eighth largest city in America. The wealth generated by commerce and industry enabled the city’s businesses, organizations, and citizens to hire some of the nation’s most prominent architects and use the finest materials available. Join Explore Buffalo as they tour Buffalo’s historic downtown.
T1a – Historic Walking Tour of Buffalo and a visit the NHL Edward Cotter Fireboat (add $15 to T1 tour registration) Tour the city for 2 hours with one of Explore Buffalo’s master docents to learn more about Buffalo’s rich history. Highlighting topics like architecture, industry, history, and present-day affairs, learn all about what Western New York has to offer. From downtown, head to the Edward Cotter fireboat. The Edward M. Cotter originally named the William S. Grattan was built in 1900 by the Cresent Shipyard in Elizabeth Port, New Jersey. It is the oldest active fire boat in the world and today, visitors can learn about its long and distinguished history.
T2 – In-depth Tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin Martin House and Trolley Tour of Forest Lawn Cemetery – $97 – Guests will be taken from the hotel by bus to FLW’s DMH. On this tour, you will begin with a boxed lunch on the grounds of the historic Darwin D. Martin House. Designed by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, gain a glimpse into Buffalo’s “golden age” with a 2-hour tour of this Prairie Style masterpiece. Learn more about Wright and his work in Buffalo, and view the new visitor’s center designed by world-renowned architect Toshiko Mori.
Afterwards, join one of Forest Lawn’s tour guides aboard their trolley to explore the cemetery’s history, natural landscape, art and architecture, and most importantly, some of Buffalo’s most notable permanent residents. Enjoy the beauty of the cemetery while learning why Forest Lawn is a significant historic and cultural site for Western New York.
T3 – Hydroelectricity in Canada at Niagara Falls – $140 –
This tour crosses an international border to study the Canadian hydroelectric industry at the Ontario Power Generation Station in Niagara Falls. On the way, the tour guides will provide an overview of the history of hydroelectric development on both sides of the border, pointing out the Adams Power Station Transformer House (1895) before going on a brief walking tour of the Schoellkopf plant remains in Niagara Falls, NY, which attest to an earlier era of power generation technology. After crossing the border, visitors will go to lunch followed by an in-depth historic process tour of the Ontario Power Generation Station. Nearby, views of the mighty Niagara Falls cataracts will also illustrate the industrial heritage of power development on both sides of the border. The tour will also view the Toronto Power Plant and Ontario Power Plant Gate in Canada before returning to the United States. In Buffalo, the tour will conclude by viewing the Busti Power Station, which once received power from the American Falls and distributed it to street trolley cars and nearby factories. PARTICIPANTS MUST BRING A VALID, NON-EXPIRED, GOVERNMENT-ISSUED PASSPORT OR THEY WILL NOT BE ALLOWED ON THIS TOUR. THIS TOUR CROSSES AN INTERNATIONAL BORDER TWICE, SO YOU MUST HAVE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION TO ENTER CANADA AND RE-ENTER THE UNITED STATES.
SATURDAY EVENING, May 31
SB – Friday Banquet Dinner (6:30 – 9:30) Saturday’s Banquet is being held at Duende at Silo City a five-minute drive from the Hotel, or catch the 42 Southgate bus at Mohawk Street near the corner of Ellicot Street.
Duende is nestled inside Silo City, an impressive complex of grain elevators that demonstrate the history of construction methods, transshipment networks, and industrial processes that stored and transformed grains into malts, flour, and other products for consumption nationwide. This site contains one of the world’s best extant collections to demonstrate the impact of Buffalo’s grain industry on the history of American production, economics, architecture, and technological innovations.
Sunday June 1 Tours
S1 – Harbor Cruise (as in 1992) A three-hour cruise of Buffalo harbor will offer an unparalleled opportunity to see and photograph, up close, the city ‘s extraordinary collection of grain elevators, along with bridges, boats, lighthouses, and other “harboriana.”
S2 – Historic Walking Tour of Buffalo – $15 – Tour the city for 90 minutes with one of Explore Buffalo’s master docents to learn more about Buffalo’s rich history. Highlighting topics like architecture, industry, history, and present-day affairs, learn all about what Western New York has to offer. At the turn of the twentieth century, Buffalo had grown to become the eighth largest city in America. The wealth generated by commerce and industry enabled the city’s businesses, organizations, and citizens to hire some of the nation’s most prominent architects and use the finest materials available. Join Explore Buffalo as they tour Buffalo’s historic downtown.
S2a – Historic Walking Tour of Buffalo and a visit the NHL Edward Cotter Fireboat (add $15 to S2 tour registration) Tour the city for 2 hours with one of Explore Buffalo’s master docents to learn more about Buffalo’s rich history. Highlighting topics like architecture, industry, history, and present-day affairs, learn all about what Western New York has to offer. From downtown, head to the Edward Cotter fireboat. The Edward M. Cotter originally named the William S. Grattan was built in 1900 by the Cresent Shipyard in Elizabeth Port, New Jersey. It is the oldest active fire boat in the world and today, visitors can learn about its long and distinguished history.
IRON & STEEL HERITAGE FORUM PLANNING ACTIVITIES
Saturday 7-9pm, Informal get-together for the Iron and Steel Heritage Forum: The soon-to-be launched Iron and Steel Heritage Forum invites everyone interested in iron and steel, past, present and future, to join us in an informal meeting to meet each other. (Open to all, no charge)
Sunday 8-9am: Iron and Steel Heritage Forum Workshop with representatives from iron and steel heritage organizations. We will meet to review proposed plans for affiliate members of ISHF and get suggestions and feedback. (Open to all, no charge)
Sunday 9-10am: Iron and Steel Heritage Forum Workshop with everyone interested in the ISHF. We will meet to review proposed plans for ISHF members and get suggestions and feedback. (Open to all, no charge)
Venues for the Iron & Steel Heritage Forum will be announced closer to the events.
Edward Cotter – courtesy Jim Alpert of the Buffalo Fire Historical Museum (with Ohio Street bridge in the background)
Pierce-Arrow Factory – from the collection of the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum
Martin House – from the collection of the Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House