Why Is Buffalo Called the Queen City?

I told you exactly why Buffalo was called the Nickel City yesterday (really the answer is so simple), but today we're going to find out exactly why we have that other nickname.

Why is Buffalo called the Queen City?

Get ready. The answer is not as simple as Nickel City because there is no definite answer. 'Queen City' is a term used to describe the largest city in a country, state, province or territory but which is not the capital. Obviously, this is not the case for Buffalo.

Originally called Queen City for being the largest and most prosperous city along the Great Lakes in the end of the 1800's to the beginning of the 1900's, it was at one point the second largest trade port in the North after NYC. Buffalo's original downfall from prosperity came with the diminished use of the Erie Canal. Buffalo was the Queen City of America at the turn of the century.

Others argue that we are the 'Queen City' because we are simply the second largest city in the state behind New York City.