Buffalo in the 20s: The Buffalo Stock Exchange opened only months before the market crashed

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

Thirty-five years ago this week, The News began celebrating the 100th anniversary of the paper’s starting a daily edition.

In the special section called One Hundred Years of Finance and Commerce, The News recounted the history of a handful of Buffalo’s financial and commercial industries and provided ad space for many companies involved in those industries to tout their own contributions.

Among the many industries in which Buffalo was a nationwide leader was finance.

Just like in steel and milling among dozens of others, before the Great Depression Buffalo was one of America’s top five cities for finance. The Buffalo Stock Exchange even opened its doors in celebration, marking Buffalo’s advancing place in the world of finance.

That open came in May 1929 — only months before the stock market crash that ushered in the Great Depression.