Erie's History and Memorabilia

It was September 1811 and Jacob Butler was headed to Sandusky, Ohio as the new Indian Agent. When he arrived in Buffalo, he found it to be a small town of 40-50 houses and little activity. There were but a few ships in the harbor. The  Catherine  was a new schooner that had set sail the day before, but was now anchored nine miles up the Canadian shore at Point Ebenew. As it had set sail, it encountered a west forcing it to seek shelter. Seeing an opportunity to avoid the long trip around the lake, he crossed the Niagara River and with the help of a guide came upon the ship at anchor after two hours. Soon they were underway with a steady breeze pushing them towards Sandusky. The ship was packed and every possible space in which a person could find repose was occupied. All night they traveled westward, the ship pushed by the wind and the schooner rocking from side to side. With so many people, so closely packed, many became nauseous. The next day, they traveled westward

A freak storm paralyzed the City of Erie, which included lightning, thunder and winds up to 45 miles an hour, burying the city under a two-foot snowfall on Thanksgiving day of November 22, 1956. The community of 130,000 on the shore of Lake Erie was virtually isolated. Traffic was paralyzed. All public transportation was stopped. Practically all industries closed as workers couldn't get to their jobs. Main traffic arteries, including Routes 5 and 20;  the Buffalo-to-Cleveland routes , were plugged tight. The heavy snowfall, which began on Thanksgiving Day, stopped about 4:00 a.m. the following day, except for scattered flurries. The Weather Bureau reported that the measured snowfall in midtown Erie was 24 inches, accumulated from 3:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day to 4:00 a.m. the following day. At Erie Airport, where all flights were canceled, the fall was estimated at 33 inches. Amazed residents watched lightening bolts flash across the sky, accompanied by loud claps of thunder, a