Picture the Erie Canal's western terminus reborn here as Canalside, a recreational district in downtown Buffalo, New York. This place is a recreation of the western terminus of the Erie Canal, a terminus that was destroyed in the early 20th century. You are on ground that was once home to the Seneca people, later a predominantly Italian neighborhood along Canal Street and Dante Place — known to some as The Hooks — until early 20th-century urban renewal filled in canals and razed dense blocks.
What replaced those streets were the Buffalo Skyway, the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium and the Niagara Thruway, with parking lots interspersed. After the completion of Marine Midland Arena, now KeyBank Center, in 1996 the Memorial Auditorium stood vacant. The Empire State Development Corporation produced a master plan in 1999 to redevelop Erie Canal Harbor parcels beneath the Skyway, and a 2004 plan focused on historically aligned canals and mixed-use development.
River, reclaimed harbor, Skyway and arena still mark the edges of the canal terminus that was destroyed in the early 20th century.