ERIE

Iroquoian-speaking North American Indians who inhabited most of what is now northern Ohio, parts of northwestern Pennsylvania, and western New York; they were often referred to as the Cat Nation. Little is known of their social or political organization, but early Jesuit accounts record that the Erie had many permanent, stockaded towns, practiced agriculture, and comprised several divisions. Erie traditions told of numerous wars with tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy; the final conflict occurred between 1653 and 1656, with the Erie being forced to capitulate when their bows and poisoned arrows were unable to withstand the guns supplied to the Iroquois by Dutch and English traders. Some of the surviving Erie fled to other tribes, but most were captured by the Iroquois and adopted as a constituent tribe. county, extreme western New York state, U.S., bounded to the south by Cattaraugus Creek, to the west by Lake Erie, to the northwest by the Niagara River, and to the north by Tonawanda Creek, which is incorporated into the New York State Canal System and its constituent the Erie Canal. The county includes Grand Island on the Niagara River. The terrain rises from lowlands near Lake Erie to rolling hills in the east. Some other streams are Ellicott, Cayuga, Buffalo, and Eighteenmile creeks. Forests consist of a mix of hardwoods. Public lands include Evangola, Beaver Island, and Buckhorn Island state parks and Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. Among the Iroquoian-speaking Indian tribes in the region were Erie and Seneca. Buffalo, the county seat, is the state's second largest city and one of the nation's leading rail centres. Connected to Ontario, Can., by bridge, it developed as the western terminus of the Erie Canal (completed 1825) and as a major port of the Saint Lawrence Seaway (1959). Buffalo was the home of U.S. Presidents Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland; Cleveland once served as the mayor (188182). In September 1901 Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as the 26th president of the United States at the historic Wilcox Mansion after President William McKinley was assassinated at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. Erie county was created in 1821 and named for the Erie Indians. Among its many educational facilities are the State University of New York at Buffalo (founded 1846) and the State University of New York College at Buffalo (1867). Suburbs of Buffalo include Amherst, Tonawanda, Cheektowaga, West Seneca, and Lackawanna. The primary economic activities are services, retail trade, manufacturing, finance, and transportation. Area 1,045 square miles (2,706 square km). Pop. (1990) 968,584; (1996 est.) 954,021. city, seat (1803) of Erie county, northwestern Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies on the southeastern shore of Lake Erie, where a 6-mile (10-km) peninsula encloses a fine natural harbour; the city is a major lake port. Named for the Erie Indians, it was the site of the Fort-Presque-Isle built on the mainland by the French in 1753. Abandoned to the British in 1759, the fort was destroyed by Indians in June 1763 during the uprising known as Pontiac's War. The area remained a wilderness until after the American Revolution, when it was purchased by Pennsylvania from the federal government. The U.S. Fort Presque Isle was built in 1795, and at the same time the town was laid out by General Andrew Ellicott, U.S. surveyor general, and General William Irvine. Naval yards established on Presque Isle Bay built most of the fleet that was used by Oliver Hazard Perry to defeat the British at the Battle of Lake Erie (September 10, 1813). Perry's reconstructed flagship, the U.S. Brig Niagara, is berthed at the foot of Holland Street. Early industries largely supplied the region's agricultural economy. Erie's first iron foundries used bog ore from the bay swamps. Economic development increased and diversified with the opening (1844) of the Erie and Pittsburgh Canal and with railway construction in the 1850s. Manufactures are now well diversified and include locomotives, plastics, electrical equipment, metalworking and machinery, hospital equipment, paper, chemicals, and rubber products. Erie is Pennsylvania's only port on the St. Lawrence Seaway and is a strategic shipping point for industrial coke, iron ore, steel, salt, stone, and scrap metal. It is the seat of Gannon University (1925), Mercyhurst College (1926), and the Behrend College campus of Pennsylvania State University (Penn State Erie). Presque Isle State Park on the peninsula is a popular recreation area. The city has an art museum, a historical museum and planetarium, and a zoo. The Perry Memorial House and Dickson Tavern (c. 1815) was a station on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves; it was restored in 1963. The Wayne Memorial Blockhouse on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Soldiers' and Sailors' Home is a replica of the one in which General Anthony (Mad Anthony) Wayne died on December 15, 1796; a flagpole marks the spot where he was buried (his remains were later removed to Radnor, near Philadelphia). Fort Le-Boeuf, the last French outpost in the French and Indian War, is 16 miles south. Inc. borough, 1805; city, 1851. Pop. (1990) city, 108,718; Erie MSA, 275,572; (1998 est.) city, 102,640; (1996 est.) Erie MSA, 280,570. county, extreme northwestern Pennsylvania, U.S., bordered by Lake Erie to the northwest, New York state to the northeast, and Ohio to the southwest. It consists of low hills that rise toward the southeast. The principal waterways are Conneaut, Elk, and French creeks as well as Edinboro Lake and the Union City Dam. Presque Isle State Park, named for Fort-Presque-Isle (built by the French in 1753), is located on a peninsula that forms a natural harbour for the city of Erie, which is the county seat. This lakeside city, Pennsylvania's only port on the St. Lawrence Seaway (completed 1959), developed with the opening of the Erie and Pittsburgh Canal (1844) and with railway construction in the 1850s. Waterford is the site of Fort-Le-Boeuf (built 1753), which was a French fortification used during the French and Indian War. The county was created in 1800 and named for the Erie Indians. Other communities include Corry, Edinboro, North East, and Wesleyville. The main components of the economy are manufacturing (metal and plastic products) and agriculture (potatoes, oats, and grapes). Area 802 square miles (2,077 square km). Pop. (1990) 275,572; (1996 est.) 280,570.