AmShip Buffalo

The AmShip yard in Buffalo NY was started in 1808 by Nathan Bidwell. The first graving docks were dug in 1836, on a site across the Buffalo River from the intersection of Chicago Street and Ohio Street. A major client, Union Steamboat Company, invested in the yard in 1871 and bought Bidwell out in 1882, changing the name to Union Dry Dock Company. In 1900, Union leased the yard to the American Ship Building Company and it was renamed Buffalo Dry Dock: American Ship Building bought it outright in 1910 and in 1914 renamed it AmShip Buffalo. It effectively stopped building ships after World War One and, except for building a few tugs for the DPC in World War Two, it concentrated on ship repair until 1962, when AmShip closed it and sold it for redevelopment.