Collector of the Port of Buffalo

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The Collector of the Port of Buffalo was a U.S. Treasury job from 1805 to 1965. The collector was in charge of collecting customs duties on goods brought into the United States by ship at the Port of Buffalo, also called Buffalo Creek. In 1805, Thomas Jefferson made Buffalo Creek a Port of Entry. In 1811, President James Madison moved the Buffalo district’s Port of Entry to Black Rock and allowed the office to be kept in Buffalo where the President designated. In 1817, the collector Forward was authorized to buy land near the Buffalo Creek outlet for a lighthouse, negotiating with Joseph Ellicott of the Holland Land Company for $350. In August 1965, under Lyndon B. Johnson’s reorganization, the Buffalo Customs District was enlarged to include the Toronto Airport and the ports of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, forming the Buffalo-Niagara Falls district and absorbing the Rochester Customs District (Rochester, Oswego, Sodus Point, Syracuse, Utica). The Buffalo district became part of the Boston region. The office of Collector was replaced by port directors under a district director.