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Buffalo Sister Cities
“Buffalo is proud to share ties with over a dozen international communities around our globe! We invite you to join this volunteer citizen movement to bring about international friendship and understanding.”
Mayor Byron W. Brown
Our Sister Cities
Dortmund, Germany
The origins of the Buffalo-Dortmund Sister City relationship can be traced back to 1972. A Dortmund native, Herbert Morgenroth, arrived in Buffalo as an exchange teacher at the University of Buffalo under the auspices of the Carl Duisberg Society, a German exchange program. Morgenroth was struck by the similarities between our City of Buffalo and his hometown of Dortmund. It is about the same size as Buffalo and its suburbs, is the site of the most famous steel company in Europe and is famous for its beer production. So struck was he by the possibilities of a Sister City relationship that he undertook to "talk it up". Morgenroth was living on LeBrun Street near the University Campus and an Eggertsville resident, Mr. John E. Ward, then principal of Genesee-Humboldt Junior High School, heard of Morgenroth's idea. The idea caught on with Ward and by 1974, he, Morgenroth and others broached the idea with Honorary German Consul in Buffalo, Mrs. Nathan "Brix" Barrell. In February of that year, their idea was formally presented to Mayor Stanley Makowski and the program was on its way.
Contact
Greg Engle, President
buffalo.dortmund@gmail.com
Kanazawa, Japan
Established in 1962, Buffalo’s friendship with Kanazawa is one of the longest continuous US-Japan sister city relationships. The partnership has been maintained by members of the Buffalo-Kanazawa Sister City Committee as an effort of the Japan Culture Center of Western New York (JapanWNY) to foster cultural exchange and understanding across borders.
Located on the Sea of Japan, Kanazawa, which means “marsh of gold”, is the top producer of gold leaf in Japan. The city also has a rich artisan history in folk crafts and traditional performing arts. Besides original tea, samurai, and temple districts, Kanazawa is home to Kenroku-en: one of the “Three Great Gardens of Japan.”
Kanazawa generously gifted Buffalo the Japanese Garden in Delaware Park located behind The Buffalo History Museum. The garden is modeled after elements at Kenroku-en and features a replica of the unique two-legged stone lantern kotojitoro that serves as a symbol of the city.
Experts from Kanazawa led major renovations of the Garden in 1996 and further revitalization is underway as part of anniversary efforts led by JapanWNY.
Buffalo holds a special prestige as Kanazawa’s first sister city and tokens of our friendship including a bronze buffalo are proudly displayed in Kanazawa’s Sister Cities Park and inside city hall. We continue to support our ongoing friendship with regular delegation visits, student exchanges, and the hosting of Japanese cultural workshops and events.
Contact
Christopher Morrison, President
cmorrison@japanwny.org
Lille, France
The Buffalo-Lille Association was found in 1989. The deciding factors on the selection of these two cities for twinning were the following: they were of similar size, both were border cities (Lille is on France’s Belgian border), both were university cities, as well as hospital centers.
People-to-people exchanges are hosted every two years, as well as school-to-school exchanges. The five major areas that we concentrate on, are: art, business, education, government/law, and medicine. There have been exchanges in each of these areas. In addition, we have speakers in these areas at many of our meetings. A focus, lately, has included Belgium, as the French government has selected certain areas of France to work across their borders, calling the area “Eurométropole.”
Contact
Benda Benzin, President
Buffalo-Lille Association
brendabenzin@icloud.com
Rzeszow, Poland
Contac
Ed Reska, President
polishprince47@verizon.net
Siena, Italy
The Buffalo-Siena relationship dates back to 1961.
Contact
Tina Grady
grady.tina@gmail.com
Barbara O'Brien
barbaraobrien48@gmail.com
Lucy Ederer
viceconsolatobuffalo@gmail.com
Torremaggiore, Italy
Contact
Tina Grady
grady.tina@gmail.com
Barbara O'Brien
barbaraobrien48@gmail.com
Lucy Ederer
viceconsolatobuffalo@gmail.com
Drohobych, Ukraine
Contact
Yuri Hreshchyshyn
yuri.hreshchyshyn@gmail.com
Horlivka, Ukraine
Contact
Yuri Hreshchyshyn
yuri.hreshchyshyn@gmail.com
Yeongcheon, South Korea
The Buffalo Yeongcheon, South Korea relationship agreement was signed in 2012 after a two year joint exploration. Yeongcheon is located on the mid-eastern plain of the Korean peninsula in Gyeongsan Buk-do province about 20 minutes outside Taegu. Since 2013 first Medaille, and then Buffalo State College have hosted around 20 Korean high school students each year for a three week English immersion program. In 2013, the first American exchange student spent three weeks in Yeongcheon working at their city hall. The Buffalo-Yeongcheon Sister City relationship is the first Korean Sister city relationship in New York state history.
Contact
Rebecca Reilly
reilly.rebecca38@gmail.com
St. Ann Parish, Jamaica
Contact
Beverly Morrison
beverlyjoy@aol.com
Garthfield Gibson
gcamz@aol.com
Other Sister Cities
Our other Sister Cities include:
- Abeadze State, Ghana
- Bursa, Turkey
- Cape Coast, Ghana
- Changzhou, China
- Kiryat Gat, Israel
- Bani, Dominican Republic
More Sister Cities Information
Contact Buffalo Sister Cities
Emerson Barr
Mayor's Liaison to Buffalo Sister Cities
716.851.5027
ebarr@buffalony.gov