Our weekly walk back through time when those stories, and more, were all News 2 You.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Ten years ago this week:
Apple introduced the iPhone 6 attracting lines of shoppers, eager to be among the first to get their hands on one, out the door at the Walden Galleria.
With every other lawsuit having been settled out of court, the only case that reached a trial regarding flight 3407 began. It involved the family, into whose home the ill fated plane had crashed 6 years prior, who would agreed to a settlement after the trial began
Numbers from the census bureau revealed the poverty rate in Buffalo was two times the national average. When this year’s numbers are released they are expected to show the same thing a decade later.
The Jefferson Avenue Shul, which at the time held the distinction of having been the oldest building in Buffalo to have ever been a synagogue, was ordered demolished by the city after it had been abandoned for several years. Despite a last minute pitch by preservationists to have it saved, wrecking crews arrived a month later and the lot where the building once stood at 401 Jefferson Ave. remains vacant today.
Protestors took to the 1100 block of Elmwood Avenue to picket outside Pano’s restaurant, upset with plans to tear down a Queen Anne style home built in 1893 in order for the restaurant to expand its parking and patio areas. The home, which was the oldest on the block, was eventually razed. Pano’s expanded its popular restaurant but closed it in the early part of the 2020 pandemic it has not reopened since.
The treasury department introduced a new nickel, which gave Thomas Jefferson a facelift. Of greater interest to Western New Yorkers, however, was the restoration of the buffalo on the back of the coin after an absence of 66 years.
One week after hurricane Frances landed in the southern US and even deadlier hurricane, Ivan, made landfall.
Incredibly, there were two more hurricanes gaining power in the Caribbean in what turned out to be one of the worst hurricane seasons in recorded history, especially compared to today,
By this week in 2004, the number of hurricanes was more than three times higher than we’ve had so far this year. And while 2024 has produced only one major (category 3 or higher) hurricane so far, twenty years ago there had been six by this week in 2004.
Miss Alabama, Heather Whitestone, was crowned Miss America. Whitestone held a distinction from previous pageant winners, which is the subject of this week’s News 2 You Pop Quiz (for the answer watch the conclusion of the video attached to this story).
Benderson Development paid $4.1 million at a foreclosure auction to purchase the moribund Thruway Mall in Cheektowaga. The mall was at the site of the Thruway Plaza, which in the 1950s was the Buffalo area’s premier shopping plaza. In the 1970’s it was converted to an indoor mall. Benderson would demolish the mall, and revert the property back into a plaza, which remains today in the vicinity of Walden Avenue and Harlem Road.
The recently formed Friends of the Candiana were successful in their first step of their mission to restore the former ferry which once took passengers between Buffalo and Crystal Beach amusement park.
They were able to bring it back to Buffalo. However, hopes of a full restoration never materialized and after sitting for years on Buffalo’s waterfront the boat was eventually cut up for scrap.
Patrick Duffy, a popular actor mostly known for his role on the hit TV series Dallas returned to Buffalo for the premier of Vamping, a film that was shot in the Queen City and in which Duffy starred.
There was growing concern at Rich Stadium over the number of fights among fans during Bills games. While fights among fans still occur, in the years since the team has taken several steps to try and prevent them, including increased security, limiting alcohol sales, and creating family sections of the stadium,
