This week marks five years since I started Discovering Buffalo, One Street at a Time. I started this blog in part because some of my friends were sick of me constantly telling them about the history of Buffalo. I needed an outlet to share the stories, so the blog was born. My little hobby has grown and I love the community we have built.
Here are some stats from the last five years:
- The blog has covered 144 streets.
- There are 5,627 people who follow the blog.
- The blog has had 181,839 views. That is an average of about 100 views a day!
- I was able to purchase the buffalostreets.com domain.
- Early in 2014, I started giving presentations of the streets research. I have presented at Forest Lawn, to church groups, at Senior Centers (via Erie County University Express), on Winging It on WIVB-TV, on the Penny Wolfgang show on the radio, and to other various groups.
I appreciate all of you so much! Thanks to everyone who sends me comments and emails, and everyone who shares their stories with me. I hope you all know how much I appreciate hearing your ideas and memories of things just as much as I love giving you the facts. One of the highlights of my life as a history blogger was when I was recognized as the streets girl by a former congressman!
I may not have time to reply to every single comment – but I do read and appreciate them all. I notice when you share blog posts on facebook or twitter, and I appreciate that as well. Sometimes, if I don’t reply, it’s because you piqued my interest and I’m trying to do some research for you before I reply. Buffalo’s history is a rich fabric and it’s likely we’ll never completely know everything. But I’m happy to be a part of it all and sharing what I can. I wish I had time to post more often, but this is still just a hobby for me. A wonderful, rewarding, satisfying hobby that I will keep up for a long time.
A question I often get is “will you write a book?” This is on my long range plan. It may be a long, long, long range plan, but hopefully eventually I will find a way to make it happen. Until then, I’ll keep plugging away, and discovering Buffalo, one street at a time.
Lots of Buffalove,
Angela Keppel
PS. Sneak Peak: The story of Maj. General Riley and what was at the Teddy Roosevelt site before it was the Teddy Roosevelt site will be coming soon!