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  • Famous Residents

    Discover the stories of our most well-known permanent residents.

    Famous Residents Lewis Allen Dr. Ida Catherine Bender Louis L. Berger, Sr. Dorothy Goetz Berlin Louise Blanchard Bethune John Blocher Wilson S. Bissell Al Boasberg Willis Haviland Carrier George Cary Shirley Chisholm George Clinton Dr. Frederick Cook Jessica Brown Cornelius Joseph Dart August Esenwein Millard Fillmore Millard Powers Fillmore Mary Abigail Fillmore Caroline Carmichael McIntosh Fillmore Frank H. Goodyear Erastus Granger Charles W. Goodyear William Hengerer Katharine Pratt Horton Kathleen Howard Red Jacket Rick James Mary Elizabeth Johnson Rev. Leeland Newton Jones Jr. Edward Austin Kent Irvine Kittinger Edward Kleinhans Seymour H. Knox II Northrup Knox William P. Letchworth Daniel Lockwood Maria Love Brigadier General Albert Myer John R. Oishei Dr. Roswell Park Ely Parker George N. Pierce Samuel F. Pratt George Rand Mary Jane Rathbun Major General Bennet Riley Anna Katharine Green Rohlfs Aaron Rumsey Rev. Willie Brown Seals John N. Scatcherd Jacob Schoellkopf Col. George H. Selkirk Prince Kyril Scherbatow Sidney Shepard Elvin J. “Shep” Shepherd William J. Simon Jr Annie Singleton Rev. Bennett Smith, Jr. Alfred P. Southwick Elbridge Spaulding Margaret St. John Victoria Sutherland Mary Burnett Talbert Edwin R. Thomas Charles Townsend Margaret L. Wendt America Pinckney Peter Williams William Fargo Cyrus Lazelle Warner Eidlitz William Buchanan Charles Reidpath Lawrence Bell John E. Brent James Tillinghast Ehrhardt Koch John Dover Grant "Home Run" Johnson Marian de Forest Elizabeth Coe Marshall Anna Katharine Green Rohlfs.

    William Fargo

    Co-Founder of Wells Fargo and American Express

    William Fargo died on August 3, 1881 at the age of 63.  He was an incredibly successful entrepreneur who founded the American Express  Company and Wells Fargo and Company, and also served as Mayor of Buffalo for two terms.  Mr. Fargo was born in in Pompey, N.Y., the eldest of 12 children.  His formal education ended at 13, when he began carrying mail over a 30-mile circuit for a local contractor. He subsequently worked in the grocery business, as a baker, and in a village inn.  In 1840, he married Anna H. Williams; they had eight children, though four of them died very yound.  In 1842, Fargo became a messenger for an express firm operating between Albany and Buffalo.  Soon he was appointed agent of Pomeroy and Company in Buffalo. Through his association with Wells and Company (which operated the first express company west of Buffalo), Fargo became one of the founders of the American Express Company, which  quickly became the largest express concern in the United States.  In 1852, Fargo and some associates formed Wells, Fargo and Company to bring the services of an express company to the gold fields of California.  American Express and Wells, Fargo combined facilities to provide rapid transportation of goods and communications between California, the Atlantic coast, Europe, and points in between.  After an 1855 financial panic drove its most formidable rival into bankruptcy, Wells, Fargo was the dominant express company in the West, with hundreds of employees, thousands of head of stock, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital invested.  In 1857, Fargo and some of his associates from American Express established the Overland Mail, the first transcontinental stage line.  It served the west until the coming of the railroad in 1869. As an officer with the Northern Pacific Railroad, involved in the decision to bring rail to Centralia, North Dakota -- after which the appreciative town changed its name to Fargo.Mr. Fargo was Mayor of  Buffalo for two terms—serving 1862-1863 and 1864-1865. 

    In 1868, when he was 50, Fargo bought 5.5 acres on Buffalo's west side and between 1868–1872, he built the Fargo Mansion at Jersey and Fargo Streets, which was Buffalo's largest mansion. The home was completed in 1872 at a cost of $600,000 (equivalent to $12,805,000 in 2019). Another $100,000 (equivalent to $2,134,000 in 2019) was spent to furnish and decorate the 22,170-square-foot mansion. Michael Rizzo, a Buffalo historian, wrote: the 'most elaborate and costly private mansion in the state,' outside of New York City. The house took two city blocks, from Pennsylvania Avenue, West Avenue, Jersey Street, and Fargo Avenue. There was a central tower five stories high. At his request it contained wood from all the states of the Union. It was the first home in the city to contain an elevator in it, and it was said to have gold doorknobs."

    William Fargo is buried in section AA in Forest Lawn. 

    "Meet" Mr. Fargo here: 

     

     

     

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    Hamburg , NY 14075
    (716) 649-5507

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    West Seneca, NY 14224
    (716) 822-1960

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    Williamsville, NY 14221
    (716) 885-1600

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    Williamsville, NY 14221
    716-332-2236

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    Buffalo, NY 14209
    (716) 885-3079

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