Buffalo

Buffalo, the second largest town in the county, started with the first house built by James Creal in 1848. In 1854, a gristmill was built on the creek, and the next year the Rev. John Duncan and W. L. Creal built a general merchandise store. It was customary in early days for farmers to come to a store when not too busy with their work and sit around on nail kegs and boxes and enjoy a talkfest together. This time together allowed them to express their opinions and crack jokes with each other.

Some of them would enjoy the contents of a large cracker barrel, shelling and eating peanuts, and some with a large “cud” of tobacco chewing away within easy reach of a spittoon. Affairs of a community were molded, and often decisions of how to vote in elections settled in their minds.

One day in the Duncan-Creal store, the conversation had perhaps somewhat lagged when a large bone that had been brought into the store was noticed and commented upon as to what animal it had been a part of. It as generally agreed that is was the rib of a buffalo since there had always been buffalo wallows along the creek. Not yet having a name for their community, someone suggested it be called Buffalo Wallow. All agreed and Buffalo Wallow was created. After several years, the ‘Wallow’ part of it was dropped and it has been called Buffalo since.

In the early 1870’s Buffalo had a population of 50. The community was home to East Lynn College, founded in 1874 and chartered in 1879 “with full power to confer any literary degree.” Tuition per ten-week term for the Preparatory Course was three to five dollars and board cost two and a half dollars per week. Conferring degrees like Bachelor of Pedagogy along with the more traditional Bachelor of Science, the school was known for its excellent brass band which was said to be unique to this region of the state.

Buffalo grew quickly to a population of several hundred, and a number of businesses helped make of the town a thriving commercial center. There were also two churches and four preachers in the bustling community. Two hotels, the Beauchamp and the McClain, accommodated travelers with the McClain Hotel surviving to this day as a private residence.

Buffalo was best known, perhaps, for the hardware and general store opened downtown by Edward S. Ferrill. E.S. Ferrill & Sons first began business as a drug store but the later general store and hardware became a mail order business known over a wide area of the state. Ferrill played an important role in the founding of the Bank of Buffalo which has been in business for more than 100 years.