The Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park in Buffalo New York was officially opened on Independence Day in 1979. But it took 3 years of planning and building to get there. First, in 1976, the Buffalo Naval and Servicemen’s Park and the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency asked for the United States Department of the Navy to contribute a retired nautical ship to create a nautical park. Production on what would become known as our Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park then commenced in 1977. The original display at the park consisted of a Fletcher-class destroyer christened the USS The Sullivans and a Cleveland-class cruiser christened the USS Little Rock. Then in 1988 a new addition was taken on, the Gato-class submarine USS Croaker. But the USS Croaker had to undergo some refurbishments in 1989. Each ship is examined yearly, for they all persist to be assets of the United States Department of the Navy.
In modern times, the park has undergone a couple distinct alterations, most notably the ships were relocated a little to the base of Main and Pearl. The park now rests right next to Buffalo’s Canalside and is a stone’s throw away from the KeyBank Center and right across from the Marine Drive Apartments. The new Explore & More – the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Children’s Museum is directly next to it, alongside with a military museum and the Liberty Hound restaurant (the restaurant opened in 2012).
On December 16, 2017 a Freedom-class littoral combat ship, also named USS Little Rock, came to the park, right alongside the original ship it was named after.
