Chartered in 1837, Buffalo predates the formation of Putnam County in 1848. Possibly named after nearby Big Buffalo Creek, the town was tied from its beginnings to river trade and agriculture. In its early days, many inhabitants earned a living as captains and crewmen aboard river vessels on the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, while area farmers and craftsmen used this water route to ship produce and wares to markets in other states. The town center contains the historic heart of this West Virginia community. In the 1840s, Presbyterians in Buffalo petitioned the denomination’s governing body in Greenbrier, WV, for permission to form a congregation and erect a church; approval came in 1856, and a newly built church was dedicated in 1857. Built in 1849, the Buffalo Academy offered a liberal education unrivaled in the region, but after occupation by Union and Confederate armies it closed permanently after the Civil War, though the building served as a public school into the early twentieth century. The Buffalo Bank was founded in 1919 by several area residents, including Thomas C. Atkeson, and its present structure, built in 1929, remained in operation until permanently closing in 1963. Formed in 1833, the Buffalo Methodist congregation built a new church behind the Buffalo Academy in 1848; after that structure burned during the Civil War, the congregation built the present building in 1870.