In 1879 the Niagara Stamping & Tool Co., also known as the  Niagara Stamping & Tool Works, were established by Adam Heinz, Michael J. Stark and George J. Munschauer. Heinz and Munschauer were already partners in a manufacturing firm that made ice boxes and bird cages among their products. In their early days, the Niagara Stamping & Tool Co. made tools and machinery for cans and canning, plus they did stamping and punching for other manufacturers.

By 1884 the company had 60 employees, and was increasingly specializing in sheet metal machinery. Stark left the business in 1888, and the local soap-making business of Lautz Brothers—Munschauer's wife, Margaret, was a member of the Lautz family—became a partner. [See also: Mrs. Margaret Lautz Munschauer House]

In about 1897 the name changed to Niagara Machine & Tool Co., and by 1900 the name Niagara Machine & Tool Works was being used.

1909-11-25 The Iron Trade Review: The Niagara Machine & Tool Works authorizes the statement that it will build a new plant. The company has purchased a site of 6½ acres in Buffalo, near the Belt Line crossing of Northland avenue. This project is to supplement the present plant located at Superior and Randall streets. A heavier type of tools will be manufactured at the new plant, including shears, presses, punches, sheet metal, working machinery, etc. Considerable new equipment will 'be purchased, such as planers, lathes and milling machinery. A part of the mechanical equipment of the present factory will be removed to the new works. It is expected building will begin in January or February.

Partial reprint

Progress is fine, but it's gone on for too long
(online November 2022)

The Niagara Machine and Tool Works was founded in 1879 by George J. Munschauer and Adam E. Heinz in 1879 in Buffalo, New York. It was incorporated in 1901.

The company specialized in stamping presses, press brakes and other sheet metal tools needed by the various industries that depended on steel. During WWII, Niagara was a major supplier of metal forming equipment to the Army and Navy air services, as well as other aircraft builders. They supplied such famous firms as General Electric, General Motors and Curtiss-Wright.  

After decades of family ownership, the firm was sold in 1992 to the Verson International Group (VIG).

---

Partial reprint

Full Steam Ahead at Buffalo’s Northland Workforce Training Center

By Jordan Ryan

National Trust for Historic Preservation, April 8, 2021

A  Aerial view of the Northland Workforce Training Center during construction

Nestled between railroad tracks, a highway, and a hospital campus stands 683 Northland, now the Northland Workforce Training Center of Buffalo, New York. The large industrial structure’s original sections were built in 1910-1911 for Niagara Machine & Tool Works, a sheet metal business that fabricated equipment, appliances, and automotive materials. Like the fate of many Rust Belt manufacturing and industrial buildings, operations closed in 1999 and the building sat vacant for nearly two decades.

The roughly 240,000-square-foot facility consists of a few structures: the four-story office building facing Northland Avenue, two large sections of saw-tooth manufacturing spaces, a crane bay, and two Midcentury, multi-use structures on the back of the facility, abutting the railroad tracks. And while the factory is just under four miles from the city center, a fair number of historic worker’s cottages are situated directly across the street. In 2014, conditions would be right for the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation to begin a historic preservation and workforce development project that saw the potential of this mixed-use, underserved area.

Completed in 2019, the Northland Workforce Training Center honored the history of this space by rehabbing the complex into a center for the training and development of a “skilled workforce to meet the needs of the advanced manufacturing and energy sectors. 

For the rehabilitation component of the project, three of the Niagara Machine & Tool Work’s buildings were considered part of the historic designation: the office headquarter & main factory (constructed between 1910-1981), the pattern shop (built 1913), and the metal fabricating plant (built 1953)

About 40%, or 100,000 square feet, of the site is dedicated to the anchor institution, the Northland Workforce Training Center. The NWTC provides manufacturing skills training to residents so that they can secure employment while fulfilling the workforce needs of the local manufacturing economy. The center offers offices, classrooms, and lab space, with for-credit, certificate, and degree program instruction provided by SUNY institutions including Erie Community College, Alfred State College, and Buffalo State College.

Students are trained in machinery, welding, and other types of work needed with local manufacturers, utilities, and the growing clean/green energy sector. Mindful of the historic lack of diversity and access in the manufacturing and energy workforce, the center focuses on serving students of low-income and other underrepresented groups, specifically the “unemployed, returning citizens, refugees, and recent immigrants. 

Two years into the initiative, more than 150 students have completed training and obtained full time employment, with all positions being either union jobs or compensated at the prevailing wage. In addition, student diversity benchmarks were met, including 91% identified as racial minorities and 10% identified as women.

The Northland Workforce Training Center is the anchor project for the Northland Corridor Redevelopment Project, which is one component of the state’s “Buffalo Billion” strategy to direct investment and new opportunities to the City of Buffalo, particularly the east side. The initiative’s success reveals the strengths in governmental and industrial coalition-building, as well as the benefits to strategic financial collaboration.