Tonawanda,
New York
Partial reprint
A Brief History of the Tonawandas By
Charles
Skowronski Sometimes the origin of a name is simple –
example being Lackawanna taking its name from the Lackawanna
Steel Company. The
name Tonawanda is wrapped in a little more mystery.
Historians have settled on
two possible, albeit very similar meanings: “swiftwater” or
from the Tuscarora
word Tahnawá•teh meaning “confluent stream.” These waters
would play a role in
Tonawanda’s future and growth. The first known European to settle on the land
that would become Tonawanda was Henry Anguish in
1809.
By 1811, he would open a tavern in the area. By the spring
of 1823, with
the authorization of Erie Canal Commissioners, Samuel
Wilkeson and Dr. Ebenezer
Johnson began construction of a dam and lock at the mouth of
the Tonawanda
Creek. This would become part of the Erie Canal leading to
Little Buffalo Creek
and the Western Terminus of the canal. The canal would open
in 1825 and it
would be then that we see the first use of the name
Tonawanda in association
with the community. At that time it only was made up of 12
buildings. Tonawanda’s growth was stimulated by the
opening of the canal. Tonawanda’s location at the Western
Terminus of the Erie
Canal coupled with its harbor facilities at the Eastern end
of the Upper Great
Lakes, attracted lumber companies. Lumber companies like the
East Boston Timber
company can be credited with stimulating Tonawanda’s growth
from a small hamlet
of 12 buildings to an incorporated village by 1854. Timber
from the forests of
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Canada were all shipped
to the Tonawandas
and by the turn of the century the Tonawandas were briefly
the “Lumber
Capital
of the World.” This wouldn’t last as the forests of
these regions dwindled because the timber industry at the
time caused
deforestation in these areas and the industry had not
replanted new trees. By the 1850s petty squabbles and a bitter
controversy over a load of gravel caused the north side to
separate from the
village in 1857. It would be incorporated into a village and
later as the City
of
North Tonawanda in 1897. The Village of Tonawanda was
incorporated as the City of Tonawanda in 1903.
The
Town of Tonawanda was established in 1836 after
it
separated from the City of Buffalo. At that time, it
included what would
become the City of Tonawanda, Grand Island (established in
1852) and the
Village of Kenmore (incorporated 1899). As the lumber industry dried up, other
industries started to grow in the Tonawandas. By 1915, the Huntley
generating
station had opened, bringing electricity to the
area. This allowed the Tonawandas to grow to become the
principal industrial
center on the Niagara Frontier. Manufacturing of office
equipment, paint, fiber
and laminated products, steel bars and chains, boxboards and
other products.
The Town of Tonawanda saw Dupont and
General
Motors
as
well as the now defunct Wickwire
Steel,
the Wood and Brooks Piano Key Co., McKinnon Dash Co., the
American
Cabinet Co., and the Excelsior Steel Ball Bearing Co. The Town of Tonawanda would play an important
role in the success of World War II. Some historians posit
that part of the
success of the war was linked to the development and
breakneck production of
the P-40 fighter plane. Thousands would be constructed in
the Curtiss-Wright
plant on Vulcan Street. This was such a huge undertaking
that Life magazine
sent a photographer to witness the round the clock assembly
lines. As the post-war era dawned and transitioned
into the modern age, the Tonawandas, like the majority of
rust belt towns and
cities, saw a rapid decrease in industrial production. Many
either closed or moved.
Today the municipalities have adjusted to focusing on
bringing in the tourist
trade, fine restaurants and cultural activities throughout
the year. The National Trust for Historic Preservation
convened in Buffalo in 2011 and its bus excursion to the
Town of Tonawanda’s
Green Acres neighborhood was a hit. “All those 1950s-era
houses! Still
standing, still beautiful and still in use!” The Tonawandas have also been home to
individuals who have gone on to do great things. Gladys
Parker, who not only was a well-known fashion designer in New York
City and Hollywood, also became nationally known for her
creation of the comic
strips Flapper Fanny and Mopsy. St. John Neumann
spent time in the area as a missionary, ministering to area
Catholics in the
early 1800s. The movie Saving Private Ryan,
and
the character of Private James Ryan, is on Sergeant Fritz
Niland and his
brothers, all of whom are natives of the City of Tonawanda.
Wolf
Blitzer
calls
Kenmore West High School and the
University of Buffalo his alma maters. Athletes who have
called the Tonawandas
home include Joe Mesi, Bill Scherrer, Tom Askey, Burt Lewis and
Fred Brumm. |
Page by Chuck LaChiusa in 2022
| ...Home Page ...| ..Buffalo Architecture Index...| ..Buffalo History Index... .|....E-Mail ...|
web site consulting by ingenious, inc.