Collections
Alexander's Lounge, 46 Sweeney
Alexander's, ink and watercolor (Dennis Reed Jr). If you are expecting the current gentlemen's establishment Alexander's Lounge to have a colorful…
Allan Herschell Companies
An 1894 Armitage-Herschell advertisement shows a not-at-all-dangerous-to-children-looking steam boiler and pulleys providing motive power to the…
American District Steam Heating, Taber Industries, 455 Bryant
Founded in 1877 in Lockport, NY by Birdsall Holly, "ADSCO" developed, sold and supported a complete steam-based system for heating buildings, meant…
Art of North Tonawanda by Dennis Reed Jr
I am not only interested in local history, but I also enjoy sketching and painting local scenes! Email me to buy prints of any of the art here, or…
Artizan Factories Inc.
The only known photograph of the Artizan Factories Inc. building in its seven years of operation; published in a 1926 industrial survey. From the…
Auto-Wheel Coaster Company
Employees of the Auto-Wheel Coaster Company's North Tonawanda plant. PHOTO: North Tonawanda History MuseumOrganized as the Buffalo Sled Co. in 1905 by…
Avenues Folk: Mary Kijowski-Konstanty, 47 15th Ave.
Center: A young Mary Kijowski on the porch of 47 15th Avenue, c.1933. Photos from her personal collection. In North Tonawanda, the Polish ruled the…
Avondale / Oliver Theater, 358 Oliver
Avondale Theatre as it appeared in 1924 (Dennis Reed Jr) The southwest corner of Robinson and Oliver Streets—now an empty lot—was formerly occupied…
B. P. O. Elks Lodge 860
The Elks Club home c1920–2011; northeast corner of Main and Sweeney.The North Tonawanda chapter of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks…
Backer House (International Hotel, Washington Hotel)
(118-124 Webster Street) Said to be the oldest hotel in the city, built in 1850, though no corroboration of date. The alley behind is still known as…
Bennett Lumber Company
Island and Main Streets. Bennett began his lumber business at Main and Island Streets as Hoadley and Bennett in 1902, eventually expanding to 190…
Blue Whale Car Wash (Young Street, Tonawanda)
The Blue Whale as a steel-girded tadpole, ca 1972.The Blue Whale Car Wash seemed harmless enough: a building-size mass of periwinkle fiberglass…
Boathouse Park, Weatherbest Slip
PHOTO: Dennis Reed Jr. Around the junction of Tonawanda Creek and the "Little River" three small slips cut into the land. The slips were dug in the…
Boulton Carbon Manufacturing Company
W. H. Boulton's Cleveland company manufactured carbons used in arc lighting. From Wikipedia: By 1894, he had formed the Boulton & Crown Carbon…
Buffalo Bolt Company
Formerly situated on Oliver Street near East Ave., this longtime employer got its start in Amsterdam, N.Y. in 1855. They moved to a small two-story…
Buffalo Norsemen Hockey Club
This hockey team played a single season (1975-1976) in the NAHL at the Tonawanda Sports Center in North Tonawanda.
Buffalo Pumps
A general early description of the plant my be found at fultonhistory.com: "The Pump Works." Tonawanda News, August 24, 1893.
Buffalo Wings and Brewhouse, Bestaste Mini Market, 653 Oliver
From at least 1934, this address in the heart of North Tonawanda's Polish community served as a vital neighborhood deli. It has since been remodeled…
City Hall
The former North Tonawanda City Hall was located on the southeast corner of Main and Tremont. The current North Tonawanda City Hall and police station…
Creo-Dipt, Weatherbest Stained Shingles
In November 1929 Island Street facility nearly wiped out by a disastrous blaze that does an estimated $250,000 in damage and destroys 100 carloads of…
Cumming Family Photo Collection (c. 1905)
The "Boat House Gang," probably photographed at the Gratwick slip. Colorized by Dennis Reed Jr. In 2018, I was asked by a local woman and family…
DeGraff Mansion
On April 30, 1885, James H. DeGraff and his family moved into the elegant mansion at the corner of Payne and Goundry. It was the first residence in…
DeGraff Memorial Hospital
In 1913 business leaders in the Tonawandas including LeGrand S. DeGraff and NT Mayor Dr. John A. Rafter developed a plan to create a badly needed…
Downtown
Most of North Tonawanda's downtown area developed between 1875 and 1900. In this collection are preserved views of many vanished buildings: The YMCA…
Dreamland (Strand Theater)
The Strand at Oliver and 1st opened as a silent film and vaudeville theater on June 24, 1914, and was originally named "Dreamland." It joined several…
Durez Plastics
General Plastics--the company that would become Durez--is incorporated in 1921 by Texas-born Harry Mason Dent (1888-1967) in North Tonawanda. Dent was…
Early Days of the Tonawandas
These book excerpts and articles shed light on the earliest days of the Tonawandas, as well as the nearby villages of Martinsville, Sawyer's Station,…
Ellicott Creek Estates (Tonawanda)
In the mid 1920s, the area between Tonawanda and Ellicott Creeks near Niagara Falls Blvd. was aggressively marketed for sale to prospective homebuyers…
Erie Bridge
The Erie Bridge at Vandervoort carried Erie Railroad trains, electric streetcars--and apparently courageous pedestrians across the Tonawanda Creek and…
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal in North Tonawanda followed the existing Tonawanda Creek from Pendleton. The first work done locally was the 1823 construction of a…
Felton High School and Grammar School
Built in 1901, the visually striking Felton High School once stretched along Thompson Street between Bryant and Falconer streets. It was named after…
Firefighters
Rough chronology at NT History Museum, including notes about many defunct companies. A provocative (if unlikely-sounding) morsel about Hydrant Hose…
First Baptist Church
The First Baptist Church of North Tonawanda is built in 1888 at 190 Vandervoort Street. On May 30, 1965 the congregation commences worship at their…
Friedens Church, Ghostlight Theatre (170 Schenck)
From Starry Night Theatre's website: On a rainy Halloween in 1889, the cornerstone was laid for the Evangelical Friedens Church of North Tonawanda…
Gillie, Goddard and Company, (etc).
William M. Gillie's main foundry and plant is located on Goose Island at Tonawanda and Chestnut. In September 1892 a massive fire destroys some of…
Gilmore School
Calls had been made for over a decade for a new school to serve the city's Ironton district (Public School #7). Opens in 1926. For the first few years…
Goerss's Dairy
The W. C. Goerss Dairy is started in Martinsville in 1925 by Wilmer C. Goerss. It seems likely that his brother Gerhart is involved early on. By 1937…
Goose Island
Goose Island as seen from Tonawanda Island, postcard detail, ca 1913. In the mid-nineteenth century, Tonawanda's so-called "Goose Island" has a…
Goundry Street Area
From the village's earliest days, Goundry Street was a showcase of its most luxurious homes. Wealthy lumber barons and bankers settled here, enjoying…
Goundry Street School
The Goundry Street School was a stone building constructed in 1866. From History of Niagara County 1821-1878 (1878): The North Tonawanda Union School…
Gratwick (Neighborhood)
The White, Gratwick & Mitchell Lumber Company establishes a planing mill and substantial lumberyards along the Niagara River in 1879. They employ…
Gratwick School
Opens in 1894, two years after Pine Woods school, and five years after the second public school, Ironton (According to a 1979 News article).
Hannah Johnson
(ca. 1799 - 1883) Hannah Johnson is a Black woman who lived with her husband John in the predominantly white township of Wheatfield, near the village…
Herman P. Schroeder tavern (870 Oliver Street)
The son of a German immigrant, Herman P. Schroeder came to North Tonawanda in the mid-1890s in the employ of Buffalo Bolt. He first lives in Gratwick,…
Hope-Jones Organ Co. (of Elmira)
Troubled, eccentric English genius Robert Hope-Jones came to the U.S. in 1903. In 1907 he formed the Hope-Jones Organ Co. in Elmira, N.Y. (Mark Twain…
Hotel Sheldon
Postcard, c1890This massive hotel once occupied the southeast corner of Goundry and Main. A general description from Lumber City (1891): Nothing is…
International Paper Company
(1898-1975?) The International Paper occupied the northern edge of Tonawanda Island for over 50 years, processing lumber for use in magazines and…
Ironton / Avenues (Neighborhood)
Looking east over the Avenues from the Niagara River. 2016 Google Earth The original village of (North) Tonawanda is centered around the Erie Canal,…
Ironton School
Ironton Public School #2 opened in 1889 at the corner of 1st Ave and Oliver Street (present-day Elizabeth Harvey Apartments / Olmsted Center for…
Isle View (Red Pump, Tonawanda)
During Prohibition, this 791 Niagara Street "roadhouse" in Tonawanda was known as The Red Pump, and found itself the target of numerous vice raids.…
Linde Television
(c1953-1982) The 1950s TV craze peaked in 1954 and 1955, with sales topping seven million sets each of those years. One of the companies feeding the…
Lumber Business of the Tonawandas
In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber…
Martinsville
Old Falls Boulevard, looking north from Lockport Ave. to Niagara Falls Blvd. Postcard detail, c.1900. The northeast part of North Tonawanda known as…
Melody Fair
This little theater drew an impressive array of stars to North Tonawanda, and it saddened the hearts of many to watch it fall into disuse in the 90s…
Mitch's Del-Taco, Oliver Studio, Lillian Beauty Shoppe (474 Oliver)
An Oliver Street favorite since 1978, "Mitch" now slings tacos at Mitch's General Store (9005 E Otto Springville Rd, East Otto, NY 14729). 474 Oliver…
Murder on the Docks (October 7, 1895)
Articles relating to the murder of Captain Lorenzo Philips and his son Charles at the Scribner docks in Tonawanda, and the subsequent…
Niagara Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company
PHOTO SEARCH: Learn about the search for a photograph of Niagara!(1905-1917) The Niagara Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company is formed by former…
Niagara Silk Mills
The Niagara Silk Mills plant once dominated Sweeney Street, standing where Gateway Center is today. Postcard c. 1912. The Niagara Silk Mills (later…
North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory
Architect's rendering of the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory (Tonawanda News, 1894) (1893-1903) The North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory is…
North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works
North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works factory at 435 Payne Avenue, c1913; photo colorized by the webmaster. (1906-1919)The North Tonawanda…
Our Lady of Czestochowa Church, 57 Center Avenue
From their website: Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish was established on May 1, 1901. Father Peter Lotocha was named Pastor and the first Mass was…
Parade down Payne Avenue, color slides (1972)
Young at Heart parade float, 35mm color slide (photographer unknown) These 21 colorful slides provide a wonderful record of many of North Tonawanda's…
Parade on Sweeney Street, featuring fire departments (1961)
These four color photos from a parade on Sweeney Street take us back to a summer day beside the canal in 1961. They feature a brass band looking sharp…
Park Theater
Goundry Street. Notices as early as 1905, though unclear if they apply to this location (another "Park" was in Buffalo).
Payne Avenue High School
Built c. 1925. A pool is added soon after. Later Payne Junior High, and Lowery Middle School.
Payne Estate
The area north of Wheatfield Street and on both sides of Payne Avenue--formerly the farm and dwelling of early resident and major landholder Colonel…
Perew's Electric Man and Other Inventions
Perew's most famous invention, a patented, giant automaton known variously as the "Electric Man," "Peter the Great," "Christopher," and the…
Pettit Creek
A 1908 map depicts the course of the State Ditch, which was originally Pettit Creek. The background photograph shows the mouth of the creek at the…
Pine Woods Park
"Sweeney Park Entrance." Postcard, c. 1920 The largest park in North Tonawanda is also the oldest. Originally named "Sweeney Park," it is comprised…
Rand Company, Kardex, Remington-Rand
The Rand family powerfully shaped the Tonawandas' business landscape over several generations. Starting in banking, the Rand men (sometimes in direct…
Recreational Warehouse (555 River Road)
Located directly across River Road from the former Tonawanda Iron and Steel, this location has been host to a string of businesses, as well as long…
Remington Tavern (184 Sweeney)
Built in 1895 for trolleys, the squat orange-brick building was subsequently used by carousel and motor builders Herschell-Spillman and the…
Richardson Boat Company
From the Richardson Boat Owners Association website: In 1909 G.Reid Richardson founded the Richardson Boat Company in North Tonawanda, New York to…
Riverside Chemical Company (1906-present)
From their website: Riverside Chemical was founded in 1906 by A. C. Rasch. The business started running out of the basement of a grocery store at…
Rojek's Dairy, Stan Rojek and Park Manor Lanes
The "Rojek" name has at least a three-act legacy in North Tonawanda: Andrew and Pauline Rojek immigrated to the US in 1905 from present-day Poland.…
Scenic Family Theatre (40 Webster)
In a 1913 map, the theater is shown in the north half of the Fowler Block, at the southwest corner of Webster and Tremont, or 40 Webster: though a…
State National Bank (14 Webster Street)
This former beauty of a building on the northwest corner of Webster and Sweeney Streets housed the State National Bank and other businesses. James H.…
Sweeney Cemetery
From History of Niagara County 1821-1878 (1878): The village has a cemetery, which was organized under the statute, in the year 1868. The…
Talismanic Corporation, Frontier Manufacturing Company
Located at 1174 Erie Ave. Talismanic and Frontier were owned and operated by Stanley C. Peuchen and his brothers. Manufacturers of Tops Oil and Oak…
Telephone Franchises
"In 1880, both the Bell Telephone Company and the Edison Co. opened general offices and began extending service in both villages here. The Home…
The Swing Bridges
Apr 21 1883 "An act to incorporate the Tonawanda Island Bridge Company, for the purpose of constructing and operating a bridge from Tonawanda island…
Theodore Roosevelt speaks at North Tonawanda (October 31, 1900)
Recreation of newspaper headline by Dennis Reed JrOn October 31, 1900, Republican candidate for vice president and Governor of New York Theodore…
Thiele's Dairy
There were several Thiele's locations: The original was on Shawnee Road (the farm, out on Niagara Falls Blvd. in the Martinsville / Sawyer Creek…
Tonawanda Brewing Company (533 Niagara Street, Tonawanda)
People outside the Tonawanda Brewing Company. Colorized by the webmaster. The northeast corner of Hinds and Niagara Streets in Tonawanda hosts a…
Tonawanda Iron and Steel
You wouldn't know it from the site today, but the massive plant of the Tonawanda Iron and Steel Company once occupied all the land along the Niagara…
Tonawanda Island
1860 illustration showing the southern tip of Tonawanda Island. The lavish Beechwater residence and a smaller building are seen to the left of a…
Tonawanda Kardex Lumbermen
This Tonawandas football club was a member of the NFL--for a single "away" game in 1921. They lost that game (against the Rochester Jeffersons) 45-0.…
Tonawanda Power Company and 435 Robinson
Around 1889, what would be come the Tonawanda Power Company supplied electricity to NT from a small steam unit on Tonawanda Island, fed by wood…
Tonawanda Sports Center (Sportsplex)
In April 1974 construction began on the massive Twin City Racquet Club / Tonawanda Sports Center complex on Ridge Road in North Tonawanda, behind the…
Trolleys and Trains
Before everybody in North Tonawanda could afford their very own muffler-less Honda Civic to run up and down Oliver Street, trolleys and trains were an…
Webster to Main Street Bridges
(?-1916): Long bridge (1918-1978) A "Bascule" bridge (which could open to allow masted boats to pass) once connected Webster Street in North Tonawanda…
Wulf Bottling Works (285 Main)
Started by Norman Wulf Sr. in 1921 (at 20 Minerva St., Tonawanda). His sons become partners in the business along the way. The operation has moved to…
Wurlitzer Common School (Head Start)
Built c. 1925 on land donated by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, serving Martinsville. Public School 6
Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company
The signature tower of the North Tonawanda plant and occasional headquarters. Postcard, c.1940. Its iconic tower has presided over Sawyer's Creek and…
Wurlitzer Park
Real estate developers begin marketing the “Wurlitzer Park Village” as a safe, family-friendly escape from the aging and industrialized portions of…
Ziehl's Groceries (356 Old Falls Blvd)
Ferdinand Ziehl (far right in the colorized 1918 photo) has a general store in Martinsville as early as 1903. Delivery of fresh meat and produce was…