1 200 19 https://nthistory.com/files/original/d3f6a5e69299aa4d40ae6377985bfae4.jpg d154850552571329e21329eed69c82eb Photo A photographic depiction of a person or place. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Buffalo Bolt and environs, aerial photo (From War Effort magazine, c.1945).jpg Description An account of the resource Also shows East Ave, Buffalo Pumps, a few gardens, Oliver Street, Oliver Street Hotel. In the distance: Tonawanda Iron Works and slips that are now Raymond P. Klimek Veterans park / Fisherman's Park, former Gratwick slip boathouses, Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945 avenues ironton https://nthistory.com/files/original/d66f9c06f1bafac2d3b18af1a7788bf5.jpg d154850552571329e21329eed69c82eb https://nthistory.com/files/original/e601e4fe990d1540814d0dc57c70e3b2.jpg 30b30ca7377d3e3c109a045cf5dd07ba Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Buffalo Bolt, Roblin Steel Description An account of the resource 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 brick at the corner of Clinton & Adams Streets in Buffalo, where the brilliant Orrin C. Burdict joined the firm, and began inventing many superior machines. They were known as Plumb , Burdict & Barnard for a time. Eventually they extended to Eagle Street. In 1897 they were forced to suspended activities as patent expiration hurt their business. Soon after R. H. Plumb, the senior partner, removed the machinery to North Tonawanda, using steam for a few years until Niagara Falls electricity prevailed. From: <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=uo5PAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA225&ots=HsKZ916Mg0&dq=%22Buffalo%20Bolt%22%201855&pg=PA225#v=onepage&q=%22Buffalo%20Bolt%22%201855&f=false">History of the Bolt and Nut Industry of America</a> by W. R. Wilbur Photo A photographic depiction of a person or place. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Buffalo Bolt and environs, aerial photo (From War Effort magazine, c.1945).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945 avenues factory hd ironton oliver river https://nthistory.com/files/original/94e48860f5e374a01a431beed92b59cf.jpg f4bf0a2fc7e193255e6b1f06eaa41276 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Avenues / Ironton (Neighborhood) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/83e.jpg" alt="Ironton and First Ave in 2024. Photo by Dennis Reed Jr" />Ironton Street and First Ave in 2024. Photo by Dennis Reed Jr See also: <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/articles/lost-village-of-ironton/">The lost village of Ironton and the birth of the Avenues</a> and <a href="https://nthistory.com/collections/show/141">Avenues Folk: Mary Kijowski-Konstanty of Fifteenth Ave</a>. Origins of Ironton The "spark" for Ironton arrives in 1873, when Niagara Furnace (later <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/16">Tonawanda Iron and Steel)</a> locates on the banks of the Niagara River near Wheatfield Street. The unofficial village of "Ironton" is named after the promising venture. After initial excitement (and investment in the surrounding land) however, the furnace shuts down after only a year in operation.  Early doings In 1875 map, homes are seen in the lower Avenues. Oliver Street business? Churches. Colonel Payne's estate is still intact across Payne and up to Dahlgren Place, the former northern limit of the early Avenues. Ironton Street from 1880s according to ArcGIS. "From 1880-1890, its population increased form 1,492 to 4,793," (Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York, p.110). In 1882, the establishment of a John Cichoki's <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1665">tavern on River Road</a> near Wheatfield street <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1543">is a foothold</a> for early Polish settlers. Grocers and butchers are nearby. In 1884 a "minor school in a small frame building" is established less than a quarter mile east down Wheatfield at Dahlgren Place (<a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1477">Buffalo Courier Express, 1905)</a>. In 1889 or 1890, the much larger, Richardsonian Romanesque style <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/64">Ironton Public School #2</a> opens at the corner of 1st Ave and Oliver Street.  The furnace burns again; the River Road industrial corridor The old Niagara Furnace site is expanded and relaunched in 1889 by Tonawanda Iron and Steel. The adjacent marshes and former farms once again become valuable real estate, with "manufacturing interests" courted for the valuable land along the river and railroad tracks. More Poles, Hungarians and others flock to the Avenues, bringing their languages, traditions and chickens with them. An 1891 guidebook describes the real estate situation: <blockquote>It was purchased from Pratt & Jewett by Geo. P. Smith and A. J. Hathaway, Oct. 15, 1889, replatted, and Jan. 1st, 1890, put on the market. Within a year 500 building lots had been sold and 100 houses erected. With June of the present year [1891] the Ironton Land Co. was incorporated with capital of §100,000 and everything bids fair for a prosperous career, as this is the river center of North Tonawanda corporation, and being traversed by all the rail- roads it cannot fail to secure prominent manufacturing interests. The Ironton addition is less than a mile from the North Tonawanda City Hall. With the Iron & Steel Works, the surrounding lumber interests and the bolt and nut works of Plumb, Burdict ct Barnard, which has recently been located on the adjoining property, this section of the city will make a convenient and desirable place for mechanics and business firms. It has the water supply, electric lights, and will soon be connected by the electric street car line. A double two story brick block for stores has just been completed on Oliver street, making a nice addition to the mercantile conveniences there, a $15,000 brick school house was erected a couple of years since, a church dedicated in August and this section has all the modern conveniences of the older part of the city.</blockquote> Land In November 1889, <a href="https://niagara.nygenweb.net/biography/smithgeorgep1897bio.html">George P. Smith</a> and <a href="https://niagara.nygenweb.net/biography/hathawayaj1897bio.html">A. J. Hathaway</a> buy land opposite the iron works. Incorporation into the City of North Tonawanda The village of "Ironton" (along with the villages of North Tonawanda, Gratwick and Martinsville) is incorporated into the City of North Tonawanda in 1897. The last remnant of the old village name is in its "Ironton Street," running along the west edge of the original avenues. It never had its own post office, or government, but it is an interesting part of the patchwork of the original city that has mostly now vanished from public recall. An increasingly Polish community on the Avenues For the numerous Polish on the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/3436">original seven avenues</a>, their church is the center of their community. OLC is established on Center Ave, exactly where the grotto is today. It is later rebuilt just south. <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/98">Pettit Creek</a> flows through the area (it will be covered). <a href="http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale%20-%200105.pdf">The paving of Oliver Street being planned August 26, 1893. </a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s"> A progress report </a><a href="http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale%20-%200169.pdf">about a month later</a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s">. October 5 </a><a href="http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale%20-%200235.pdf">there is labor trouble between Poles and Italians</a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s">.</a> The upper avenues remain essentially woods and marshes until the 1940s, when settlement accelerates with the nationwide Baby Boom.  Notes:  * Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, of the State of New-York (1884, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=EEEdAQAAIAAJ">Google Books)</a> Also has lots of details about new Goundry Street school and a brief mention of Gratwick school and enrollment figures.1890 "The village of Tonawanda is up and awake as far as educational matters are concerned. It has a progressive board of education composed of five members, all liberal men in their views. A new brick school building is nearly completed at Ironton, a suburb of the village, that would be a pride to any town."<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s"> </a> John Carr on Facebook in January 2017: "Go back to the 1800's and my great grandfather's farm, as well as several others, was there, extending from the river inland past Payne. The house was originally along the river. Eventually the lumber yards and steel mills pushed the property, and the house back from the river to Oliver (#849 or #869). In the 1890's, after his death, the property was sold off and developed into individual housing lots. At that time the area was annexed to North Tonawanda, before that the area was part of Wheatfield. Carr Street still exists by the town pool. Many of my great grand parents children and their families had homes in the area. We see the area today pretty much as it was developed then, however modernized a bit and not the capitol of industry it was then." <a href="https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=b5be67cf0e05477e8f4ad3161ab51422">ArcGIS</a> and old map notes: <ul> <li>1860 map show Cap. O. Shepard in a few places. From Ohio. Buried there. H(enry) Rosebrock from Hanover, Germany (1880 Census); H. Luttman German. F. Roney</li> <li>Homes on Ironton Street range between 1870 (96 Ironton), 1880 (144 Ironton) and into the early 1900s. Some Year 0s (e.g., 188).</li> <li>The River Rd - Wheatfield "businesses" at southeast corner are 1900-1930, couple of year 0s, though 1886 map shows SOMETHING there earlier.</li> <li>Weston & Son lumber all around in 1886 maps, Stocum & DeGraff south across Summer</li> <li>Simson Street: Properties start at 1860 (23 Simson), couple 1880s and 0s. "Rua, Joseph M" listed as owned on many.  1875 map it's called "Judd Ave, and names of homeowners are given (several Simsons); Called "Miller" in 1886 map. Early enclave for nearby mill, predating even Iron Works? </li> </ul> Photo A photographic depiction of a person or place. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Buffalo Bolt, Buffalo Pumps, Gilmore School, etc., aerial photo postcard (Daniel Kancar, c1947).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1947 avenues buffalo bolt gilmore ironton https://nthistory.com/files/original/ba913912de40dcb9c72a58ecb114aecc.jpeg 953b41d2c7e49888e734ffec8c227ae4 https://nthistory.com/files/original/59f78b27295cbed814a9bf485ac23a0e.jpeg ae83b4ba0cba558648400a214a3e3ed6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tonawanda Iron and Steel (Niagara River Iron Company) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Tonawanda Iron and Steel, illustration" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/16.jpg" />Illustration: Dennis Reed Jr., 2025. For a century, a massive riverfront iron works dominates the skyline of North Tonawanda near Wheatfield Street and present-day Fisherman's Park. The furnaces cast a ruddy glow over the west, and power the birth of the village of "Ironton," later known as "The Avenues." From <a href="https://nthistory.com/items/show/2891">History of Niagara County (1878)</a>: <blockquote>The Niagara River Iron Company was formed in pursuance of the general manufacturing law, in 1872, with a paid-up capital of $400,000. The first purchase of real estate was of 165 acres from M. Bush. The buildings were erected in 1873, and manufacturing operations commenced the same year. The engine house stands in a prominent position, and by one not knowing its design might be taken for an elegant mansion or villa; the building is 68 by 74 feet, with a proportionate elevation, and finished in tasteful style. The boiler house, judiciously separated, located 45 feet by 70, contains ten ponderous boilers, four feet in diameter and sixty feet long; an octagon chimney eighty feet high rises in front. The blast furnace was constructed to run out fifty tons of pig iron per day, and is 60 by 200 feet and two stories high; a tower rising above the rounded kert contains the machinery for elevating ore and brick by steam power. The oven is 30 by 41 feet, with iron-bound exterior. The buildings named are massive and substantial brick erections, upon stone foundations. The stock house is a frame building, 72 by 500 feet and two stories high. The dock fronting on the river is 500 feet in length, reaching ten feet depth of water. Located upon the dock is an engine for raising freight from the vessels. Two branch tracks of the Central railroad pass over the docks and into the stock house, to deposit and remove material. The buildings cover an area of four acres. The trustees are P. P. Pratt, president; Josiah Jewett, vice-president; S. S. Jewett, H. H. Glenny, George B. Hays, F. L. Danforth and B. F. Felton. During the present general depression in business the works are not operated; but as they are controlled by men of permanent wealth, willing to use it and able to hold their own until the day dawns upon brighter prospects, the advantages of this great concern will yet be felt by the community that has clustered about it in anticipation. The premises and machinery are kept in the most perfect order and neatness under the care of Alexander Reid.</blockquote> Pascal P. Pratt, a "hardware man" from Buffalo, is president and principal stockholder.  <blockquote>Mr. [Pascal P.] Pratt also helped to organize the Niagara River Iron Company in 1872. That company operated a blast furnace in North Tonawanda capable of turning out fifty tons of pig iron daily. Pascal Pratt was President of the firm, and among the other principals was S. S. Jewett. This company was later succeeded by the Tonawanda Iron and Steel Company, with William A. Rogers as President.</blockquote> <blockquote>- <a href="https://www.olmstedinbuffalo.com/pascal-p-pratt/#:~:text=city%20of%20Buffalo.-,Mr.,and%20the%20Bank%20of%20Attica.">Olmsted in Buffalo</a></blockquote> By 1875, in the midst of a general depression in the iron industry, the works are stopped, and lie dormant for years, possibly the next 14. In January 1889 it is reported that the Baird Bros. of Ohio will buy the plant and resume operations. It will require about $50K. 30 workers are expected in March. Ore begins arriving in great quantities in June, and on August 28 the furnace roars again. 100 men work the facility, day and night. The production of 100 tons of iron and steel a day is planned. <a href="https://archive.org/details/historyofcityofb00buff">Seemingly owned</a> at one point by "Rogers, Brown and Company, one of the largest iron companies in the country." The iron plant draws workers to the area, many Hungarian and Polish, who settle in a village called "<a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/83">Ironton</a>," just north of North Tonawanda proper. Frank Burkett Baird (b.1852 d.11/15/1939) organizes the Tonawanda Iron & Steel Co, in 1899. (Baird's singular accomplishment is as "Father of the Peace Bridge" - <a href="https://buffaloah.com/h/panam/forestL.html">Buffalo Architecture & History</a>). The new venture is a success, and expanding. President Rogers. New "monster" engine in June 1896. President McKinley fires up its mighty Furnace B with great ceremony and the flip of a switch from his home in Ohio in November 1896.  Somewhere around 1912 poor management and a poor economy stop the furnaces again. The plant lies unused until purchased by Tonawanda Iron Corp. in 1922. Gilmore. By 2017, the site has been cleared and converted into a small medical park and Fisherman's Park. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived "Tonawanda Iron Corp., Is One of Largest Manufacturers of Pig Iron." Tonawanda News, 1929 (in this collection). Postcard A pictorial representation of a place or entity, intended to be written upon and mailed. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tonawanda Iron Works, postcard (1909).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909 avenues boat ironton river https://nthistory.com/files/original/238652e7a4796fe15e8d2f05ee9cf960.jpg 91e1b479419de2c6a8a68039fde78a44 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Avenues / Ironton (Neighborhood) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/83e.jpg" alt="Ironton and First Ave in 2024. Photo by Dennis Reed Jr" />Ironton Street and First Ave in 2024. Photo by Dennis Reed Jr See also: <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/articles/lost-village-of-ironton/">The lost village of Ironton and the birth of the Avenues</a> and <a href="https://nthistory.com/collections/show/141">Avenues Folk: Mary Kijowski-Konstanty of Fifteenth Ave</a>. Origins of Ironton The "spark" for Ironton arrives in 1873, when Niagara Furnace (later <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/16">Tonawanda Iron and Steel)</a> locates on the banks of the Niagara River near Wheatfield Street. The unofficial village of "Ironton" is named after the promising venture. After initial excitement (and investment in the surrounding land) however, the furnace shuts down after only a year in operation.  Early doings In 1875 map, homes are seen in the lower Avenues. Oliver Street business? Churches. Colonel Payne's estate is still intact across Payne and up to Dahlgren Place, the former northern limit of the early Avenues. Ironton Street from 1880s according to ArcGIS. "From 1880-1890, its population increased form 1,492 to 4,793," (Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York, p.110). In 1882, the establishment of a John Cichoki's <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1665">tavern on River Road</a> near Wheatfield street <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1543">is a foothold</a> for early Polish settlers. Grocers and butchers are nearby. In 1884 a "minor school in a small frame building" is established less than a quarter mile east down Wheatfield at Dahlgren Place (<a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1477">Buffalo Courier Express, 1905)</a>. In 1889 or 1890, the much larger, Richardsonian Romanesque style <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/64">Ironton Public School #2</a> opens at the corner of 1st Ave and Oliver Street.  The furnace burns again; the River Road industrial corridor The old Niagara Furnace site is expanded and relaunched in 1889 by Tonawanda Iron and Steel. The adjacent marshes and former farms once again become valuable real estate, with "manufacturing interests" courted for the valuable land along the river and railroad tracks. More Poles, Hungarians and others flock to the Avenues, bringing their languages, traditions and chickens with them. An 1891 guidebook describes the real estate situation: <blockquote>It was purchased from Pratt & Jewett by Geo. P. Smith and A. J. Hathaway, Oct. 15, 1889, replatted, and Jan. 1st, 1890, put on the market. Within a year 500 building lots had been sold and 100 houses erected. With June of the present year [1891] the Ironton Land Co. was incorporated with capital of §100,000 and everything bids fair for a prosperous career, as this is the river center of North Tonawanda corporation, and being traversed by all the rail- roads it cannot fail to secure prominent manufacturing interests. The Ironton addition is less than a mile from the North Tonawanda City Hall. With the Iron & Steel Works, the surrounding lumber interests and the bolt and nut works of Plumb, Burdict ct Barnard, which has recently been located on the adjoining property, this section of the city will make a convenient and desirable place for mechanics and business firms. It has the water supply, electric lights, and will soon be connected by the electric street car line. A double two story brick block for stores has just been completed on Oliver street, making a nice addition to the mercantile conveniences there, a $15,000 brick school house was erected a couple of years since, a church dedicated in August and this section has all the modern conveniences of the older part of the city.</blockquote> Land In November 1889, <a href="https://niagara.nygenweb.net/biography/smithgeorgep1897bio.html">George P. Smith</a> and <a href="https://niagara.nygenweb.net/biography/hathawayaj1897bio.html">A. J. Hathaway</a> buy land opposite the iron works. Incorporation into the City of North Tonawanda The village of "Ironton" (along with the villages of North Tonawanda, Gratwick and Martinsville) is incorporated into the City of North Tonawanda in 1897. The last remnant of the old village name is in its "Ironton Street," running along the west edge of the original avenues. It never had its own post office, or government, but it is an interesting part of the patchwork of the original city that has mostly now vanished from public recall. An increasingly Polish community on the Avenues For the numerous Polish on the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/3436">original seven avenues</a>, their church is the center of their community. OLC is established on Center Ave, exactly where the grotto is today. It is later rebuilt just south. <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/98">Pettit Creek</a> flows through the area (it will be covered). <a href="http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale%20-%200105.pdf">The paving of Oliver Street being planned August 26, 1893. </a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s"> A progress report </a><a href="http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale%20-%200169.pdf">about a month later</a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s">. October 5 </a><a href="http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale%20-%200235.pdf">there is labor trouble between Poles and Italians</a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s">.</a> The upper avenues remain essentially woods and marshes until the 1940s, when settlement accelerates with the nationwide Baby Boom.  Notes:  * Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, of the State of New-York (1884, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=EEEdAQAAIAAJ">Google Books)</a> Also has lots of details about new Goundry Street school and a brief mention of Gratwick school and enrollment figures.1890 "The village of Tonawanda is up and awake as far as educational matters are concerned. It has a progressive board of education composed of five members, all liberal men in their views. A new brick school building is nearly completed at Ironton, a suburb of the village, that would be a pride to any town."<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s"> </a> John Carr on Facebook in January 2017: "Go back to the 1800's and my great grandfather's farm, as well as several others, was there, extending from the river inland past Payne. The house was originally along the river. Eventually the lumber yards and steel mills pushed the property, and the house back from the river to Oliver (#849 or #869). In the 1890's, after his death, the property was sold off and developed into individual housing lots. At that time the area was annexed to North Tonawanda, before that the area was part of Wheatfield. Carr Street still exists by the town pool. Many of my great grand parents children and their families had homes in the area. We see the area today pretty much as it was developed then, however modernized a bit and not the capitol of industry it was then." <a href="https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=b5be67cf0e05477e8f4ad3161ab51422">ArcGIS</a> and old map notes: <ul> <li>1860 map show Cap. O. Shepard in a few places. From Ohio. Buried there. H(enry) Rosebrock from Hanover, Germany (1880 Census); H. Luttman German. F. Roney</li> <li>Homes on Ironton Street range between 1870 (96 Ironton), 1880 (144 Ironton) and into the early 1900s. Some Year 0s (e.g., 188).</li> <li>The River Rd - Wheatfield "businesses" at southeast corner are 1900-1930, couple of year 0s, though 1886 map shows SOMETHING there earlier.</li> <li>Weston & Son lumber all around in 1886 maps, Stocum & DeGraff south across Summer</li> <li>Simson Street: Properties start at 1860 (23 Simson), couple 1880s and 0s. "Rua, Joseph M" listed as owned on many.  1875 map it's called "Judd Ave, and names of homeowners are given (several Simsons); Called "Miller" in 1886 map. Early enclave for nearby mill, predating even Iron Works? </li> </ul> Map A diagram of a geographical area's major arteries of transportation, buildings, land owners and terrain. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Avenues, Payne Estate, future Mid-City Plaza, aerial photo (1938).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://niagara-county.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html">https://niagara-county.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html</a> avenues gratwick ironton map photo https://nthistory.com/files/original/bd1c956343d5a1b2eb3ae2a298fd303d.jpg 083b33994bd2f06b9971d14bd7566b71 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Avenues Folk: Mary Kijowski-Konstanty, 47 15th Ave. Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="A collage of photographs shows a young girl on the porch of a typical Avenues style home at its center, with an accordion player and men drinking alcohol in others" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/141.jpg" />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 Avenues. The industrious immigrants pour into the city in the late 1800s and early 1900s, snatching up the plentiful work offered by Tonawanda Iron and Steel, the still-booming lumber industry, Buffalo Bolt and others. By 1933 they have established a vibrant  community of over <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2943">5,000 people</a>, with its own churches, taverns, community centers, and stores selling the goods needed to support the traditions of their European homeland.  The photos and ephemera in this collection were the personal property of a first-generation Pole living on the Avenues, the late Mary Konstanty (née Kijowski, c.1926-2000). Her Polish-born parents are Szymon (who works at nearby Buffalo Bolt) and Paulina. Mary is the youngest of eight siblings, all born in America between 1911 and 1926. In a <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRN1-94PZ?i=8&cc=1488411&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMVMV-YVS">1920 Census</a> the family is at 21 14th Avenue, squeezed in with another family. By 1926 they have settled at 47 15th Ave. The collection is a vivid snapshot of social life on the Avenues: the men drinking conspicuously and posing with beers on a bench in their tiny backyard; the family farming and ice skating in the unsettled swaths of the upper east Avenues that would be covered by homes after WWII. The sounds of accordions and Polish would have been ringing in the air.  Mary is always smiling in the photos; always seemingly keenly aware of some devilish fun to be had, whether she is posing on a tractor, ice skating, or peeking around a tree with her future husband, John Konstanty II. Only the last, 1980 photo of her shows her unsmiling--perhaps annoyed by the picture-taker as she tries to read her newspaper on her porch in peace.  Her many grandchildren may or may not know it, but Mary Kijowski appears to have been a bit of a wild child. The Tonawanda News has memorialized one case in point: In October 1942, the paper reports that 16 year-old Mary was out after 4 a.m. in a car driven by her friend Helen Polek of 15 14th Avenue. As they turn a corner on Sweeney Street, Mary tumbles out of the open passenger door, suffering "severe" brush burns and a fractured arm. Helen takes her younger friend to De Graff Memorial Hospital, where Mary is admitted for treatment. They may not have had the Internet to record youthful indiscretions in her day, but they had microfilm. Like many women of her time, Mary Kijowski steps up to help keep factories running while the nation is at war. A March 11, 1943 postcard from the U. S. War Manpower Commission invites her to Buffalo for a job interview. She is assigned to the same factory her father works at, Buffalo Bolt. A wonderful photo in this set shows her with other women inside the North Tonawanda factory; another shows her posing proudly in full "Rosie the Riveter" regalia: a do-rag on her head, and a men's plaid shirt tucked into pants that are far too long for her. She marries John Konstanty II in 1952 at Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic church. They have four children by 1959. John works at Bethlehem Steel and <a href="https://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252011%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201959%2520%2520Grayscale%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201959%2520%2520%2520Grayscale%2520-%25201247.pdf%23xml%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3D1ad5d832%26DocId%3D2106552%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520U%26HitCount%3D35%26hits%3De%2Bd2%2B376%2B389%2B3ac%2B3e8%2B3e9%2B418%2B454%2B496%2B4b1%2B531%2B589%2Ba66%2Bb06%2Bb69%2Bb75%2Bbe7%2Bbfb%2Bc95%2Bcad%2Bcd4%2Bcf4%2Bdf3%2Bdf8%2Be51%2Be84%2Beaa%2Bee3%2Bf4e%2Bfb7%2B1023%2B10ab%2B10b0%2B10b7%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&uri=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252011%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201959%2520%2520Grayscale%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201959%2520%2520%2520Grayscale%2520-%25201247.pdf&xml=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3D1ad5d832%26DocId%3D2106552%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520U%26HitCount%3D35%26hits%3De%2Bd2%2B376%2B389%2B3ac%2B3e8%2B3e9%2B418%2B454%2B496%2B4b1%2B531%2B589%2Ba66%2Bb06%2Bb69%2Bb75%2Bbe7%2Bbfb%2Bc95%2Bcad%2Bcd4%2Bcf4%2Bdf3%2Bdf8%2Be51%2Be84%2Beaa%2Bee3%2Bf4e%2Bfb7%2B1023%2B10ab%2B10b0%2B10b7%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false">runs for alderman</a> that year.  A son, Jeffrey, is born in 1962. Photo A photographic depiction of a person or place. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 47 Fifteenth Ave., aerial photo (1938).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived https://niagara-county.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html Description An account of the resource Many of the upper east avenues were still unoccupied in 1938. avenues gratwick ironton map https://nthistory.com/files/original/2036fdea55afd049d5466a7184229c39.jpg 441c089c0541350408ad2709cb115af4 https://nthistory.com/files/original/1e34e1f230f0bf843120d447cdd68d75.jpg 1ec50ce73facffe38c7032e7ef58404c https://nthistory.com/files/original/0693af121c3d3762e5b165753dc38c8d.jpg 088d7ab3d0975cf3bdceba1052479b54 https://nthistory.com/files/original/e689ab08f86ef1396903aac8f406a85d.jpg b5788dfaf1b5c436b332ac0054855b6e https://nthistory.com/files/original/8f579bc4db6506322d299c2a35f3bafc.jpg ff532f017070b49c8e497c029f9f8005 https://nthistory.com/files/original/c6bb070a3ca0de1c89c6a4733fc02b8d.jpg ab2ccf319ef12fe51300cde5226004d5 https://nthistory.com/files/original/21d793711a5c34a78af1a4e55c691a7b.jpg 632684516635e0f80a33029bc12dbb20 https://nthistory.com/files/original/3c79340c6d2f1072bb2bbb9b4c678b44.jpg 426287b9aebc3c6053af581362d507bc https://nthistory.com/files/original/31f76e5c507d63cf0eb72f8a0564e4dc.jpg 0672254ea8942c3f663c5b5b4efdbfe6 https://nthistory.com/files/original/647cf30068e39da49bc2ab8d4d3b3117.jpg 408d4df5e830c961ed2d686a4e410ac7 https://nthistory.com/files/original/7ccc836e2e09e27716ed6fcd198b58b5.jpg 51bec983d5d9cc795ae84a577c07b08b https://nthistory.com/files/original/c939bbc13609d308c9b417c07cef902a.jpg ab64a1cb0ec08e070923f357d9c18c69 https://nthistory.com/files/original/eaf2200a7144bfc9749f5d76871fd2af.jpg 6047f95207503c84ee6c140559d58d33 https://nthistory.com/files/original/4e2f0bfdea070eb7d966c0c2921f632b.jpg d84520d24668e06dc4eafe87d12c8fff Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gilmore School (Public School No. 7) Description An account of the resource Calls have been made for over a decade for a new school to serve the city's Ironton district before Public School No. 7 opens in 1926. It is not named "Gilmore" school right away; as late as 1933 it is known only by its number, or "the new Ironton school." When the school reopens for 1932, it is filled to capacity. Principal Kenneth G. McLean says the sixth grade will temporarily have to use Ironton School No. 2 as a result. The school is enlarged in 1957. Photo A photographic depiction of a person or place. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource INSIDE photo tour of former Gilmore School, North Tonawanda (2023).jpg Description An account of the resource The Board of Education is now headquartered in the southern part of the building, while the Christian Academy uses the original section. The repurposed elementary school retains many of its original interior features. Pictured are the cafeteria, gymnasium, the "breezeway" (which connected the original and new sections), the boys' bathroom, the principal's office door and sign, the original entrance from the inside, a renovated kindergarten classroom, and the northwest entrance. Two historic keepsakes from other former North Tonawanda schools are on display: the bell from the demolished Ironton School (according to my tour guide), and a stone salvaged from the 1866 Goundry Street School. The school in the photo accompanying the bell doesn't look like the Ironton School to me, but I may be wrong. According to this <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1477">1905 article,</a> the bell hung in the area's first district school (later the site of the parsonage of the 1st M.E. Church) from 1831 until the 1870s, then was used a few years later in a second district school at the corner of Dahlgren and Wheatfield, before moving to the Ironton School in 1890. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-03-08 avenues ironton school https://nthistory.com/files/original/e43b23a2e1ae2c71f00719a3d5295694.jpg fc88434713f8e221b084d53e4fb1261e https://nthistory.com/files/original/9b52c6780464c7f218dfa2fa6ab627e9.jpg c97f3e04891776015ad9d870cb13cab6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Buffalo Wings and Brewhouse, Bestaste Mini Market (653 Oliver) Description An account of the resource From at least 1934, this address in the heart of North Tonawanda's Polish community serves as a vital neighborhood deli. It has since been remodeled and repurposed as a "brewhouse" by Matt Bille. in the Some appearances of 653 Oliver Street in local newspapers: <ul> <li>1916-04-29 A. Rudzinski (SOCONY Kerosene oil dealer)</li> <li>1916-11-22 - Bracia Rudzinscy</li> <li>1924 - Current building according to PROSGAR</li> <li>1932 - Ed Rudzinski Groceries and Meats (ad)</li> <li>1935 - Ed Rudzinski & Bros.</li> <li>1942 - Retail Beer License to Edward Rudzinski</li> <li>1959 - Retail Beer License, "Frank exec. Of the Estate of Edward"</li> <li>1960-1965 Rudzinski's Grocery and Meat Market (Francis A.)</li> <li>1965 - Someone ironing, altering clothes at address</li> <li>1973-04-12 - DEED From Niagara S&L Assn to Frank and Mabel Zielski for 653 Oliver ($15K)</li> <li>1974-05-23 - Beer License for off-premise consumption</li> <li>1975-11-17 - "Holiday Mini Markets" ad</li> <li>1986-09-23 Bestaste Mini Market Grand Opening advertized</li> </ul> Photo A photographic depiction of a person or place. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Former Bestaste Mini Markets, photos (Dennis Reed Jr., 2016-03-08).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-03-08 avenues hd photo https://nthistory.com/files/original/f3c2e7ee42cefb719f1c6f412d24029c.jpg 4e9d39b87eb746c1b65ee6d55023a8a5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Buffalo Wings and Brewhouse, Bestaste Mini Market (653 Oliver) Description An account of the resource From at least 1934, this address in the heart of North Tonawanda's Polish community serves as a vital neighborhood deli. It has since been remodeled and repurposed as a "brewhouse" by Matt Bille. in the Some appearances of 653 Oliver Street in local newspapers: <ul> <li>1916-04-29 A. Rudzinski (SOCONY Kerosene oil dealer)</li> <li>1916-11-22 - Bracia Rudzinscy</li> <li>1924 - Current building according to PROSGAR</li> <li>1932 - Ed Rudzinski Groceries and Meats (ad)</li> <li>1935 - Ed Rudzinski & Bros.</li> <li>1942 - Retail Beer License to Edward Rudzinski</li> <li>1959 - Retail Beer License, "Frank exec. Of the Estate of Edward"</li> <li>1960-1965 Rudzinski's Grocery and Meat Market (Francis A.)</li> <li>1965 - Someone ironing, altering clothes at address</li> <li>1973-04-12 - DEED From Niagara S&L Assn to Frank and Mabel Zielski for 653 Oliver ($15K)</li> <li>1974-05-23 - Beer License for off-premise consumption</li> <li>1975-11-17 - "Holiday Mini Markets" ad</li> <li>1986-09-23 Bestaste Mini Market Grand Opening advertized</li> </ul> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource East side of Oliver Street not built up much past 3rd Avenue, 1908 map detail.jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1908 avenues ironton map https://nthistory.com/files/original/40bee2a88d0aeefb876ca0f13c3d321f.jpg b0efbf6c8dcf5035cda492b836b7ce6e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Herman P. Schroeder tavern (870 Oliver Street) Description An account of the resource 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, and later moves to 870 Oliver Street (near the entrance to the Buffalo Bolt plant). He opens a tavern there about 1902, operating it until Prohibition. In the 1920s he opens an ice cream and candy store across from the Oliver / Avondale Theater at the corner of Robinson and Oliver. Photo A photographic depiction of a person or place. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Herman P. Schroeder saloon, 870 Oliver Street, photo (Kearns, Bille, c1915).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1915 avenues photo tavern https://nthistory.com/files/original/7987207d661d3f52cf07152b831e9ff2.jpg 6180f7de0d1043fa62dea82e5a646d20 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Village Inn (869 Oliver) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Village Inn, photo (Forgotten Buffalo, c2002).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002 avenues bar logotype restaurant https://nthistory.com/files/original/e8c6080123e1c749d2393834f0730367.jpg 1aad375d4147274d09de9c49ff46723b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Village Inn (869 Oliver) Photo A photographic depiction of a person or place. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Village Inn, photo (Google Maps, c2021).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021 avenues https://nthistory.com/files/original/f3ccc1060ceeae9a8371a102145bd5b8.jpg 0a81d6a92e4391a45ab5e389fd9e6a16 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Village Inn (869 Oliver) Photo A photographic depiction of a person or place. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Village Inn, photo (2007-10).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007 avenues https://nthistory.com/files/original/6bd55bfa3a69042e9d0a2aa91fcef775.jpg cf5775794430244c31a455c5353215d0 https://nthistory.com/files/original/1509f82a65c3735ce1a3da5a223609d0.jpg 062d550ece71de34ef28f9e1e32bbb94 https://nthistory.com/files/original/985dabb69935a65668d907d0a06f5c80.jpg 73f83b0de307958745104f1be1ee9b46 Photo A photographic depiction of a person or place. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Little Store, 64 14th Avenue at Gilmore Street, photo (c1960).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 avenues retail https://nthistory.com/files/original/b010c66b7edc28c3482a667b759143ba.jpg 742ea45bf158796526fefedc3555f312 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Avenues / Ironton (Neighborhood) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/83e.jpg" alt="Ironton and First Ave in 2024. Photo by Dennis Reed Jr" />Ironton Street and First Ave in 2024. Photo by Dennis Reed Jr See also: <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/articles/lost-village-of-ironton/">The lost village of Ironton and the birth of the Avenues</a> and <a href="https://nthistory.com/collections/show/141">Avenues Folk: Mary Kijowski-Konstanty of Fifteenth Ave</a>. Origins of Ironton The "spark" for Ironton arrives in 1873, when Niagara Furnace (later <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/16">Tonawanda Iron and Steel)</a> locates on the banks of the Niagara River near Wheatfield Street. The unofficial village of "Ironton" is named after the promising venture. After initial excitement (and investment in the surrounding land) however, the furnace shuts down after only a year in operation.  Early doings In 1875 map, homes are seen in the lower Avenues. Oliver Street business? Churches. Colonel Payne's estate is still intact across Payne and up to Dahlgren Place, the former northern limit of the early Avenues. Ironton Street from 1880s according to ArcGIS. "From 1880-1890, its population increased form 1,492 to 4,793," (Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Niagara County, New York, p.110). In 1882, the establishment of a John Cichoki's <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1665">tavern on River Road</a> near Wheatfield street <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1543">is a foothold</a> for early Polish settlers. Grocers and butchers are nearby. In 1884 a "minor school in a small frame building" is established less than a quarter mile east down Wheatfield at Dahlgren Place (<a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1477">Buffalo Courier Express, 1905)</a>. In 1889 or 1890, the much larger, Richardsonian Romanesque style <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/64">Ironton Public School #2</a> opens at the corner of 1st Ave and Oliver Street.  The furnace burns again; the River Road industrial corridor The old Niagara Furnace site is expanded and relaunched in 1889 by Tonawanda Iron and Steel. The adjacent marshes and former farms once again become valuable real estate, with "manufacturing interests" courted for the valuable land along the river and railroad tracks. More Poles, Hungarians and others flock to the Avenues, bringing their languages, traditions and chickens with them. An 1891 guidebook describes the real estate situation: <blockquote>It was purchased from Pratt & Jewett by Geo. P. Smith and A. J. Hathaway, Oct. 15, 1889, replatted, and Jan. 1st, 1890, put on the market. Within a year 500 building lots had been sold and 100 houses erected. With June of the present year [1891] the Ironton Land Co. was incorporated with capital of §100,000 and everything bids fair for a prosperous career, as this is the river center of North Tonawanda corporation, and being traversed by all the rail- roads it cannot fail to secure prominent manufacturing interests. The Ironton addition is less than a mile from the North Tonawanda City Hall. With the Iron & Steel Works, the surrounding lumber interests and the bolt and nut works of Plumb, Burdict ct Barnard, which has recently been located on the adjoining property, this section of the city will make a convenient and desirable place for mechanics and business firms. It has the water supply, electric lights, and will soon be connected by the electric street car line. A double two story brick block for stores has just been completed on Oliver street, making a nice addition to the mercantile conveniences there, a $15,000 brick school house was erected a couple of years since, a church dedicated in August and this section has all the modern conveniences of the older part of the city.</blockquote> Land In November 1889, <a href="https://niagara.nygenweb.net/biography/smithgeorgep1897bio.html">George P. Smith</a> and <a href="https://niagara.nygenweb.net/biography/hathawayaj1897bio.html">A. J. Hathaway</a> buy land opposite the iron works. Incorporation into the City of North Tonawanda The village of "Ironton" (along with the villages of North Tonawanda, Gratwick and Martinsville) is incorporated into the City of North Tonawanda in 1897. The last remnant of the old village name is in its "Ironton Street," running along the west edge of the original avenues. It never had its own post office, or government, but it is an interesting part of the patchwork of the original city that has mostly now vanished from public recall. An increasingly Polish community on the Avenues For the numerous Polish on the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/3436">original seven avenues</a>, their church is the center of their community. OLC is established on Center Ave, exactly where the grotto is today. It is later rebuilt just south. <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/98">Pettit Creek</a> flows through the area (it will be covered). <a href="http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale%20-%200105.pdf">The paving of Oliver Street being planned August 26, 1893. </a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s"> A progress report </a><a href="http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale%20-%200169.pdf">about a month later</a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s">. October 5 </a><a href="http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale/North%20Tonawanda%20NY%20Evening%20News%201893%20Jul-Jul%201894%20Grayscale%20-%200235.pdf">there is labor trouble between Poles and Italians</a><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s">.</a> The upper avenues remain essentially woods and marshes until the 1940s, when settlement accelerates with the nationwide Baby Boom.  Notes:  * Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, of the State of New-York (1884, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=EEEdAQAAIAAJ">Google Books)</a> Also has lots of details about new Goundry Street school and a brief mention of Gratwick school and enrollment figures.1890 "The village of Tonawanda is up and awake as far as educational matters are concerned. It has a progressive board of education composed of five members, all liberal men in their views. A new brick school building is nearly completed at Ironton, a suburb of the village, that would be a pride to any town."<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwdAQAAIAAJ&dq=ironton+tonawanda&source=gbs_navlinks_s"> </a> John Carr on Facebook in January 2017: "Go back to the 1800's and my great grandfather's farm, as well as several others, was there, extending from the river inland past Payne. The house was originally along the river. Eventually the lumber yards and steel mills pushed the property, and the house back from the river to Oliver (#849 or #869). In the 1890's, after his death, the property was sold off and developed into individual housing lots. At that time the area was annexed to North Tonawanda, before that the area was part of Wheatfield. Carr Street still exists by the town pool. Many of my great grand parents children and their families had homes in the area. We see the area today pretty much as it was developed then, however modernized a bit and not the capitol of industry it was then." <a href="https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=b5be67cf0e05477e8f4ad3161ab51422">ArcGIS</a> and old map notes: <ul> <li>1860 map show Cap. O. Shepard in a few places. From Ohio. Buried there. H(enry) Rosebrock from Hanover, Germany (1880 Census); H. Luttman German. F. Roney</li> <li>Homes on Ironton Street range between 1870 (96 Ironton), 1880 (144 Ironton) and into the early 1900s. Some Year 0s (e.g., 188).</li> <li>The River Rd - Wheatfield "businesses" at southeast corner are 1900-1930, couple of year 0s, though 1886 map shows SOMETHING there earlier.</li> <li>Weston & Son lumber all around in 1886 maps, Stocum & DeGraff south across Summer</li> <li>Simson Street: Properties start at 1860 (23 Simson), couple 1880s and 0s. "Rua, Joseph M" listed as owned on many.  1875 map it's called "Judd Ave, and names of homeowners are given (several Simsons); Called "Miller" in 1886 map. Early enclave for nearby mill, predating even Iron Works? </li> </ul> Article Text appearing in a newspaper. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Nemesis Still Pursues Smoyer, Ironton Poles, article (Tonawanda News, 1901-11-01).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1901-11-01 avenues ironton https://nthistory.com/files/original/8e7c1eb14c82924c889d504b1ed890f1.jpg 621ba857ae0cf719e8c8947144101d6b Photo A photographic depiction of a person or place. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Joe and Margaret Welding, 148 17th Ave., photo (c1960).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 avenues car https://nthistory.com/files/original/67c395415d9a33c460d1217e7bda21d0.jpg 39b197eacb30b0195d84eb99eb2b6a0c https://nthistory.com/files/original/80e28371fe6b9bf8c37ec76089437ee1.jpg 2b9873202f82d77b6f9d2effad34d8d3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Payne Estate Description An account of the resource The area north of Wheatfield Street and on both sides of Payne Avenue--formerly the farm and dwelling of early resident and major landholder <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/616">Colonel Lewis Payne</a>--was developed for residential use starting around 1914. Stanley, Bennett and Evans Streets stand where "Payne Hill" was knocked flat, its fill going to the Hi-Speed trolley embankment. Other portions were set aside for use in schools (the North Tonawanda High School and Colonel Payne school). The land for Payne Park and Memorial Pool is given in Edward Payne's 1938 will. A provision in the Payne Holding Corp. deed of June 14, 1938 states, "This, conveyance is made and taken upon condition that the land as above described shall be used and maintained as and for a public park to be known as Payne Park." Map A diagram of a geographical area's major arteries of transportation, buildings, land owners and terrain. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource North Tonawanda, topographical map (1899).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1899 Description An account of the resource Note Payne's Hill, seven avenues, Pettit Creek. avenues https://nthistory.com/files/original/53ba22683b3eafd35af028170f374f63.jpg ec3a57506502a5564887574ace80425f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Art of North Tonawanda by Dennis Reed Jr Description An account of the resource I am not only interested in local history, but I also enjoy sketching and painting local scenes! <a href="mailto:info@nthistory.com">Email me</a> to buy prints of any of the art here, or follow my art through my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/agenbyte">Facebook group</a>. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource North Tonawanda neighborhoods, illustrated map by Dennis Reed Jr (2016).jpg Description An account of the resource The product of historical research, community feedback, and my own imagination. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-11 avenues gratwick ironton martinsville midcity neighborhoods spruce wurlitzerpark https://nthistory.com/files/original/ae607b29b86dc7c020e559648e1d30f7.jpg 7b51f05535283295b341b19c9b57a1af https://nthistory.com/files/original/6af17bd3ed4edf5ab7b50ab589e03d4b.jpg f5eaa7ad6e3c51e4478ad0a0a73e10e4 https://nthistory.com/files/original/9f7bb90fe8a26a31c6e8107b6b8e225d.jpg 4221630fa6996429510b6748b691e857 Postcard A pictorial representation of a place or entity, intended to be written upon and mailed. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RC Church of the Ascension, postcard (1912).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1912 avenues church