1 200 55 https://nthistory.com/files/original/bd02fc3bd0919c49dc7e5d53fe6268e9.jpeg a19cfaebf11d6b50e48fc06b1333aae1 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 Schooner Tonawanda, postcard (c1890).jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/3f01fd5f050846a1833df6e4763d8c75.png ee8bf3e07d510f47be910fd4b322546b 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 Schooner Tonawanda, photo (c1890).png Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/2ae9f750dfdc8fcb0720ebca2d0b8696.jpg 6578b2ceaad70590c4be6b738eb098cf 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 Early barges in the river, North Tonawanda, cabinet card (c.1890).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890 barge boat cabinet card river 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/38ab7f6dc5d266af70ad73cabd155824.jpg 2722956bd9cabf1dbaea39a78073b155 https://nthistory.com/files/original/802f56adfd830b5dbe5733450a59f66c.jpg 4763e4b90dbb89693cb0fa16f562eed4 https://nthistory.com/files/original/d641696819da84fed6e38a8ab0a69e59.jpg 7fa8838bb8368899a5b36fa4877f48ee https://nthistory.com/files/original/ac3bf78366cce3d34497bf5e5061598f.jpg 50a74e5eecf4e029db1a052337303d95 https://nthistory.com/files/original/f8f4cc7f093f636521ed2b018aee9b2d.jpg c38aef396c0bb07b9410fede30f916ba 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 Richardson Boat Company Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Richardson Boat Company, c.1929" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/46.jpg" />Richardson Boat Company on Bryant and Sweeney, c.1929. From the <a href="http://www.richardsonboats.com/">Richardson Boat Owners Association website</a>: <blockquote>In 1909 G.Reid Richardson founded the Richardson Boat Company in North Tonawanda, New York to build high quality boats at a fair price. History has shown that he was quite successful in this undertaking. Over the years many types of boats were produced including not only cruising vessels but sailboats, runabouts, racing boats and military craft during the war years. The Richardson Boat Company organized "Sailaways" where the owners of newly purchased boats were encouraged to congregate in North Tonawanda and join in a cruise down the Erie Canal to New York City. Sadly, Mr. Richardson passed away in 1937 and his wife Ethel took over management until 1941 when the company was sold to a group of local businessmen.</blockquote> From his <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2591">1939 memorial pamphlet</a>: <blockquote>G[EORGE] REID RICHARDSON, boat builder, was born at Midland, Michigan, December 13, 1879, son of Israel Harris Reid and Edith (Turner) Richardson. After a high school education he became a mechanic with the Brooks Boat Company at Bay City, Michigan, and in 1906 entered the employ of the Niagara Motor Boat Company at North Tonawanda, New York, as shop foreman. Three years later he founded the Richardson Boat Company of North Tonawanda, of which he was president and general manager until his death. The company built standardized cruisers and other pleasure craft, ranging in size from twenty-five to thirty-five feet. Starting in a small way, it was at the time of Mr. Richardson’s death the largest company in the world building medium-sized cruisers exclusively. It employed one hundred men and produced annually an average of one hundred and sixty boats which, under the trade names of Little Giant, Junior and Master Cruisabout, were sold all over the world. The Richardson hull is well known for its practicability and beauty. Mr. Richardson was always ready to serve the business, civic and social interests of his community. He was a director of the Certified Finance Company of Tonawanda and from 1935 until his death he was president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas. He was particularly interested in the Boy Scouts, held various offices in the council of the organization and for many years was active in promoting the movement. He was a director of the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers and the National Motor Boat Association and a member of the American Power Boat Association, I.O.O.F., and the Tonawanda Kiwanis, Youngstown Yacht, Olcott Yacht, Buffalo Launch and New York Regatta clubs. During the World War the Richardson Boat Company built harbor tugs for the United States government. In religion he was a Unitarian but at the time of his death was a member of the North Presbyterian Church. In his politics he supported the Republican party. His hobby was his interest in boys. Fishing was his favorite outdoor recreation. He was a man of the highest character and was everywhere esteemed for his honesty and trustworthiness. He was married twice: (1) at North Tonawanda, New York, January 25, 1910, to Lottie Belle, daughter of Sylvester Perry, of that place; she died in 1911, leaving a daughter, Jean Elisabeth, wife of James Franklin Moore; (2) at North Tonawanda, June 21, 1924, to Mrs. Ethel (Hill) Hoadley, daughter of Harvey P. Hill, a lumberman, of that place. Mr. Richardson died at North Tonawanda, New York, February 17, 1937.</blockquote> Object Photos or illustrations of artifacts of an entity. 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 Richardson 1930 Cruisabouts, catalog (c1929).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1929 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/ff697368a2e79b903512449dc2627ebf.jpg 066e5f486894e684cbb4e9bab6442610 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 Teens in Wood Hull Motor Boat Erie Barge Canal, Tonawanda, photo (1931).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1931 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/fe880e85647b687a35ea5231bc8b5399.jpg d0eb05f122da286b022e8186db91867d https://nthistory.com/files/original/2436d5b87b16b6a5e039c646e5a5d151.jpg 9a1dd87066dc55409aea635a0fe4d46c 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 Scene on Ellicott Creek, postcard (c1905).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1905 boat creek https://nthistory.com/files/original/fce501025f5a8b95431bc0d4239c6277.jpg 000b2906f1dac20d4f9555886517d31a https://nthistory.com/files/original/a940b91c579a163457b9ceaa6aa878ef.jpg 8f6a3cb5d6568ae12cdbe77acfd7acbd https://nthistory.com/files/original/ba45afb84cae8ae25d6dc16056b20395.jpg 6c7e88de883f16c774eaaca5575fb80d https://nthistory.com/files/original/bcd1ee32c3415a4fb3b2d0f0c5bde663.jpg 67e063c08e6f34ec0190c46901e46dbf https://nthistory.com/files/original/9e030feac404320411b326ac997b264f.jpg 3f6c9070b10b984e829e3f16ad449d62 https://nthistory.com/files/original/3687fad671ecc1ada3f9658217181466.jpg 3028e801dda3b055a105a82bddeb173f https://nthistory.com/files/original/f4ab0a9602c4afe481ed2f7ca8c55660.jpg 509a1f82525557fe9ba960d2a58af303 https://nthistory.com/files/original/22a8f3334eea644af9b36b64f92a80f4.jpg b2cdb5ae1f08eb8b41fdd0b4c56154fb https://nthistory.com/files/original/fc1629a27063a63dba3f2332266164df.jpg 18a54f8ff735fa0e7a3a55503e672a96 https://nthistory.com/files/original/c29dfb233e014b8210c61adac530d927.jpg 05d5f0f7eea14185c22319df839538e3 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. Book An extensive textual resource. 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 Gratwick, Smith and Fryer Lumber Co., promotional booklet (1880).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1880 Description An account of the resource This illustrated booklet details the business of the Gratwick, Smith and Fryer Lumber Company, showing how they were able to be successful by controlling all phases of lumber cutting, transporting and refining for market. Their Tonawanda dock, yards and planing mills would fuel the growth of the village of Gratwick, named for them. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_William_H._Gratwick">SS William Gratwick at Wikipedia.</a> boat lumber river https://nthistory.com/files/original/9b4113057986eb9e6933719554637949.jpg d906b4211c19846d62d55d6231eda56d 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 Martinsville Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="../../../custom/cover/56.jpg" alt="Postcard view looking north up Old Falld Blvd" />Old Falls Boulevard, looking north from Lockport Ave. to Niagara Falls Blvd. Postcard detail, c.1900. The northeast part of North Tonawanda known as "Martinsville" is named after the father of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther. It is settled by German Lutheran farmers, beginning around 1843. They settled in narrow farms along the west bank of Tonawanda Creek. As the area developed, a "downtown" emerged along William Street, present-day Old Falls Blvd, near Lockport Rd. (pictured above). The village boasted its own post office, stores and places of entertainment.  Most of Martinsville was incorporated into the then-booming City of North Tonawanda in 1897. The sections of Martinsville east of present-day Old Falls and Niagara Falls boulevards are considered part of Wheatfield. The real estate transaction that brought many of the settlers to the area, its early growth, and the contentious religious devotion of its people are described in <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/606">History of Niagara County 1821-1878</a>: <blockquote>In 1843 Carl Sack, Erdman Wurl and Fred Grosskopf purchased of William Vandervoote 400 acres, at $15 per acre, on the Tonawanda creek, in the southeast corner of the town, four miles east of Tonawanda village, in what is now known as the village of Martinsville. Lutheran religious antecedents caused the adoption of this name by the disciples of Martin Luther. The original purchase was divided into small lots of three acres and up- ward, as others were able to purchase, to provide for the location of thirty families the first season. They erected ten log houses in the autumn, each of which was occupied by three or four families during the winter and until joint efforts relieved the immigrants by building others. The families remained in Buffalo until the first houses were built, obtaining the best accommodations they could find. Forbidding as the prospect in the beginning must have been, it has been changed to the appearance of prosperity. The church organization is the controlling element in the government of the community, now consisting of one hundred families, connected with the two now existing, the result of divided feeling, but not an abandonment of the Lutheran faith.</blockquote> 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 Boating on the Creek, Martinsville, postcard (c.1905).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1905 boat creek martinsville https://nthistory.com/files/original/ecc624e02d6abc389ff4f3f96e3c589a.jpeg f7d582abd2619652d0234de7eb7a8ba1 https://nthistory.com/files/original/03bdaa5cc787a385589bbb78a0ac680a.jpg 012f096de538438b4a09de3cb1977b3d 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 On Ellicott Creek, postcard (c1910).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1910 boat creek tonawanda https://nthistory.com/files/original/5a1a5bf68182fa932a5cd5d7e355ab62.jpg e540bb8bcccc9e0133c2572a0eb5d605 https://nthistory.com/files/original/e12f9acd16c7cd655b3e1abc84626645.jpg 8cfc8e3d725b643a7cd4918707742fbd Advertisement A graphic or text document produced by an entity for promotional purposes. 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 Craig-Craft boats, brochure (c1940).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940 boat recreation https://nthistory.com/files/original/b118aa3c277078e58455b56b02bbb8cf.jpg 8ceadc5e02e71227127507f4f94aa194 https://nthistory.com/files/original/f2052b4426ed378ec7cf11ea39f95295.jpeg 7149b2bfda60f49f1e9e8565d09c4e48 https://nthistory.com/files/original/beefdfa23e19379d2f818e6b2b23bb29.jpeg 3cca6b04ec8640e25364bb4adac29e7f https://nthistory.com/files/original/2a3c47977a86942a34d1d13758183d69.jpeg 40419a240c2eebd017c487cfe590ae2f 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. 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 The Lumber District, postcard (1919).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1919 Description An account of the resource A view from the southern portion of a lumber-bedecked Tonawanda Island across the "Little (Niagara) River" onto a lumber-bedecked North Tonawanda. boat bridge collection lumber river swingbridge tonawandaisland https://nthistory.com/files/original/513a9234a627195d0c5c682e9205e561.jpg baa3154ff0fbbfc215db9a1f551808e4 https://nthistory.com/files/original/27a07e45eb2ee8cb17cd1fe0808f7d05.jpg 1d9f497cae6307868bb4435c4aa22e9f https://nthistory.com/files/original/d4b4c91428cbda5ff15e1175738e48ab.jpg 747908d8996255a7bbd0c27343417673 https://nthistory.com/files/original/9d2fe13c78b64b9c71856fa86879b106.jpg 7e336f72af7a6836d6712ba3ac8a86cd https://nthistory.com/files/original/abe19ee7d823a8a8936a4d3daea9cc36.jpg 922b34fccfa3cbb86da78ab9108eea78 https://nthistory.com/files/original/ac8349e5128b9c4fa508a38460a33905.jpg b889f7f354a36e9f8fdcd3694c888b87 https://nthistory.com/files/original/bd8c38d2292f129cda239e4d1044ae40.jpg 08c675dd3b6c89c7229ca04ecac22fe1 https://nthistory.com/files/original/4279f815bd067722845bdaff48fc7fbf.jpg ddb4ec8530133906a63a36138d118eb0 https://nthistory.com/files/original/73b98fb43e2f190e46ea88be9c37ed7d.jpg bb415f1dbf2c0dbf02d92e70b4339d7a https://nthistory.com/files/original/c9932f2b09193482c7471584dea483dc.jpg 1aeb8b32b817a470dec031cb43157c2c https://nthistory.com/files/original/25fd181e713de60b3e9d857f5317a576.jpg dc9747ece8ebe9957d8572ae7d75a118 https://nthistory.com/files/original/17ce9d081700db4116818fa72ca60643.jpg acc6e9e7dbc146c3cf844e8cf2474f95 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 Richardson Boat Company Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Richardson Boat Company, c.1929" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/46.jpg" />Richardson Boat Company on Bryant and Sweeney, c.1929. From the <a href="http://www.richardsonboats.com/">Richardson Boat Owners Association website</a>: <blockquote>In 1909 G.Reid Richardson founded the Richardson Boat Company in North Tonawanda, New York to build high quality boats at a fair price. History has shown that he was quite successful in this undertaking. Over the years many types of boats were produced including not only cruising vessels but sailboats, runabouts, racing boats and military craft during the war years. The Richardson Boat Company organized "Sailaways" where the owners of newly purchased boats were encouraged to congregate in North Tonawanda and join in a cruise down the Erie Canal to New York City. Sadly, Mr. Richardson passed away in 1937 and his wife Ethel took over management until 1941 when the company was sold to a group of local businessmen.</blockquote> From his <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2591">1939 memorial pamphlet</a>: <blockquote>G[EORGE] REID RICHARDSON, boat builder, was born at Midland, Michigan, December 13, 1879, son of Israel Harris Reid and Edith (Turner) Richardson. After a high school education he became a mechanic with the Brooks Boat Company at Bay City, Michigan, and in 1906 entered the employ of the Niagara Motor Boat Company at North Tonawanda, New York, as shop foreman. Three years later he founded the Richardson Boat Company of North Tonawanda, of which he was president and general manager until his death. The company built standardized cruisers and other pleasure craft, ranging in size from twenty-five to thirty-five feet. Starting in a small way, it was at the time of Mr. Richardson’s death the largest company in the world building medium-sized cruisers exclusively. It employed one hundred men and produced annually an average of one hundred and sixty boats which, under the trade names of Little Giant, Junior and Master Cruisabout, were sold all over the world. The Richardson hull is well known for its practicability and beauty. Mr. Richardson was always ready to serve the business, civic and social interests of his community. He was a director of the Certified Finance Company of Tonawanda and from 1935 until his death he was president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas. He was particularly interested in the Boy Scouts, held various offices in the council of the organization and for many years was active in promoting the movement. He was a director of the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers and the National Motor Boat Association and a member of the American Power Boat Association, I.O.O.F., and the Tonawanda Kiwanis, Youngstown Yacht, Olcott Yacht, Buffalo Launch and New York Regatta clubs. During the World War the Richardson Boat Company built harbor tugs for the United States government. In religion he was a Unitarian but at the time of his death was a member of the North Presbyterian Church. In his politics he supported the Republican party. His hobby was his interest in boys. Fishing was his favorite outdoor recreation. He was a man of the highest character and was everywhere esteemed for his honesty and trustworthiness. He was married twice: (1) at North Tonawanda, New York, January 25, 1910, to Lottie Belle, daughter of Sylvester Perry, of that place; she died in 1911, leaving a daughter, Jean Elisabeth, wife of James Franklin Moore; (2) at North Tonawanda, June 21, 1924, to Mrs. Ethel (Hill) Hoadley, daughter of Harvey P. Hill, a lumberman, of that place. Mr. Richardson died at North Tonawanda, New York, February 17, 1937.</blockquote> Advertisement A graphic or text document produced by an entity for promotional purposes. 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 Richardson Cabin Cruisers, illustrated catalog and price sheets (1941).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/8b1d8452a5666755363ba5e15613a928.jpg 8522b8375f3bb6a488fe5f9212a774df 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 Barrel Organ Factory (1893-1903) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/24d.jpg" alt="North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory, 1893 (colorized by webmaster)" />Nucleus of Wurlitzer: The North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory in 1893. It still stands in 2023. The first of its kind in America, the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory makes automatic musical instruments to provide music for Allan Herschell's world-famous carousels. Led by the fiery Prussian gentleman-genius Eugene de Kleist, the firm survives an early national Depression to succeed beyond its wildest expectations with the help of a musical family from Ohio named the "Wurlitzers." <div class="img-caption-container"><img src="http://nthistory.com/files/square_thumbnails/cc9e0bcd6b738bbe4ed82bac5ef50e91.jpg" alt="Image description" /> <div class="caption">De Kleist band organ, c.1900.</div> </div> Portable music of another era Before the phonograph and radio, the next best thing to a live orchestra or marching band is a "band organ" or "orchestrion." Essentially giant music boxes with drums, pipe organs, brass horns and more, these devices are popular in Europe for centuries before being produced in the New World in 1893 with the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory. The factory is built in the spring of 1893 by local merry-go-round makers the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/73">Armitage-Herschell Company</a> in the Sawyer's Creek / Martinsville area in the northeast of the recently incorporated City of North Tonawanda. To oversee operations, Armitage-Herschell recruits a German organ maker from London with whom they have been acquainted: the talented <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/936">Eugene de Kleist</a>. With a small crew of workers culled from England and the surrounding Martinsville farms, the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory also makes organs for churches, offers repairs on existing organs, and makes the pinned barrels that contain the music the organs play. After about a year, Armitage-Herschell sign ownership of the enterprise over to their capable superintendent. Meet the Wurlitzers Business is middling until 1897, when de Kleist meets a decades-old musical retail concern from Cincinnati that will prove a valuable partner: the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. The story goes that de Kleist was looking to interest the U. S. Army in buying his bugles, which were made as part of many of his band organs. de Kleist is told that the Wurlitzer company already has that business, so he approaches Wurlitzer, and is able to sell them some of his bugles. He also tries to interest Wurlitzer in his band organs, but they ask if he coud instead produce a coin-operated piano for use in taverns and restaurants. After over a year in development, the first "Tonophones" are ready in 1898, and are an immediate success. (Hear <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1023">Farny Wurlitzer</a> tell this story himself <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5dXbpPM7T0&t=5m29s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in this remarkable speech from 1964</a>). Similiar instruments, such as the Pianino, follow, and the small factory begins to grow, and over the next few years establishes the northwest corner of the massive Wurlitzer plant still standing in North Tonawanda today. The de Kleist Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company In 1903, the Barrel Organ Factory incorporates as the de Kleist Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company, with investment from banker James Thompson and some new top brass. Wurlitzer's interest in the North Tonawanda plant increases as Eugene de Kleist's seems to wane (<a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/936">see de Kleist's bio</a> for more on this). In 1905 a group of workers leaves to form the <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/75">Niagara Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company</a>; within a year another wave of defectors forms the <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/10">North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works</a>. 1908 begins auspiciously: in January, de Kleist (now mayor of North Tonawanda) lavishly fetes 700 employees and their families in the new music department building. His superintendent, Paul Von Rohl, delivers a speech in his honor, and they dance and carouse until morning light begins filtering over Sawyer's Creek. The following months will not be as good. de Kleist files a $50,000 infringement lawsuit against the aforementioned Instrument Works, but loses. In March, he leaves the aforementioned Paul Von Rohl in charge of the factory while he is off racing powerboats in Florida. de Kleist returns to suspect there has been rampant theft in his absence, and brings charges of grand larceny against Von Rohl, which are dropped, replaced by petit larceny charges, and then found unproved by a jury. In April, Mayor de Kleist accuses eight employees of stealing valuable machinery and plans from his factory, and of conspiring to start another rival factory. The summer brings more powerboating and politicking. Perhaps fearing for the security of their investment, Wurlitzer buys Eugene de Kleist out. <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/52">The Rudolph Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company</a> is organized in December of 1908 with $1,000,000 capital. 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 Launch Club, Buffalo, NY, postcard (c1908).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1908 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/b2e755d0d466c9a1dfed805baf257f34.jpg 031c88d8bacdf9065c062dae20b07630 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 Barrel Organ Factory (1893-1903) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/24d.jpg" alt="North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory, 1893 (colorized by webmaster)" />Nucleus of Wurlitzer: The North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory in 1893. It still stands in 2023. The first of its kind in America, the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory makes automatic musical instruments to provide music for Allan Herschell's world-famous carousels. Led by the fiery Prussian gentleman-genius Eugene de Kleist, the firm survives an early national Depression to succeed beyond its wildest expectations with the help of a musical family from Ohio named the "Wurlitzers." <div class="img-caption-container"><img src="http://nthistory.com/files/square_thumbnails/cc9e0bcd6b738bbe4ed82bac5ef50e91.jpg" alt="Image description" /> <div class="caption">De Kleist band organ, c.1900.</div> </div> Portable music of another era Before the phonograph and radio, the next best thing to a live orchestra or marching band is a "band organ" or "orchestrion." Essentially giant music boxes with drums, pipe organs, brass horns and more, these devices are popular in Europe for centuries before being produced in the New World in 1893 with the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory. The factory is built in the spring of 1893 by local merry-go-round makers the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/73">Armitage-Herschell Company</a> in the Sawyer's Creek / Martinsville area in the northeast of the recently incorporated City of North Tonawanda. To oversee operations, Armitage-Herschell recruits a German organ maker from London with whom they have been acquainted: the talented <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/936">Eugene de Kleist</a>. With a small crew of workers culled from England and the surrounding Martinsville farms, the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory also makes organs for churches, offers repairs on existing organs, and makes the pinned barrels that contain the music the organs play. After about a year, Armitage-Herschell sign ownership of the enterprise over to their capable superintendent. Meet the Wurlitzers Business is middling until 1897, when de Kleist meets a decades-old musical retail concern from Cincinnati that will prove a valuable partner: the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. The story goes that de Kleist was looking to interest the U. S. Army in buying his bugles, which were made as part of many of his band organs. de Kleist is told that the Wurlitzer company already has that business, so he approaches Wurlitzer, and is able to sell them some of his bugles. He also tries to interest Wurlitzer in his band organs, but they ask if he coud instead produce a coin-operated piano for use in taverns and restaurants. After over a year in development, the first "Tonophones" are ready in 1898, and are an immediate success. (Hear <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1023">Farny Wurlitzer</a> tell this story himself <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5dXbpPM7T0&t=5m29s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in this remarkable speech from 1964</a>). Similiar instruments, such as the Pianino, follow, and the small factory begins to grow, and over the next few years establishes the northwest corner of the massive Wurlitzer plant still standing in North Tonawanda today. The de Kleist Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company In 1903, the Barrel Organ Factory incorporates as the de Kleist Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company, with investment from banker James Thompson and some new top brass. Wurlitzer's interest in the North Tonawanda plant increases as Eugene de Kleist's seems to wane (<a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/936">see de Kleist's bio</a> for more on this). In 1905 a group of workers leaves to form the <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/75">Niagara Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company</a>; within a year another wave of defectors forms the <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/10">North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works</a>. 1908 begins auspiciously: in January, de Kleist (now mayor of North Tonawanda) lavishly fetes 700 employees and their families in the new music department building. His superintendent, Paul Von Rohl, delivers a speech in his honor, and they dance and carouse until morning light begins filtering over Sawyer's Creek. The following months will not be as good. de Kleist files a $50,000 infringement lawsuit against the aforementioned Instrument Works, but loses. In March, he leaves the aforementioned Paul Von Rohl in charge of the factory while he is off racing powerboats in Florida. de Kleist returns to suspect there has been rampant theft in his absence, and brings charges of grand larceny against Von Rohl, which are dropped, replaced by petit larceny charges, and then found unproved by a jury. In April, Mayor de Kleist accuses eight employees of stealing valuable machinery and plans from his factory, and of conspiring to start another rival factory. The summer brings more powerboating and politicking. Perhaps fearing for the security of their investment, Wurlitzer buys Eugene de Kleist out. <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/52">The Rudolph Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company</a> is organized in December of 1908 with $1,000,000 capital. 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 Launch Club, Bedell House Pier, Buffalo, NY (1907 postcard).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1907 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/1caa7663fad229b123fc558bf214da1e.jpg d05a059e91151a22cdf4a389651610de 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 Barrel Organ Factory (1893-1903) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/24d.jpg" alt="North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory, 1893 (colorized by webmaster)" />Nucleus of Wurlitzer: The North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory in 1893. It still stands in 2023. The first of its kind in America, the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory makes automatic musical instruments to provide music for Allan Herschell's world-famous carousels. Led by the fiery Prussian gentleman-genius Eugene de Kleist, the firm survives an early national Depression to succeed beyond its wildest expectations with the help of a musical family from Ohio named the "Wurlitzers." <div class="img-caption-container"><img src="http://nthistory.com/files/square_thumbnails/cc9e0bcd6b738bbe4ed82bac5ef50e91.jpg" alt="Image description" /> <div class="caption">De Kleist band organ, c.1900.</div> </div> Portable music of another era Before the phonograph and radio, the next best thing to a live orchestra or marching band is a "band organ" or "orchestrion." Essentially giant music boxes with drums, pipe organs, brass horns and more, these devices are popular in Europe for centuries before being produced in the New World in 1893 with the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory. The factory is built in the spring of 1893 by local merry-go-round makers the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/73">Armitage-Herschell Company</a> in the Sawyer's Creek / Martinsville area in the northeast of the recently incorporated City of North Tonawanda. To oversee operations, Armitage-Herschell recruits a German organ maker from London with whom they have been acquainted: the talented <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/936">Eugene de Kleist</a>. With a small crew of workers culled from England and the surrounding Martinsville farms, the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory also makes organs for churches, offers repairs on existing organs, and makes the pinned barrels that contain the music the organs play. After about a year, Armitage-Herschell sign ownership of the enterprise over to their capable superintendent. Meet the Wurlitzers Business is middling until 1897, when de Kleist meets a decades-old musical retail concern from Cincinnati that will prove a valuable partner: the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. The story goes that de Kleist was looking to interest the U. S. Army in buying his bugles, which were made as part of many of his band organs. de Kleist is told that the Wurlitzer company already has that business, so he approaches Wurlitzer, and is able to sell them some of his bugles. He also tries to interest Wurlitzer in his band organs, but they ask if he coud instead produce a coin-operated piano for use in taverns and restaurants. After over a year in development, the first "Tonophones" are ready in 1898, and are an immediate success. (Hear <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1023">Farny Wurlitzer</a> tell this story himself <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5dXbpPM7T0&t=5m29s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in this remarkable speech from 1964</a>). Similiar instruments, such as the Pianino, follow, and the small factory begins to grow, and over the next few years establishes the northwest corner of the massive Wurlitzer plant still standing in North Tonawanda today. The de Kleist Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company In 1903, the Barrel Organ Factory incorporates as the de Kleist Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company, with investment from banker James Thompson and some new top brass. Wurlitzer's interest in the North Tonawanda plant increases as Eugene de Kleist's seems to wane (<a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/936">see de Kleist's bio</a> for more on this). In 1905 a group of workers leaves to form the <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/75">Niagara Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company</a>; within a year another wave of defectors forms the <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/10">North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works</a>. 1908 begins auspiciously: in January, de Kleist (now mayor of North Tonawanda) lavishly fetes 700 employees and their families in the new music department building. His superintendent, Paul Von Rohl, delivers a speech in his honor, and they dance and carouse until morning light begins filtering over Sawyer's Creek. The following months will not be as good. de Kleist files a $50,000 infringement lawsuit against the aforementioned Instrument Works, but loses. In March, he leaves the aforementioned Paul Von Rohl in charge of the factory while he is off racing powerboats in Florida. de Kleist returns to suspect there has been rampant theft in his absence, and brings charges of grand larceny against Von Rohl, which are dropped, replaced by petit larceny charges, and then found unproved by a jury. In April, Mayor de Kleist accuses eight employees of stealing valuable machinery and plans from his factory, and of conspiring to start another rival factory. The summer brings more powerboating and politicking. Perhaps fearing for the security of their investment, Wurlitzer buys Eugene de Kleist out. <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/52">The Rudolph Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company</a> is organized in December of 1908 with $1,000,000 capital. 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 Candidates Speak at Boathouse, de Kleist photo, article (Tonawanda News, 1905-10-13).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1905-10-13 boat politics https://nthistory.com/files/original/13b6fafd635775cd128a412732ab20d1.jpg f34ba23b53016f4cf66a396f976d6284 https://nthistory.com/files/original/e32a28e963a057c42325090040cc038e.jpg e27ce8f7a2a708d4926c551eab3c2037 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 Gratwick (Neighborhood) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Map of Gratwick area and dockage illustration" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/93b.jpg" />1877 SurveyIn 1870 W. H. Gratwick of Buffalo purchases 50 acres along the Niagara River from Benjamin Felton and John Simson. By 1879 the White, Gratwick & Mitchell Lumber Company has a planing mill and substantial lumberyards on the site. They employ 450 men, mostly of German origin, who settle northeast of the facilities. The village’s main street, Felton, is named after Benjamin F. Felton. By 1884 there is a "neat frame" school house with one teacher and 30 pupils, built by Felton (school board president at the time). Gratwick is incorporated into the City of North Tonawanda in 1897. From the guidebook "<a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/608">North Tonawanda and Tonawanda</a>" (1891): <blockquote>Among the pioneers in the wholesale lumber trade of this place was W.H. Gratwick, who, in 1870, purchased fifty acres from Hon. John Simson and B.F. Felton, adjoining the Niagara River, about two miles below the mouth of Tonawanda Creek, and started a lumberyard. A half dozen years later P.W. Ledoux built the sash, door, and blind factory, which a few years later was purchased by Parks & Son, who operated the same until its recent purchase by Hollister Brothers. Mr. Gratwick erected a large planing mill in 1879, and from that time forward the place has steadily grown until it now has about 1,000 inhabitants. The lumber and mill interests of Gratwick, Smith & Fryer, Touawanda Lumber Co., and Hollister Brothers will be mentioned on other pages. Augustus Miller. — After the lumber interests, the next manufactory of importance in Gratwick is the wagon shop at the corner of Oliver and Felton streets. This was built in 1887 by August Miller, and besides doing all kinds of blacksmith and iron repair work, puts up a quantity of wagons, trucks, and other new work. Mr. Miller employs from five to ten men and has added an important industry to Gratwick, in a line of diversified manufacturing for which there is much room for development. Churches, Schools, Etc. — A class of the Methodist Episcopal church was organized in Gratwick in 1887, and the membership, a short time afterwards, commenced the erection of a church, which with lot, is worth about $3,000. This Avas dedicated in 1889 and has been in charge of Rev. J.S. Duxbury up to the present writing. St. Peter's German Evangelical church was organized April 5, 1888, by Rev. Kottler and the house of worship erected the same year. Rev. Conrad Bachman, who was educated at the missionschool ot Basle, Switzerland, came to this charge in October, 1888, and teaches the parochial school. Some sixty families are connected with this church. Gratwick has a public school with about 100 pupils, a brass band, two hose companies, and other societies; numerous hotels, stores, coal offices, and abundance of saloons. It was made a part of North Tonawanda corporation the present year, since which it has been placed in connection with the water mains, has electric lights, and other corporation advantages. Riverside. — From Gratwick station to the corporation limits on the west is nearly a mile, and as the river presents a graceful curve and nice beach in this vicinity, it has been proposed to call the station which will probably be located one and a half miles below Gratwick, "Riverside." Last year the Riverside Land Co. was incorporated and purchased forty acres on the north side of the Erie railroad, mostly within the new corporate limits. The officers are H.E. Warner, Pres.; J.A. Kuck, of Buflalo, V.P.; Charles W. Archibald, of North Tonawanda, Sec, and L. Landauer, of Albion, Treas. Bluff Point. — E.A. Milliman, a farmer and contractor, of Wheatfield town, has been seven times appointed a deputy collector, which office he now holds. Mr. Milliman owns a handsome farm of 120 acres at Bluff Point, bounded on the west and south by the Niagara River. The river at this point has a clean gravel shore with high bluff, making a delightful place for a summer location. Editor's note: <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/607">1878 illustration and modern photo</a> G.F. Goerss, also a deputy collector, owns a fifty-acre farm near the mile line, which is handsomely located and will presently be within the radius of development. Last year he erected a dwelling in Gratwick. Mr. Goerss was born in Wheatfield and is an authority on real estate values. He has been supervisor, J.P., Justice of Sessions, and in 1887-8 a member of Assembly.</blockquote> <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/browse?tags=gratwick">More items tagged "Gratwick" ></a> Illustration An abstracted line drawing or depiction. 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 Farm residence of E. A. Milliman, Esq., illustration (History of Niagara County, 1821-1878).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1878 Description An account of the resource House still stands at 2525 River Road. River Bitt Rentals, former Demler Cider Mill. boat farm horse https://nthistory.com/files/original/d7f4993487a003869f020347ee802e61.png bfb9c8d3494b25d61f141aedc0a0ec7f 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 John and Hannah Johnson (ca. 1833 - 1883) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="A low‐angle view shows a weathered split-rail fence in the foreground, beyond which a lone cow and calf graze on a grassy field. About 100 ft behind them is a humble one-story frame farmhouse with old tools and a wooden wheel leaning against its side. Rows of crops stretch toward a distant treeline under warm, late-evening light from the west." src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/8c.jpg" />The Johnsons lived in a small frame house on a 12-acre farm in the area of present-day South Meadow Drive. Photo made with AI. Behind every "ghost" was a person <blockquote>At the Sweeney Cemetery a large gathering assembled to take a last look at the aged soothsayer, and much regret was manifested at her departure. No more will the winsome maidens repair to the old shanty near the woods to learn their fate on future Fridays, for Hannah's work is done...The town of Wheatfield has lost an ancient landmark and one of its most widely known characters. May her spirit rest in peace. <a href="https://nthistory.com/items/show/1037">Tonawanda Herald</a>, June 28, 1883.</blockquote> Generations of North Tonawanda youth were told she haunted the thick, primordial woods that still cover much of the city’s eastern edge. Legend has it she arrived as an escaped slave via the Underground Railroad in the 1860s. Some say she was part of a Black settlement that tried to take root here, only to be driven out when their belongings were thrown into Tonawanda Creek. Hannah, the story goes, was allowed to stay because she worked in the homes of white families. She was also said to practice divination and root magic—whispers passed down by city elders and local Boy Scout leaders around campfires. When she died at the ripe old age of 100, strange flowers reportedly bloomed across the area. Those who dared enter her woods were chased out by a shrieking crow—or something worse. In these wild tales, kernels of truth remain. As always, the truth is stranger—and far more satisfying—than the legend. Birthplace and legal status Local legend said that Hannah was an escaped slave. That is not exactly true. She is born around 1803 in Albany County, New York. We do not know her maiden name. At the time the state is in the process of phasing out slavery under the "Gradual Emancipation Act." The law holds that children born to slaves after 1799 are "indentured" servants until age 25 before gaining their freedom, a concession to New York's slave-holding elite. If Hannah's birth date is correct, it means she finally gets her freedom 1828--ironically, a year after the final abolition of slavery in New York.  Though technically not enslaved, her life would have been nearly indistinguishable from slavery: unpaid, under the complete control of her mother's enslaver, with no legal rights or protections. If she had children before gaining her freedom, they too would have been indentured under the same system.  A servant to New York Governor Joseph Christopher Yates (1823-1824) Although born in Albany County, Hannah lives for a time as a servant in the household of superstar New York politician Joseph C. Yates in nearby Schenectady, New York. The only evidence we have to date of this part of Hannah's life is a single line in her Tonawanda Herald <a href="https://nthistory.com/items/show/1037">obituary.</a> It's a plausible story: the 1820 federal census shows that Yates did have eight "free colored persons" in his household at the time: two males ages 14-25, and three females: one under 14, one 14-25, one over 45. Could Hannah (who would be about 17) be the 14-25 year-old? Could her mother be the 45+ year-old? Could her future husband John Johnson (who is born in Washington County around 1800) be one of the two males? We may never know, but Hannah evidently told people she served the governor, perhaps impressing her frontier neighbors with her tales of brushes with the high and mighty in the home of the most powerful man in the state--even if she was literally a servant. A well-known fortune-teller Hannah's obituaries prominently mention her purported ability to see the future, and the popularity of her services among the locals. The Lockport Daily Journal notes that Hannah "has acquired quite a reputation during her long residence in this county, as a fortune-teller," and notes that she depicted past lives and futures of those who consulted her with "startling accuracy." The Tonawanda Enterprise calls her a "fortune-teller," and relates that "for years there was scarcely a man, woman or child in all this section of country that had ot heard of "Black Hannah." The Tonawanda Herald obituary claims Hannah "was visited almost every week by dozens of women and young people who had great faith in her powers as a fortune teller." Tea cup reading "Tea cup reading was one of her methods," Elizabeth Wherry writes in a <a href="https://nthistory.com/items/show/1059">1961 article</a> fantasizing about the olden days. Did Hannah pick this skill up in Schenectady? By the 1830s, tasseography (tea‐leaf reading) was already a “thing” among genteel Easterners who could afford imported china and black tea. From New York City parlors to ladies’ salons in Albany or Buffalo, a fascination with “what the leaves say” filtered out along tavern routes and stagecoach lines. So if Hannah grew up in Albany County, she might have eavesdropped on some well‐to‐do white ladies experimenting with teacups, then adapted the basic idea for her own circle. In that era, many white frontier families saw African Americans as having access to “secret knowledge” or an “otherworldly” mystique simply because of racist stereotypes about African spirituality. Hannah could lean into that, holding her Bible in one hand for respectability and a teacup in the other for showmanship—and farmers or farmers’ wives might pay a small fee or trade a chicken for a Friday fortune‐reading. If Hannah is freed by Gradual Emancipation in 1828 at the age of 25, what is her next step? At some point she marries farmer John Johnson from Washington County, just up the Hudson River. His legal status on censuses is also free Black. It is unknown if he was ever indentured or enslaved. He dies July 9, 1873, and is buried in Sweeney Cemetery two days later. His age is given as 73 or 74. A new start in Western New York Another part of the story that is true: She is not born here. On the state censuses of 1855 and 1865, husband John Johnson's birthplace is recorded as "Washington [County, New York]." Hannah's is recorded as "Albany [County, New York]." While definitive records are lacking, the Johnsons (and any companions) most likely reached this area around 1833* via the newly opened Erie Canal. By substantially reducing travel time and expense, the canal would have offered them a practical means to relocate, and to redefine themselves in a frontier town. When the Johnsons arrive the area is sparsely populated and heavily wooded. Flooding along the Tonawanda Creek is common on account of the dam built for the canal ten years earlier. A small village first called "Niagara" but now known as "Tonawanda" has made a modest start where the canal meets the Niagara River through a lock. The East Boston Timber Company comes here around the same time as the Johnsons, to harvest the white oak of Grand Island. A public house (The Niagara Hotel), a stage coach line to the Falls and Buffalo (the railroad was still a few years away), and a small handful of schools, taverns and churches is about the extent of the goings-on. Why the Johnsons end up here is a mystery. Did they already have contacts in this area? Did they intend to go to Canada but encounter sympathtic citizens? The first time we see them at all in the historical record is the 1840 census. Interestingly, they are not alone--the document records three "Free Colored Persons" in the household: A male and female 24-36 (John and Hannah), and another male, 55-100. Did they travel here in a larger party? One Tonawandas old-timer claims many years later that the Johnsons are part of a small "colony" of Blacks whose possessions are tossed in Creek and sent on their way, with Hannah alone permitted to stay since she was willing to do housework. * This date of 1833 for the Johnsons' arrival is suggested by Hannah's 1883 death certificate, which says she lived here for 50 years. The 1855 state census suggests 1830. Living on Dr. Jesse F. Locke's property "She and her former husband, John Johnson, lived on the farm a number of years with Dr. Locke and family." - Obituary of Hannah Johnson One way or another the Johnsons find themselves on the country property of the area's first "physician & surgeon," Jesse F. Locke. Whether he lived here already not known (he arrives in 1838 according to History of City of Buffalo and Erie County p. 419). Donna Zellner Neal thinks they may be "squatting" on the property, and permitted by the doctor to stay. A mineral / sulphur spring lies in the adjacent lot. Census never shows them in household of Locke. Perhaps Hannah helped the family, and John works the farm. [Census Locke household info]. Locke is born...studies medicine...temperance...Whips a faking man...has office on Webster....friends with Payne...religion and politics...household...Sweeney plot. The Vandervoort family lives to the south. Changes come to the property. To combat flooding, a State Ditch is dug east-west through the Great Lots. A railroad comes and goes. In ten years, William Vandervoort will sell the farmland to the north to a group of Germans, laying the groundwork for Martinsville. The Johnsons farm and home The first appearance of a structure. Not sure when farm is cleared. Fence along south line in deed. Frame and value. 1880, our clearest picture: Live stock. Mown vs un-mown. Hay to sell or trade. Hannah at 77. Hired laborer for 15 weeks. More details may be filled in by later accounts: Cellar with cream cheese. Chair of logs.  Nearby is John Chadwick, Jr. He'll play a crucial role in Hannah's life. A connection to the Underground Railroad? Others in the Johnson household Unlike Buffalo or Niagara Falls, there are no surviving primary‐source accounts (letters, minutes of vigilance committees, manumission records) explicitly naming “Tonawanda” safe houses or stationmasters. Fugitives moving along the canal probably passed through or near Tonawanda—boatmen and canal‐side laborers in Wheatfield or across the river might have whispered directions.  There is no contemporaneous documentation: e.g., committee minutes, abolitionist newspapers, manumission registries.  The Tonawandas region certainly saw movement—especially after 1840—of free Black canal hands and possibly some fugitives.  From the beginning, censuses show others living with the married couple: <ul> <li>1840: One "free colored males between ages of 55 and 100"</li> <li>1850: Four additional people, including Joseph (38) and Ann (30) Polly from Canada and Ireland, respectively, Henry Hall (20) from Virginia, and  Stephen Smith (35) (no origin given). All are Black except Molly, who is white or "mulatto" (the census mark is hard to read).</li> <li>1855: One "Henry Hall" who is 65 and from Maryland</li> <li>1860: Three people, Isaac (61) and Clarissa (42) Davis and an infant, Dennis Colens, all Black, all from New York.</li> <li>1865: After Civil War, no more Blacks beside the couple are recorded</li> </ul> Federal and state census enumerators in the mid‐19th century were explicitly instructed to record anyone “whose usual place of abode” was with the family on census night. That means a seasonal farmhand, boarder, or canal laborer boarding with the Johnsons would be listed. The Johnsons’ 12-acre farm was a temporary home to a rotating cast of free Black laborers tied to the canal economy, or to work on the Johnsons' 12-acre farm.  Free Black households and seasonal mobility: Tonawanda sat on a major canal artery, so its free Black population included both long-term residents and itinerant laborers. The Davises (1860 Census) at 61 and 42 could have been year-round residents (elderly “Isaac” perhaps retired from farm or canal work, “Clarissa” running household duties), while baby Dennis represented the next generation—perhaps born locally or recently relocated from Albany County. Boarders were commonplace. Small farms and canal families frequently took in boarders (including single men, widows, or small families) to supplement income. The Davises might have paid rent in kind (eggs, milk) or cash to live on someone’s property—perhaps even the Johnsons’ 12-acre farm discussed earlier. It’s hard to know just how commercial Hannah and John’s farm really was—some of that land might have been left fallow, used for pasture, or simply rented out—yet even at minimal production the work would have outstripped what two people alone could manage. In mid‐19th‐century Western New York, planting and harvesting windows were tight: a late start in spring could invite frost, and a slow harvest could mean losing grain to rot. John may have handled the bulk of plowing and field maintenance, but Hannah’s days were likely filled with running the household—cooking, preserving, and caring for anyone under their roof. Bringing in an extra hand during busy seasons was a common solution: a boarder or hired worker might live on the farm, perhaps paying rent in produce or a small wage, and help with tasks like weeding, fence repairs, and hauling crops to market. Without that occasional assistance, even a modest twelve‐acre operation would have been difficult for a couple to sustain. If we explain the other names on the censuses this way, very little seems left to connect the Johnsons with the Underground Railroad. <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2014">A document on the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Area website</a> (page 192) offers some measured reflections on the subject. John Chadwick, Jr. <blockquote>Subsequent owners attempted to eject black Hannah, but in John Chadwick the old woman found a friend who protected her interests even at a high cost before the courts. - Obituary of Hannah Johnson (1883)</blockquote> Chadwick begins acquiring property in Lot 10. In 1853, Locke & Payne sell Chadwick a thin strip in the middle of Lot 10 land for $500. He builds a home with a pond on the other side of Sweeney Street, on the edge of the Tonawanda Creek, a front row seat to the pageantry of the canal, around present-day Mayors Park. In 1859, Locke sells Chadwick another thin strip in the middle of Lot 10, this one just west of the 1853 purchase, for $1550. This one does overlap about 1/3 of Johnson's property, though not the  frame house. The death of Locke: Who owns the Johnsons' 12 acres?  The Johnsons have lived almost 30 years on the farm. Locke dies March 12, 1861, one month before the Civil War. He dies "intestate" (without a will), and all hell breaks loose. Johnson says he owns the land, but he has no deed. In 1868 Locke's heirs sell swaths of the western part of Lot 10 (including the Johnsons) to John & Elizabeth Fonner. The Fonners take legal action to evict John & Hannah Johnson for trespass. On September 17, 1869, Johnson, Chadwick and Sherman file a complaint with the Niagara County Clerk, and serve public notice in the newspapers (through at least late February of the following year) that the Fonners have twenty days to reply "or the plaintiffs will apply to the Court for the relief demanded in the complaint"(that Locke did indeed sell Johnson the land, but never filed the paperwork before his death). Attorneys for the plaintiff are Farnell and Brazee. In July 1873 the Johnsons sell the land (quit-claim) to Chadwick for $1. The document describes a refereed action against the Fonners and Locke heirs. This quit-claim is not necessarily proof that the Johnsons ever owned the land. Chadwick wins [date?] a refereed judgment which is at first sustained in court, and is granted the 12-acre parcel on July 21, 1874. A judge rules that the property is granted by parole, even in the absence of a deed, and finds sufficient evidence that Johnson bought the property and paid for it on accounts of statements Locke made to others in his lifetime.  [John Johnson dies sometime after 1873, in the midst of the proceedings. ] The Fonners appeal the judgment. This time they win on a legal technicality: Johnsons' testimony included his statement that he never agreed to pay Locke a certain price per acre. Deemed harmless to referee and first judge. Appeals court disagrees, and throws out the judgement on the legal principle that when Johnson answered question, he testified on what a dead man said during his lifetime, which is inadmissible. An ironic cadence, that the testimony of Johnson, now dead, was used to dismiss the case, and strip his widow, Hannah, of their property of 40 years. Strangely, no eviction ever seems to take place. According to her obituary, Chadwick gives Hannah a "life-lease" on the property (though in NY this should appear in Deeds but does not). If he didn't own the property how could he? Would the public not know this? Perhaps the Fonners have mercy on the old widow, having had their victory in court. Hannah's death Hannah dies in 1883 after an illness of two weeks. The village mourns its beloved cook and babysitter. The Tonawanda Herald <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1037">reports</a>: <blockquote>At the Sweeney Cemetery a large gathering assembled to take a last look at the aged soothsayer, and much regret was manifested at her departure. No more will the winsome maidens repair to the old shanty near the woods to learn their fate on future Fridays, for Hannah's work is done.</blockquote> It is rumored that non-native flowers grow on the site (unusual red trilliums grew during her lifetime). She is buried in Sweeney Cemetery (although the grave site appears to be lost). The late Donna Neal Zellner states in her booklet "Story of Hannah and John Johnson and the Underground Railroad" that "Jesse Locke was buried in Section B, Plot #7, between Simson and Smith Avenues in Sweeney Cemetery. It is believed that Hannah Johnson's body was interred in a grave on his plot. The grave marker noting H. Johnson is located in the area of the cemetery which would be included in Locke's plot"(37). <iframe style="width: 920px; height: 510px; max-width: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g8_GGxU7uvM?si=ZpnulipHiWLoMM9F" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> Hannah is the subject of a song by my musical gang Yellow Jack on our album <a href="https://yellowjack.bandcamp.com/album/a-horse-apiece">"A Horse Apiece"</a> 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 Wood from Black Hannah woods comprises restored boat, article (Tonawanda News, 1986-03-15).png Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-03-15 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/0c765b4176fb0fd6c1339770e2006b8c.jpg d1171ded2f64512986438250c5990ca0 https://nthistory.com/files/original/e67a5c1105c6634fbc5efa8bbadc0b40.jpg 123252dba93b0aa25e8096a55b424afb 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 Webster to Main Street Bridges Description An account of the resource ? - 1916: The Long Bridge - Engineers were already discussing the replacement of the Long Bridge when weeks of heavy spring flooding and a collision with an out-of-control scow compromise the middle support pier on the evening of March 28th, 1916. Around 10 p.m. that evening, bridge pedestrians hear a great crash and feel vibrations. "Several of the women on the structure became so weak from fright they had to be assisted from the bridge by their escorts" (Tonawanda News, March 29, 1916). The police quickly close the bridge traffic. But the worst is not over. The bridge begins slowly sinking into the creek and is soon impassable. The New York Telephone Company (whose main cable crossed the bridge) warns connectivity between the halves of the Niagara Frontier might be cut off. More canal boats are carried by the current over the dam and into the bridges, as is the body of a North Tonawanda schoolteacher, Miss Mary Hill, who was missing since January. It is presumed a suicide, though "no cause has been assigned for her act" (Ibid). 1920-1978: The bascule (lift) bridge - The replacement bridge was engineered to open and let masted boats to pass on the south side. According to a plaque on the site, it was built by the Bethlehem Steel Bridge Corporation. The <a href="https://www.eriecanal.org/texts/Whitford/1921/chap32.html">Whitford book on eriecanal.org</a> gives the following contract information: <table> <tbody> <tr> <td>Contract No.</td> <td>Work</td> <td>Contractor</td> <td>Date</td> <td>Cost</td> </tr> <tr> <td>147</td> <td>Bascule bridge, Main and Webster Sts., Tonawanda</td> <td>Lathrop, Shea & Henwood Co.</td> <td>9/10/17</td> <td>$254,019</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> This collection features photos of the bascule bridge in its heyday, as well as a black-and-white series depicting its 1978 demolition, and the rerouting of the Main and Young street approaches. 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 View of Barge Canal, Bascule bridge, Tonawanda Board and Paper co., postcard (c1960).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 boat bridge canal https://nthistory.com/files/original/c0b2a5cb5226dacd4607a5ddd7f0f3e6.jpg 58d0d65f6253cb7d6f2513489c003e72 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 Erie Canal Description An account of the resource The Erie Canal in North Tonawanda followed the existing Tonawanda Creek from Pendleton. The first work done locally was the 1823 construction of a wooden dam near present-day Gateway Park to raise the level of the creek four feet. A lock was also built to permit passage between the Niagara River (and Great Lakes) and the canal. Early documents also mention a guard lock just east of the lock. After the Civil War, the depth of the entire canal was increased to accomodate larger boats. Starting around 1909 work was done on our section of the canal as part of Contract 19 to improve the prism, or bottom shape (see <a href="https://nthistory.com/collections/show/152">photos of Contract 19</a>) In 1918 the dam was removed when the length of the Erie was re-engineered to become the Erie Barge Canal. The Tonawanda and Buffalo portions of the canal were abandoned at that time, making North Tonawanda the canal's new western terminus. In 1923 Tonawanda began filling in the old canal. The work was not yet complete in 1929. 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 Trolley-Traction Canal Boat, Niagara Street, photo (1896).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1896 boat canal electricity trolley https://nthistory.com/files/original/f0ceea5293fa615fc06d911441accf14.jpg 8a61de392cc46338cef509363f6e0030 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 La Truda 2nd, Niagara River racing boat, postcard (c1930).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1930 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/efb14870a03b8078ed89fb4fece3bb7f.jpg e99dc9595d746cc4b457452ded6aa68e 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 Ellicott Park and bridge, photo (c1980).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1980 boat bridge https://nthistory.com/files/original/896eba5cf59c13086d96513e38c08434.jpg 620105c5091147ac04152af0d84781ca https://nthistory.com/files/original/061d796e0636bfd5fb9cb67301be9de0.jpg b150e2581e1400a563e2805244eb8c87 https://nthistory.com/files/original/44ef6019ff716145dd06a0255be7d075.jpg 88025b346bfd87ecdb40fff2fdc70cd1 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 Ellicott Creek boaters, photo (1909).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/64d06b5dcb809bc1ed85717dbaca250e.jpg 7b1d90e0f9a86f8997365db9ebac4e65 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 Ellicott Creek, Tonawanda, postcard (c1915).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1915 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/2d16cf48c11563e2f52ef9b960201191.jpg aa8fb8be87ccc17dae74a0eb4f613adc 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 Ellicott Creek, Tonawanda, postcard (1915).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1915 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/25a55a617ddcebe426182920666b7751.jpg c48c553e2b16ebad03661c10b63fc2ba https://nthistory.com/files/original/c62744b912ae8df2996d6abb658e7efd.jpg ef547ffe4ede47f8f43607cb26600af5 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 Ellicott Creek, Tonawanda, postcard (1910).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1910 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/46e4537d0e02a031abbbf8945521e98c.jpg 9c1b02268adbe56ffa422167ad27a058 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. 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 View of River Front, postcard (1913).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1913 boat lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/711480b6efd499c8f0a8f7eb5dd69daa.jpg 4744db85d03ed3c98a978b9db6986fe9 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. 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 Harbor, postcard (1915).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1915 boat lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/36dc89eb643efd4a331be128ed6cb7d4.jpg 77a7d2050a767a8921d31ac9b33e10f3 https://nthistory.com/files/original/01a0ff19fc907dfe083c3c9a0dd1e732.jpg e9c6abf070ff445cb246f67c86cdd475 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 Island Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="1853 illustration of Tonawanda Island, showing the Beechwater residence, and a ferry The Saratoga plying the waters of the Niagara River." src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/55e.jpg" />1860 illustration showing the southern tip of Tonawanda Island. The lavish Beechwater residence and a smaller building are seen to the left of a  mysterious mound (Harper's Monthly Magazine, May 1860) This small island in the Niagara River is today home to the N.T. (Water) Pumping Station, Taylor Devices, a booming feral cat population and (we expect) a very few skillful mice. But a mysterious structure at the south end of the island drew some of the earliest widespread attention to our area. Early explorers encounter burial mounds left by Native Americans. Or giants. Early European explorers notice a roughly 15 foot-high mound of earth near the southeastern end of the island. One explorer dates the peculiarity to the Native American Squawkie Hill phase (100-400 A.D.), which "included a religious aspect involving the burial of high-status individuals" (John Percy). Indeed, human remains are discovered within, though there is little consensus on who (or what) they were. In 1853, <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/557">Gleason's Pictorial reports</a> that resident Mrs. White (more on the Whites below) personally unearthed "the skull and bones of a human body, supposed to be an Indian chief...not...less than eight feet in stature." (The article adds vaguely that "Many other curiosities are found on the island.") An 1860 article in <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2980">Harper's tells</a> of "several heaps of bones, each comprising three or four skeletons" found just under a circle of stones with indications of fire. Modern mysteriophile Mason Winfield points to sensational accounts in frontier newspapers claiming at least two "very bizarre skulls" were excavated from the enclosure, with a "portentous, protruding lower jaw and canine forehead," and buried in a way inconsistent with the traditions of the locals. An 1865 presentation before the Buffalo Historical Society claims the mounds are of Neutral Nation origin: <blockquote>Once in every ten years the survivors of each family gathered the remains of their deceased ancestors from the platforms on which they had been deposited, and buried them in heaps, with many superstitious ceremonies. This was called the " Feast of the Dead." Many of the mounds thus raised may still be seen in this vicinity. A conspicuous one on Tonawanda Island, is affirmed by the old Senecas to have had such an origin.</blockquote> The skeletons are not confined to the great mound, either. Yet more human remains are found while digging the foundations for the Beechwater mansion, the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2326">Tonawanda News reports</a> in 1906. Across the Little River, on the mainland, <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1565">evidence of</a> a Native American armory is discovered, with numerous broken flints and arrows. Earliest birth on the island? (From The Niagara Frontier, p. 29) <blockquote>The Senecas have a different name for Tonawanda Is land. They call it Ni-ga -we-na/i--a-ah, signifying The Small Island. It contains less than one hundred acres. Its upper end having a fine elevation above the surface of the river, was an occasional camping ground of the Senecas, before their final settlement in this region. Philip Kenjockety (hereafter more particularly noticed), claims to have been born there, while his father s family, then residing on the Genesee, were on one of their annual hunting expeditions.</blockquote> Carney's Island (1791) The island's first European inhabitant arrives as early as 1791, one <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1070">Edward Carney</a>, who hopes to "squat" his way into possession of the island. The property's value skyrockets however when <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2352">Mordecai Noah's plan</a> to turn nearby Grand Island into a refuge for the world's displaced Jews gets underway around 1825, and the land is purchased at auction from the state by Samuel Leggate of New York City (<a href="https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/lifestyles/niagara-discoveries-tonawanda-island-stephen-white-and-his-magnificent-mansion/article_657aa96e-c9eb-54ca-8237-dc7dcc2e0afb.html">Lockport Union-Sun & Journal</a>). Stephen White's Island and the Beechwater mansion (1833) The next speculators to turn their eyes to our area are the moneyed men of the East Boston Timber Company in 1833. They harvest the white oak of Grand Island to build ships in New England. President Stephen White purchases Tonawanda Island as a headquarters and residence, and it becomes known as "White's Island."  <blockquote>To cement his claim, White built a magnificent mansion at the southern end of the island. “Beechwater,” as White called it, was designed by Boston architect Samuel Perkins in 1835 for $18,000. The interior contained cherry, black walnut and marble embellishments (<a href="https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/lifestyles/niagara-discoveries-tonawanda-island-stephen-white-and-his-magnificent-mansion/article_657aa96e-c9eb-54ca-8237-dc7dcc2e0afb.html">Lockport Union-Sun & Journal)</a></blockquote> The Beechwater mansion <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1565">boasts</a> "chimney pieces from Italy," surrounding pleasure grounds with "choice fruits, ornamental shrubbery and graveled walks," and was called the finest residence in Western New York at the time. Famous American lawyer and politician Daniel Webster (after whom Webster Street is named) <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2326">visits  Beechwater</a> on several occasions. Webster's son Fletcher is married to White's daughter Caroline there in 1836. Further plans of the East Boston Timber Company are thwarted by a poor economy. By 1840 the white oak of Grand Island has been cut down and floated away to New England. Stephen White dies, and his widow stays on. Summer resort and pleasure grounds Beechwater is offered as a summer resort beginning around this time. Local organizations come to Tonawanda Island for picnics by the hundreds, brass band blaring away as the tugs pull their boats to the platforms. Writer N.P. Willis <a href="https://nthistory.com/items/show/4002">extols its beauty</a> in an item in this collection. Some propose turing the island into a <a href="https://nthistory.com/items/show/4038">sportsmen's paradise</a>: other a military training ground. William Wilkeson purchases the property from the White family in 1869, planting orchards and vineyards. There are some rumors the old mansion is haunted. Lumber and industrial era In 1881, William Wilkeson sells the property to Smith, Fassett & Company, one of the many lumber concerns flocking to the Tonawandas. The natural harbor of the Little River make the island and opposite shore perfect for stacking, processing and shipping immense quantities of lumber, and North Tonawanda has become a major lumber market. The ferry that operated will no longer be adequate. Apr 21 1883 "An act to incorporate the Tonawanda Island Bridge Company, for the purpose of constructing and operating a bridge from Tonawanda island to North Tonawanda [passed]" - <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IYJZAAAAYAAJ">Gen Statutes of State of New York</a>.  Beechwater, Stephen White's mansion, coexists for a while with the lumber around it: "The mansion is now [1887] the home of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore S. Fassett, who have renovated it and thoroughly restored its decaying beauties." <a href="https://nthistory.com/items/show/3942">1891 Buffalo Express Pictorial:</a>  "The Tonawanda Island Lumber District, which is shown in our largest illustration, is rapidly becoming famous as the *ne plus ultra* of all lumber plants. Being an island docked and navigable all around, it allows a compactness in the arrangement of the yards, which on any mainland would be impossible. Visiting buyers appreciate this feature of the district. They are able to get quickly into the midst of 100,000,000 feet of lumber without the usual long tramp to accomplish the same result, in a five-minute walk from North Tonawanda railroad station, they find lumber in front of them, lumber behind them, lumber on each side of them. In every direction millions of white pine are in sight, bright and clean, the gangways all planked, and an air of perfect neatness and cleanliness everywhere. "This property, when nothing but forest, fruit farms, and swamps, was purchased of our deceased townsman, William Wilkeson, by James R. Smith and Theodore S. Fassett with its development into a lumber district solely in view. This meant a very large operation for industrial development, requiring a heavy outlay of money to put the island into any shape for business also of $1,000,000, Mr. Lewis A. Hall becoming a director in the company, with a large holding of the stock. Railroad switch tracks ran into every yard, and while these tracks are owned by the N.Y.C. & H.R.R.R., all other roads have equal privileges on the Island by the provisions of the Bridge Charter. "The Tonawanda and Wheatfield Electric Co. are now building a $40,000 plant near the north end, to furnish power for an electric street railroad. These facilities, with a telephone service and telegraph office, leave but little to be desired. The docked frontage on the property is now nearly two miles in length. The Tonawanda City Water Works, located on the west side of the island, are fully described elsewhere. "The discouragements met by Messrs. Smith & Fassett in reaching the present grand development of the property are said to have been many and great, but the work is done, and the hurry and bustle of wheeling lumber from every direction, into planing mills or direct into cars, gives no outward evidence that but one year ago orchard and forest and swamp would have seen the sight where now three mammoth planing mills are throwing off their smoke high in air, and millions of lumber loom up in regular piles over 100 acres of level well-drained ground." National Guard billets there during a labor uprising. Although said to still be largely structurally sound, the mansion is <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2326">torn down in 1906</a>, as the "demand for lumber yardage makes its razing imperative." It was long been rumored to be haunted. A section of its fireplace is preserved and cared for by the Historical Society of the Tonawandas. Later significant occupants of Tonawanda Island include the International Paper Company and the R. T. Jones Lumber company. Emile Durkee Bridge. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <ul> <li><a href="http://www.lockportjournal.com/news/lifestyles/niagara-discoveries-tonawanda-island-stephen-white-and-his-magnificent-mansion/article_657aa96e-c9eb-54ca-8237-dc7dcc2e0afb.html">NIAGARA DISCOVERIES: Tonawanda Island, Stephen White and His Magnificent Mansion, Ann Marie Linnabery</a></li> <li><a href="https://archive.org/details/pioneerhistoryof00turne/page/n6">Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase of Western New York, 1849</a></li> <li>Percy, John. <a href="https://www.wnyheritage.org/product/buffalo-niagara_connections_a_new_regional_history_of_the_niagar/index.html">Buffalo-Niagara Connections: A New Regional History of the Niagara Link.</a> Western New York Heritage Inc. 2001</li> </ul> Relation A related resource <ul> <li><a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/92">International Paper Company</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/48">Lumber Scenes</a></li> </ul> Illustration An abstracted line drawing or depiction. 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, or White's Island, illustrated article (Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion, 1853).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1853 boat lumber tonawandaisland https://nthistory.com/files/original/b9418638d8357fba3ea430263a61bd2a.JPG 4818ddb22e31147cb90d38debbbe6e13 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. 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 Harbor View in Twin Cities, postcard (c1900).JPG Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1900-01 boat lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/3d4c329e71167c2bc485c44a4a817c1c.JPG cd4d96584041e1695e80df76aa95f9d4 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. 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 Harbor View, North Tonawanda NY, postcard (1907).JPG Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1907 boat labor lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/ecdccf768f590ea5900ecdd52732fc6d.jpg 4ee3616b9fb2c8ab31879f38706c5ae2 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. 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 Harbor Scene, postcard (c1900).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1900-01 boat bridge lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/90fe501fe62479c4b18d366ddcf49ba5.jpg 9e1bbe27e137743e376119390f6e5d76 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. 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 Harbor Scene, postcard (1906).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1906 boat bridge lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/e65dd63fcc32ad4b966cbfdb521de998.jpg 089bc255d6e66b68c2f47c1efc9fd4b5 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 Goose Island (Tonawanda) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/26.jpg" alt="Goose Island as seen from Tonawanda Island, postcard detail, ca 1913" />Goose Island as seen from Tonawanda Island, postcard detail, ca 1913. "Goose Island" was the name of a triangular piece of land in Tonawanda formerly cut off from the mainland by the Erie Canal. The island was first settled by Tonawanda's well-to-do, its shady trees giving "Chestnut Street" its name. It had a cemetery (whose graves were moved to Sweeney Cemetery) and a schoolhouse. As the lumber industry picked up in the 1860s, the character of the island changed dramatically, and it would soon be known all over the country by canawlers and sailors as a "red-light" district. The canal from Tonawanda to Buffalo is filled in around 1927, effectively reconnecting the recalcitrant island to its parent. In 1966 the remaining buildings that housed the old saloons, bordellos and dwellings were razed as part of broader "Urban Renewal" efforts. Today, the only trace of old Goose Island is the old path of Chestnut Street, which is followed by the north edge of Tops parking lot and the southern part of Niagara Shore Drive. 1937 Coppola indictment dismissed. 1951 several of the old buildings, slated for demolition anyway by the State Housing Commission as part of their postwar plan, <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%25201951%2520%2520Grayscale%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201951%2520%2520Grayscale%2520-%25201604.pdf%23xml%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3Dffffffffffbb5d89%26DocId%3D2065199%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520U%26HitCount%3D19%26hits%3D49%2B4a%2B90%2B91%2B1a8%2B2c7%2B395%2B3cc%2B409%2B422%2B42a%2B458%2B627%2B744%2Bfee%2B1119%2B115a%2B115f%2B1166%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%25201951%2520%2520Grayscale%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201951%2520%2520Grayscale%2520-%25201604.pdf&xml=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3Dffffffffffbb5d89%26DocId%3D2065199%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520U%26HitCount%3D19%26hits%3D49%2B4a%2B90%2B91%2B1a8%2B2c7%2B395%2B3cc%2B409%2B422%2B42a%2B458%2B627%2B744%2Bfee%2B1119%2B115a%2B115f%2B1166%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false">are set on fire</a> by an arson.  A 1923 article claims an 1886 fire "totally destroyed" Goose Island. First mention 1897 (Frank Alliger's novelty concern) 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 Harbor, Goose Island, postcard (1913).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1913 boat bridge horse labor lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/9c539a957b322aee619ca72594f9ddf6.jpg f3a476b8a2d9c3bee427af90b6b5e472 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. 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 Edward Hines Lumber Co of Chicago in North Tonawanda, photo postcard (1913).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1913 boat labor lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/1e735f5cb8ca4206c6bdad938f9f7ac7.png eb02b03709e0ab9e2cb25f357f06d877 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. Letters and Letterhead 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 Eastern Lumber Company letterhead, detail (1899).png Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1899 boat bridge lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/1131ec86862e94ba1ee62d9e17757a70.png 09310af8977f88115e74905448be26c8 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. Letters and Letterhead 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 Eastern Lumber Company, letterhead (1899).png Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1899 boat bridge lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/3050418546c1a4d2ad2789e53cca3936.jpg f70ab07b7d80f4850519be7e979e842d https://nthistory.com/files/original/d2e77cb0e23fbf9d790fd3de7db3b761.jpg 856a9b8e556068057bc6ee7eedd41465 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 Goose Island (Tonawanda) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/26.jpg" alt="Goose Island as seen from Tonawanda Island, postcard detail, ca 1913" />Goose Island as seen from Tonawanda Island, postcard detail, ca 1913. "Goose Island" was the name of a triangular piece of land in Tonawanda formerly cut off from the mainland by the Erie Canal. The island was first settled by Tonawanda's well-to-do, its shady trees giving "Chestnut Street" its name. It had a cemetery (whose graves were moved to Sweeney Cemetery) and a schoolhouse. As the lumber industry picked up in the 1860s, the character of the island changed dramatically, and it would soon be known all over the country by canawlers and sailors as a "red-light" district. The canal from Tonawanda to Buffalo is filled in around 1927, effectively reconnecting the recalcitrant island to its parent. In 1966 the remaining buildings that housed the old saloons, bordellos and dwellings were razed as part of broader "Urban Renewal" efforts. Today, the only trace of old Goose Island is the old path of Chestnut Street, which is followed by the north edge of Tops parking lot and the southern part of Niagara Shore Drive. 1937 Coppola indictment dismissed. 1951 several of the old buildings, slated for demolition anyway by the State Housing Commission as part of their postwar plan, <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%25201951%2520%2520Grayscale%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201951%2520%2520Grayscale%2520-%25201604.pdf%23xml%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3Dffffffffffbb5d89%26DocId%3D2065199%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520U%26HitCount%3D19%26hits%3D49%2B4a%2B90%2B91%2B1a8%2B2c7%2B395%2B3cc%2B409%2B422%2B42a%2B458%2B627%2B744%2Bfee%2B1119%2B115a%2B115f%2B1166%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%25201951%2520%2520Grayscale%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201951%2520%2520Grayscale%2520-%25201604.pdf&xml=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3Dffffffffffbb5d89%26DocId%3D2065199%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520U%26HitCount%3D19%26hits%3D49%2B4a%2B90%2B91%2B1a8%2B2c7%2B395%2B3cc%2B409%2B422%2B42a%2B458%2B627%2B744%2Bfee%2B1119%2B115a%2B115f%2B1166%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false">are set on fire</a> by an arson.  A 1923 article claims an 1886 fire "totally destroyed" Goose Island. First mention 1897 (Frank Alliger's novelty concern) 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 Birds-eye view of some of the dockage, postcard (1908).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1908 Description An account of the resource Manhattan Street is in the foreground. Just beyond is some of that famous lumber (Dodge & Bliss and J. W Scribner are two firms who stacked it here), and the swing bridge connecting to North Tonawanda to Tonawanda's "Goose Island." The little buildings at mid-left appear to be the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/993">bordellos and saloons</a> that lined Tonawanda Street; the larger structures to the right are the Tonawanda Board and Paper Co.; on the far right of the postcard is the southern tip of Tonawanda Island. boat bridge gooseisland lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/2b39b8b675e4b064a012f6a3ae24d5fa.jpg 97c8319a6dffa197e541c4d6d4e9b844 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. 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 Bird's-Eye View of Harbor, postcard (c1910).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1910 boat lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/198bed39c6d29cb382818f44e237e7d9.jpg 93d322dcd9c2de11185d885f04cf3805 https://nthistory.com/files/original/d3629353c395b8bae941fd089737f4a2.jpg b3c7de89f6d8a5aecd49b8632e573b5e 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. 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 Along the Lumber Docks, photo (Buffalo Morning Express, c1900).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1900 boat lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/c75e2b32071002cacec9eb7ad0fd7f69.jpg 31a69d4e1255d1487c1e9cb35541c18b 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 Lumber Business of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/48.jpg" alt="Map of the Lumber District of the Tonawandas, 1893" />In the heyday of the Tonawandas' lumber years, practically every available inch of the Niagara riverfront and Tonawanda Island is covered in lumber (shown as lettered, colored portions in the map above). <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1848">1893 Sanborn Insurance map</a>. In the mid-to-late 19th century, vast forests of Midwest timber are cut, dressed and shipped by water to the exploding towns and cities of the east, largely through the Tonawandas. The villages' advantageous location (between the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal) and the natural harbor afforded by Tonawanda Island make it one of the largest lumber ports in the country by 1890. A lock allows small craft to jump between the Niagara River and the Erie Canal via the non-canalized portion of Tonawanda Creek. Scores of lumber comanies spring up here, and their yards vaccum up almost every available inch of real estate along the Niagara River, Tonawanda Creek, and Tonawanda Island. Docks are built over the water, and millions of feet of lumber stored in great blocks are stacked to the sky. They are brought here largely on lake vessels from Lake Erie, where they are moved onto canal boats by lumbershovers and stevedores and hauled by canal boat captains (along with other goods) to points east. The big business means big money, and conflict between the laborers and employers sometimes turns deadly. Articles in this collection describe the lumbershovers strikes of 1892 and 1893, the first of which resulted in the death of a police officer, and both of which required the National Guard to be deployed. A separate collection, "<a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/136">Murder at the Docks</a>," digs into the 1895 double murder of canal boat captain Lorenzo Phillips and his son Charles as the captain attempted to haul a load of lumber from P. W. Scribner's Tonawanda dock in defiance of a boatmen's union agreement. As the forests of the midwest were depleted and shipping routes and technology changed, the lumber heyday of the Tonawandas receded into the past. 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 Along the Docks of the Lumber District, postcard (c1900).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1900-01 boat labor lumber https://nthistory.com/files/original/f48b5509a3b2a2ffbcec9a76d9c4de34.jpg 89602b91c6f0c782ed4e052b4b693bb3 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 and Steel, postcard (1907).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1907 boat ironton https://nthistory.com/files/original/d1ca6ecfc7c18dfb63e3858e4f68f7ac.jpg 9eb5715fde149d64eb2d587ca98bee71 https://nthistory.com/files/original/798a678acd437cff5228ad583be951d3.jpeg 615b4bcc1aae39d2ce502d311734b909 https://nthistory.com/files/original/255ebd6ffeb839347460459866f82d4b.jpeg c15f385026e53342e11bfb381514a358 https://nthistory.com/files/original/454dfaf99d6c9d5d0292bc32709944f6.jpeg c1fc75d28066bda9d668847b2e28cf29 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 Richardson Boat Company Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Richardson Boat Company, c.1929" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/46.jpg" />Richardson Boat Company on Bryant and Sweeney, c.1929. From the <a href="http://www.richardsonboats.com/">Richardson Boat Owners Association website</a>: <blockquote>In 1909 G.Reid Richardson founded the Richardson Boat Company in North Tonawanda, New York to build high quality boats at a fair price. History has shown that he was quite successful in this undertaking. Over the years many types of boats were produced including not only cruising vessels but sailboats, runabouts, racing boats and military craft during the war years. The Richardson Boat Company organized "Sailaways" where the owners of newly purchased boats were encouraged to congregate in North Tonawanda and join in a cruise down the Erie Canal to New York City. Sadly, Mr. Richardson passed away in 1937 and his wife Ethel took over management until 1941 when the company was sold to a group of local businessmen.</blockquote> From his <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2591">1939 memorial pamphlet</a>: <blockquote>G[EORGE] REID RICHARDSON, boat builder, was born at Midland, Michigan, December 13, 1879, son of Israel Harris Reid and Edith (Turner) Richardson. After a high school education he became a mechanic with the Brooks Boat Company at Bay City, Michigan, and in 1906 entered the employ of the Niagara Motor Boat Company at North Tonawanda, New York, as shop foreman. Three years later he founded the Richardson Boat Company of North Tonawanda, of which he was president and general manager until his death. The company built standardized cruisers and other pleasure craft, ranging in size from twenty-five to thirty-five feet. Starting in a small way, it was at the time of Mr. Richardson’s death the largest company in the world building medium-sized cruisers exclusively. It employed one hundred men and produced annually an average of one hundred and sixty boats which, under the trade names of Little Giant, Junior and Master Cruisabout, were sold all over the world. The Richardson hull is well known for its practicability and beauty. Mr. Richardson was always ready to serve the business, civic and social interests of his community. He was a director of the Certified Finance Company of Tonawanda and from 1935 until his death he was president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas. He was particularly interested in the Boy Scouts, held various offices in the council of the organization and for many years was active in promoting the movement. He was a director of the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers and the National Motor Boat Association and a member of the American Power Boat Association, I.O.O.F., and the Tonawanda Kiwanis, Youngstown Yacht, Olcott Yacht, Buffalo Launch and New York Regatta clubs. During the World War the Richardson Boat Company built harbor tugs for the United States government. In religion he was a Unitarian but at the time of his death was a member of the North Presbyterian Church. In his politics he supported the Republican party. His hobby was his interest in boys. Fishing was his favorite outdoor recreation. He was a man of the highest character and was everywhere esteemed for his honesty and trustworthiness. He was married twice: (1) at North Tonawanda, New York, January 25, 1910, to Lottie Belle, daughter of Sylvester Perry, of that place; she died in 1911, leaving a daughter, Jean Elisabeth, wife of James Franklin Moore; (2) at North Tonawanda, June 21, 1924, to Mrs. Ethel (Hill) Hoadley, daughter of Harvey P. Hill, a lumberman, of that place. Mr. Richardson died at North Tonawanda, New York, February 17, 1937.</blockquote> Advertisement A graphic or text document produced by an entity for promotional purposes. 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 New Richardson Little Giant, photo sales brochure (1935).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1935 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/022c6a8a24624deb1acccc31516cf134.jpg 1f5bec51d96aeff91a52900b9adf0fd2 https://nthistory.com/files/original/bd5e83baf42f057bb0cc0577a8c75d6b.jpeg dcbb09cf8c380fc70d853a5f519ef5a3 https://nthistory.com/files/original/33f184a24464a827c0524d90a6463c10.jpeg ba133183961ab0cfe8c3d525c8cf523f 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 Richardson Boat Company Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Richardson Boat Company, c.1929" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/46.jpg" />Richardson Boat Company on Bryant and Sweeney, c.1929. From the <a href="http://www.richardsonboats.com/">Richardson Boat Owners Association website</a>: <blockquote>In 1909 G.Reid Richardson founded the Richardson Boat Company in North Tonawanda, New York to build high quality boats at a fair price. History has shown that he was quite successful in this undertaking. Over the years many types of boats were produced including not only cruising vessels but sailboats, runabouts, racing boats and military craft during the war years. The Richardson Boat Company organized "Sailaways" where the owners of newly purchased boats were encouraged to congregate in North Tonawanda and join in a cruise down the Erie Canal to New York City. Sadly, Mr. Richardson passed away in 1937 and his wife Ethel took over management until 1941 when the company was sold to a group of local businessmen.</blockquote> From his <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2591">1939 memorial pamphlet</a>: <blockquote>G[EORGE] REID RICHARDSON, boat builder, was born at Midland, Michigan, December 13, 1879, son of Israel Harris Reid and Edith (Turner) Richardson. After a high school education he became a mechanic with the Brooks Boat Company at Bay City, Michigan, and in 1906 entered the employ of the Niagara Motor Boat Company at North Tonawanda, New York, as shop foreman. Three years later he founded the Richardson Boat Company of North Tonawanda, of which he was president and general manager until his death. The company built standardized cruisers and other pleasure craft, ranging in size from twenty-five to thirty-five feet. Starting in a small way, it was at the time of Mr. Richardson’s death the largest company in the world building medium-sized cruisers exclusively. It employed one hundred men and produced annually an average of one hundred and sixty boats which, under the trade names of Little Giant, Junior and Master Cruisabout, were sold all over the world. The Richardson hull is well known for its practicability and beauty. Mr. Richardson was always ready to serve the business, civic and social interests of his community. He was a director of the Certified Finance Company of Tonawanda and from 1935 until his death he was president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas. He was particularly interested in the Boy Scouts, held various offices in the council of the organization and for many years was active in promoting the movement. He was a director of the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers and the National Motor Boat Association and a member of the American Power Boat Association, I.O.O.F., and the Tonawanda Kiwanis, Youngstown Yacht, Olcott Yacht, Buffalo Launch and New York Regatta clubs. During the World War the Richardson Boat Company built harbor tugs for the United States government. In religion he was a Unitarian but at the time of his death was a member of the North Presbyterian Church. In his politics he supported the Republican party. His hobby was his interest in boys. Fishing was his favorite outdoor recreation. He was a man of the highest character and was everywhere esteemed for his honesty and trustworthiness. He was married twice: (1) at North Tonawanda, New York, January 25, 1910, to Lottie Belle, daughter of Sylvester Perry, of that place; she died in 1911, leaving a daughter, Jean Elisabeth, wife of James Franklin Moore; (2) at North Tonawanda, June 21, 1924, to Mrs. Ethel (Hill) Hoadley, daughter of Harvey P. Hill, a lumberman, of that place. Mr. Richardson died at North Tonawanda, New York, February 17, 1937.</blockquote> 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 Richardson Open Cockpit Utility, postcard (c1947).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1947 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/1862e458c1b6085a79f86f2858925ccd.jpg 1cba0adabcbaee54ded16cc1897fa66c 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 Richardson Boat Company Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Richardson Boat Company, c.1929" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/46.jpg" />Richardson Boat Company on Bryant and Sweeney, c.1929. From the <a href="http://www.richardsonboats.com/">Richardson Boat Owners Association website</a>: <blockquote>In 1909 G.Reid Richardson founded the Richardson Boat Company in North Tonawanda, New York to build high quality boats at a fair price. History has shown that he was quite successful in this undertaking. Over the years many types of boats were produced including not only cruising vessels but sailboats, runabouts, racing boats and military craft during the war years. The Richardson Boat Company organized "Sailaways" where the owners of newly purchased boats were encouraged to congregate in North Tonawanda and join in a cruise down the Erie Canal to New York City. Sadly, Mr. Richardson passed away in 1937 and his wife Ethel took over management until 1941 when the company was sold to a group of local businessmen.</blockquote> From his <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2591">1939 memorial pamphlet</a>: <blockquote>G[EORGE] REID RICHARDSON, boat builder, was born at Midland, Michigan, December 13, 1879, son of Israel Harris Reid and Edith (Turner) Richardson. After a high school education he became a mechanic with the Brooks Boat Company at Bay City, Michigan, and in 1906 entered the employ of the Niagara Motor Boat Company at North Tonawanda, New York, as shop foreman. Three years later he founded the Richardson Boat Company of North Tonawanda, of which he was president and general manager until his death. The company built standardized cruisers and other pleasure craft, ranging in size from twenty-five to thirty-five feet. Starting in a small way, it was at the time of Mr. Richardson’s death the largest company in the world building medium-sized cruisers exclusively. It employed one hundred men and produced annually an average of one hundred and sixty boats which, under the trade names of Little Giant, Junior and Master Cruisabout, were sold all over the world. The Richardson hull is well known for its practicability and beauty. Mr. Richardson was always ready to serve the business, civic and social interests of his community. He was a director of the Certified Finance Company of Tonawanda and from 1935 until his death he was president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas. He was particularly interested in the Boy Scouts, held various offices in the council of the organization and for many years was active in promoting the movement. He was a director of the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers and the National Motor Boat Association and a member of the American Power Boat Association, I.O.O.F., and the Tonawanda Kiwanis, Youngstown Yacht, Olcott Yacht, Buffalo Launch and New York Regatta clubs. During the World War the Richardson Boat Company built harbor tugs for the United States government. In religion he was a Unitarian but at the time of his death was a member of the North Presbyterian Church. In his politics he supported the Republican party. His hobby was his interest in boys. Fishing was his favorite outdoor recreation. He was a man of the highest character and was everywhere esteemed for his honesty and trustworthiness. He was married twice: (1) at North Tonawanda, New York, January 25, 1910, to Lottie Belle, daughter of Sylvester Perry, of that place; she died in 1911, leaving a daughter, Jean Elisabeth, wife of James Franklin Moore; (2) at North Tonawanda, June 21, 1924, to Mrs. Ethel (Hill) Hoadley, daughter of Harvey P. Hill, a lumberman, of that place. Mr. Richardson died at North Tonawanda, New York, February 17, 1937.</blockquote> Advertisement A graphic or text document produced by an entity for promotional purposes. 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 Richardson Cruisabout, photo ad (1930).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1930 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/d9ba9147bc06b9ede36f9e5192684ad7.jpg 1449f8adccfa22dc68a4fd8f1f4d16bd 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 Richardson Boat Company Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Richardson Boat Company, c.1929" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/46.jpg" />Richardson Boat Company on Bryant and Sweeney, c.1929. From the <a href="http://www.richardsonboats.com/">Richardson Boat Owners Association website</a>: <blockquote>In 1909 G.Reid Richardson founded the Richardson Boat Company in North Tonawanda, New York to build high quality boats at a fair price. History has shown that he was quite successful in this undertaking. Over the years many types of boats were produced including not only cruising vessels but sailboats, runabouts, racing boats and military craft during the war years. The Richardson Boat Company organized "Sailaways" where the owners of newly purchased boats were encouraged to congregate in North Tonawanda and join in a cruise down the Erie Canal to New York City. Sadly, Mr. Richardson passed away in 1937 and his wife Ethel took over management until 1941 when the company was sold to a group of local businessmen.</blockquote> From his <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2591">1939 memorial pamphlet</a>: <blockquote>G[EORGE] REID RICHARDSON, boat builder, was born at Midland, Michigan, December 13, 1879, son of Israel Harris Reid and Edith (Turner) Richardson. After a high school education he became a mechanic with the Brooks Boat Company at Bay City, Michigan, and in 1906 entered the employ of the Niagara Motor Boat Company at North Tonawanda, New York, as shop foreman. Three years later he founded the Richardson Boat Company of North Tonawanda, of which he was president and general manager until his death. The company built standardized cruisers and other pleasure craft, ranging in size from twenty-five to thirty-five feet. Starting in a small way, it was at the time of Mr. Richardson’s death the largest company in the world building medium-sized cruisers exclusively. It employed one hundred men and produced annually an average of one hundred and sixty boats which, under the trade names of Little Giant, Junior and Master Cruisabout, were sold all over the world. The Richardson hull is well known for its practicability and beauty. Mr. Richardson was always ready to serve the business, civic and social interests of his community. He was a director of the Certified Finance Company of Tonawanda and from 1935 until his death he was president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas. He was particularly interested in the Boy Scouts, held various offices in the council of the organization and for many years was active in promoting the movement. He was a director of the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers and the National Motor Boat Association and a member of the American Power Boat Association, I.O.O.F., and the Tonawanda Kiwanis, Youngstown Yacht, Olcott Yacht, Buffalo Launch and New York Regatta clubs. During the World War the Richardson Boat Company built harbor tugs for the United States government. In religion he was a Unitarian but at the time of his death was a member of the North Presbyterian Church. In his politics he supported the Republican party. His hobby was his interest in boys. Fishing was his favorite outdoor recreation. He was a man of the highest character and was everywhere esteemed for his honesty and trustworthiness. He was married twice: (1) at North Tonawanda, New York, January 25, 1910, to Lottie Belle, daughter of Sylvester Perry, of that place; she died in 1911, leaving a daughter, Jean Elisabeth, wife of James Franklin Moore; (2) at North Tonawanda, June 21, 1924, to Mrs. Ethel (Hill) Hoadley, daughter of Harvey P. Hill, a lumberman, of that place. Mr. Richardson died at North Tonawanda, New York, February 17, 1937.</blockquote> Advertisement A graphic or text document produced by an entity for promotional purposes. 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 Richardson Boats, photo ad with logotype (1924-01).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1924-01 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/e430a164ec2f9c1f26c5e7870cf0ccaf.jpg c5f6cdfaaaa34db8c3c866ce27b8ae17 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 Richardson Boat Company Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Richardson Boat Company, c.1929" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/46.jpg" />Richardson Boat Company on Bryant and Sweeney, c.1929. From the <a href="http://www.richardsonboats.com/">Richardson Boat Owners Association website</a>: <blockquote>In 1909 G.Reid Richardson founded the Richardson Boat Company in North Tonawanda, New York to build high quality boats at a fair price. History has shown that he was quite successful in this undertaking. Over the years many types of boats were produced including not only cruising vessels but sailboats, runabouts, racing boats and military craft during the war years. The Richardson Boat Company organized "Sailaways" where the owners of newly purchased boats were encouraged to congregate in North Tonawanda and join in a cruise down the Erie Canal to New York City. Sadly, Mr. Richardson passed away in 1937 and his wife Ethel took over management until 1941 when the company was sold to a group of local businessmen.</blockquote> From his <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2591">1939 memorial pamphlet</a>: <blockquote>G[EORGE] REID RICHARDSON, boat builder, was born at Midland, Michigan, December 13, 1879, son of Israel Harris Reid and Edith (Turner) Richardson. After a high school education he became a mechanic with the Brooks Boat Company at Bay City, Michigan, and in 1906 entered the employ of the Niagara Motor Boat Company at North Tonawanda, New York, as shop foreman. Three years later he founded the Richardson Boat Company of North Tonawanda, of which he was president and general manager until his death. The company built standardized cruisers and other pleasure craft, ranging in size from twenty-five to thirty-five feet. Starting in a small way, it was at the time of Mr. Richardson’s death the largest company in the world building medium-sized cruisers exclusively. It employed one hundred men and produced annually an average of one hundred and sixty boats which, under the trade names of Little Giant, Junior and Master Cruisabout, were sold all over the world. The Richardson hull is well known for its practicability and beauty. Mr. Richardson was always ready to serve the business, civic and social interests of his community. He was a director of the Certified Finance Company of Tonawanda and from 1935 until his death he was president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas. He was particularly interested in the Boy Scouts, held various offices in the council of the organization and for many years was active in promoting the movement. He was a director of the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers and the National Motor Boat Association and a member of the American Power Boat Association, I.O.O.F., and the Tonawanda Kiwanis, Youngstown Yacht, Olcott Yacht, Buffalo Launch and New York Regatta clubs. During the World War the Richardson Boat Company built harbor tugs for the United States government. In religion he was a Unitarian but at the time of his death was a member of the North Presbyterian Church. In his politics he supported the Republican party. His hobby was his interest in boys. Fishing was his favorite outdoor recreation. He was a man of the highest character and was everywhere esteemed for his honesty and trustworthiness. He was married twice: (1) at North Tonawanda, New York, January 25, 1910, to Lottie Belle, daughter of Sylvester Perry, of that place; she died in 1911, leaving a daughter, Jean Elisabeth, wife of James Franklin Moore; (2) at North Tonawanda, June 21, 1924, to Mrs. Ethel (Hill) Hoadley, daughter of Harvey P. Hill, a lumberman, of that place. Mr. Richardson died at North Tonawanda, New York, February 17, 1937.</blockquote> Advertisement A graphic or text document produced by an entity for promotional purposes. 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 Richardson Boats, photo ad (1941-11).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-11 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/41f3d3ffd8c4c6feb58dcd27d2eaab04.jpg bfdc584dbbc7a528c8857abd20c9a276 https://nthistory.com/files/original/96ce6927c7e44da4a385926270cbe042.jpeg ff597a08da024b8d3b8a2523d64c7a9f https://nthistory.com/files/original/0f34f889aeaa84f07435a8f1bc985b33.jpeg 0ed87e653986ebe009a585df00dd9664 https://nthistory.com/files/original/451616d6805c272763faa2c330f3be25.jpeg 21907140d7d5f7201b2c1fe30f8e0d4d https://nthistory.com/files/original/50b7acfe11671b5faabd3cb6f052cbec.jpeg 9f266e4ba8494775bc3f5ab9567da48f 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 Richardson Boat Company Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Richardson Boat Company, c.1929" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/46.jpg" />Richardson Boat Company on Bryant and Sweeney, c.1929. From the <a href="http://www.richardsonboats.com/">Richardson Boat Owners Association website</a>: <blockquote>In 1909 G.Reid Richardson founded the Richardson Boat Company in North Tonawanda, New York to build high quality boats at a fair price. History has shown that he was quite successful in this undertaking. Over the years many types of boats were produced including not only cruising vessels but sailboats, runabouts, racing boats and military craft during the war years. The Richardson Boat Company organized "Sailaways" where the owners of newly purchased boats were encouraged to congregate in North Tonawanda and join in a cruise down the Erie Canal to New York City. Sadly, Mr. Richardson passed away in 1937 and his wife Ethel took over management until 1941 when the company was sold to a group of local businessmen.</blockquote> From his <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2591">1939 memorial pamphlet</a>: <blockquote>G[EORGE] REID RICHARDSON, boat builder, was born at Midland, Michigan, December 13, 1879, son of Israel Harris Reid and Edith (Turner) Richardson. After a high school education he became a mechanic with the Brooks Boat Company at Bay City, Michigan, and in 1906 entered the employ of the Niagara Motor Boat Company at North Tonawanda, New York, as shop foreman. Three years later he founded the Richardson Boat Company of North Tonawanda, of which he was president and general manager until his death. The company built standardized cruisers and other pleasure craft, ranging in size from twenty-five to thirty-five feet. Starting in a small way, it was at the time of Mr. Richardson’s death the largest company in the world building medium-sized cruisers exclusively. It employed one hundred men and produced annually an average of one hundred and sixty boats which, under the trade names of Little Giant, Junior and Master Cruisabout, were sold all over the world. The Richardson hull is well known for its practicability and beauty. Mr. Richardson was always ready to serve the business, civic and social interests of his community. He was a director of the Certified Finance Company of Tonawanda and from 1935 until his death he was president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas. He was particularly interested in the Boy Scouts, held various offices in the council of the organization and for many years was active in promoting the movement. He was a director of the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers and the National Motor Boat Association and a member of the American Power Boat Association, I.O.O.F., and the Tonawanda Kiwanis, Youngstown Yacht, Olcott Yacht, Buffalo Launch and New York Regatta clubs. During the World War the Richardson Boat Company built harbor tugs for the United States government. In religion he was a Unitarian but at the time of his death was a member of the North Presbyterian Church. In his politics he supported the Republican party. His hobby was his interest in boys. Fishing was his favorite outdoor recreation. He was a man of the highest character and was everywhere esteemed for his honesty and trustworthiness. He was married twice: (1) at North Tonawanda, New York, January 25, 1910, to Lottie Belle, daughter of Sylvester Perry, of that place; she died in 1911, leaving a daughter, Jean Elisabeth, wife of James Franklin Moore; (2) at North Tonawanda, June 21, 1924, to Mrs. Ethel (Hill) Hoadley, daughter of Harvey P. Hill, a lumberman, of that place. Mr. Richardson died at North Tonawanda, New York, February 17, 1937.</blockquote> Advertisement A graphic or text document produced by an entity for promotional purposes. 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 Richardson Boat Co., sales brochure (c1935).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1935 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/977b3074eb01e2d31ff102452eb2127b.jpg 0d61858d8cce1e3a37491418bb4b032a 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 Richardson Boat Company Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Richardson Boat Company, c.1929" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/46.jpg" />Richardson Boat Company on Bryant and Sweeney, c.1929. From the <a href="http://www.richardsonboats.com/">Richardson Boat Owners Association website</a>: <blockquote>In 1909 G.Reid Richardson founded the Richardson Boat Company in North Tonawanda, New York to build high quality boats at a fair price. History has shown that he was quite successful in this undertaking. Over the years many types of boats were produced including not only cruising vessels but sailboats, runabouts, racing boats and military craft during the war years. The Richardson Boat Company organized "Sailaways" where the owners of newly purchased boats were encouraged to congregate in North Tonawanda and join in a cruise down the Erie Canal to New York City. Sadly, Mr. Richardson passed away in 1937 and his wife Ethel took over management until 1941 when the company was sold to a group of local businessmen.</blockquote> From his <a href="https://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2591">1939 memorial pamphlet</a>: <blockquote>G[EORGE] REID RICHARDSON, boat builder, was born at Midland, Michigan, December 13, 1879, son of Israel Harris Reid and Edith (Turner) Richardson. After a high school education he became a mechanic with the Brooks Boat Company at Bay City, Michigan, and in 1906 entered the employ of the Niagara Motor Boat Company at North Tonawanda, New York, as shop foreman. Three years later he founded the Richardson Boat Company of North Tonawanda, of which he was president and general manager until his death. The company built standardized cruisers and other pleasure craft, ranging in size from twenty-five to thirty-five feet. Starting in a small way, it was at the time of Mr. Richardson’s death the largest company in the world building medium-sized cruisers exclusively. It employed one hundred men and produced annually an average of one hundred and sixty boats which, under the trade names of Little Giant, Junior and Master Cruisabout, were sold all over the world. The Richardson hull is well known for its practicability and beauty. Mr. Richardson was always ready to serve the business, civic and social interests of his community. He was a director of the Certified Finance Company of Tonawanda and from 1935 until his death he was president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas. He was particularly interested in the Boy Scouts, held various offices in the council of the organization and for many years was active in promoting the movement. He was a director of the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers and the National Motor Boat Association and a member of the American Power Boat Association, I.O.O.F., and the Tonawanda Kiwanis, Youngstown Yacht, Olcott Yacht, Buffalo Launch and New York Regatta clubs. During the World War the Richardson Boat Company built harbor tugs for the United States government. In religion he was a Unitarian but at the time of his death was a member of the North Presbyterian Church. In his politics he supported the Republican party. His hobby was his interest in boys. Fishing was his favorite outdoor recreation. He was a man of the highest character and was everywhere esteemed for his honesty and trustworthiness. He was married twice: (1) at North Tonawanda, New York, January 25, 1910, to Lottie Belle, daughter of Sylvester Perry, of that place; she died in 1911, leaving a daughter, Jean Elisabeth, wife of James Franklin Moore; (2) at North Tonawanda, June 21, 1924, to Mrs. Ethel (Hill) Hoadley, daughter of Harvey P. Hill, a lumberman, of that place. Mr. Richardson died at North Tonawanda, New York, February 17, 1937.</blockquote> Advertisement A graphic or text document produced by an entity for promotional purposes. 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 Richardson Boat Co., Cruisers of Tomorrow, ad (c1935).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1935 boat https://nthistory.com/files/original/a1a3de2a570115bdae4952050a74a2e3.jpg ea48f05689ce601543e1e1aa79447e98 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 Erie Canal Description An account of the resource The Erie Canal in North Tonawanda followed the existing Tonawanda Creek from Pendleton. The first work done locally was the 1823 construction of a wooden dam near present-day Gateway Park to raise the level of the creek four feet. A lock was also built to permit passage between the Niagara River (and Great Lakes) and the canal. Early documents also mention a guard lock just east of the lock. After the Civil War, the depth of the entire canal was increased to accomodate larger boats. Starting around 1909 work was done on our section of the canal as part of Contract 19 to improve the prism, or bottom shape (see <a href="https://nthistory.com/collections/show/152">photos of Contract 19</a>) In 1918 the dam was removed when the length of the Erie was re-engineered to become the Erie Barge Canal. The Tonawanda and Buffalo portions of the canal were abandoned at that time, making North Tonawanda the canal's new western terminus. In 1923 Tonawanda began filling in the old canal. The work was not yet complete in 1929. 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 Wood Bros Garage and Dock (c1940).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940 boat canal erie-canal https://nthistory.com/files/original/6b0aef34c97fdfd42019f72171389dce.jpg bdae257aaf5f947d70161a335b88c131 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 Erie Canal Description An account of the resource The Erie Canal in North Tonawanda followed the existing Tonawanda Creek from Pendleton. The first work done locally was the 1823 construction of a wooden dam near present-day Gateway Park to raise the level of the creek four feet. A lock was also built to permit passage between the Niagara River (and Great Lakes) and the canal. Early documents also mention a guard lock just east of the lock. After the Civil War, the depth of the entire canal was increased to accomodate larger boats. Starting around 1909 work was done on our section of the canal as part of Contract 19 to improve the prism, or bottom shape (see <a href="https://nthistory.com/collections/show/152">photos of Contract 19</a>) In 1918 the dam was removed when the length of the Erie was re-engineered to become the Erie Barge Canal. The Tonawanda and Buffalo portions of the canal were abandoned at that time, making North Tonawanda the canal's new western terminus. In 1923 Tonawanda began filling in the old canal. The work was not yet complete in 1929. Object Photos or illustrations of artifacts of an entity. 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 Tug Association Dr., towing receipt (1892).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1892 boat canal erie-canal https://nthistory.com/files/original/da604c7fac1e9a15cfae68c0512d7072.jpg 91a9bf6c9587d5f5663a1c84a771b893 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 Erie Canal Description An account of the resource The Erie Canal in North Tonawanda followed the existing Tonawanda Creek from Pendleton. The first work done locally was the 1823 construction of a wooden dam near present-day Gateway Park to raise the level of the creek four feet. A lock was also built to permit passage between the Niagara River (and Great Lakes) and the canal. Early documents also mention a guard lock just east of the lock. After the Civil War, the depth of the entire canal was increased to accomodate larger boats. Starting around 1909 work was done on our section of the canal as part of Contract 19 to improve the prism, or bottom shape (see <a href="https://nthistory.com/collections/show/152">photos of Contract 19</a>) In 1918 the dam was removed when the length of the Erie was re-engineered to become the Erie Barge Canal. The Tonawanda and Buffalo portions of the canal were abandoned at that time, making North Tonawanda the canal's new western terminus. In 1923 Tonawanda began filling in the old canal. The work was not yet complete in 1929. 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 Steam SAND SUCKER Boat on Thousand-Ton Barge Canal, postcard (1912).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1912 boat canal erie-canal https://nthistory.com/files/original/aa7330d5791b47027c669a0df3be6c9c.jpg c02b5705ee5d2b532a4a6e8d286cdc8a 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 Erie Canal Description An account of the resource The Erie Canal in North Tonawanda followed the existing Tonawanda Creek from Pendleton. The first work done locally was the 1823 construction of a wooden dam near present-day Gateway Park to raise the level of the creek four feet. A lock was also built to permit passage between the Niagara River (and Great Lakes) and the canal. Early documents also mention a guard lock just east of the lock. After the Civil War, the depth of the entire canal was increased to accomodate larger boats. Starting around 1909 work was done on our section of the canal as part of Contract 19 to improve the prism, or bottom shape (see <a href="https://nthistory.com/collections/show/152">photos of Contract 19</a>) In 1918 the dam was removed when the length of the Erie was re-engineered to become the Erie Barge Canal. The Tonawanda and Buffalo portions of the canal were abandoned at that time, making North Tonawanda the canal's new western terminus. In 1923 Tonawanda began filling in the old canal. The work was not yet complete in 1929. 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 South Niagara Street Showing Erie Canal, Tonawanda, postcard (c1900).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1900 boat bridge canal tonawanda https://nthistory.com/files/original/49ce30445fb2149d44e522e5c49a25c4.jpg ad6cf28d685bcafb85e4af923b7c4932 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 Erie Canal Description An account of the resource The Erie Canal in North Tonawanda followed the existing Tonawanda Creek from Pendleton. The first work done locally was the 1823 construction of a wooden dam near present-day Gateway Park to raise the level of the creek four feet. A lock was also built to permit passage between the Niagara River (and Great Lakes) and the canal. Early documents also mention a guard lock just east of the lock. After the Civil War, the depth of the entire canal was increased to accomodate larger boats. Starting around 1909 work was done on our section of the canal as part of Contract 19 to improve the prism, or bottom shape (see <a href="https://nthistory.com/collections/show/152">photos of Contract 19</a>) In 1918 the dam was removed when the length of the Erie was re-engineered to become the Erie Barge Canal. The Tonawanda and Buffalo portions of the canal were abandoned at that time, making North Tonawanda the canal's new western terminus. In 1923 Tonawanda began filling in the old canal. The work was not yet complete in 1929. 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 Barge Canal Terminal at North Tonawanda, photo (1916).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1916 boat bridge canal erie-canal https://nthistory.com/files/original/8470b582c719f8b62ad9550992ed72fc.jpg 17d816987d8ca631aa77ef8339a66f88 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 Erie Canal Description An account of the resource The Erie Canal in North Tonawanda followed the existing Tonawanda Creek from Pendleton. The first work done locally was the 1823 construction of a wooden dam near present-day Gateway Park to raise the level of the creek four feet. A lock was also built to permit passage between the Niagara River (and Great Lakes) and the canal. Early documents also mention a guard lock just east of the lock. After the Civil War, the depth of the entire canal was increased to accomodate larger boats. Starting around 1909 work was done on our section of the canal as part of Contract 19 to improve the prism, or bottom shape (see <a href="https://nthistory.com/collections/show/152">photos of Contract 19</a>) In 1918 the dam was removed when the length of the Erie was re-engineered to become the Erie Barge Canal. The Tonawanda and Buffalo portions of the canal were abandoned at that time, making North Tonawanda the canal's new western terminus. In 1923 Tonawanda began filling in the old canal. The work was not yet complete in 1929. 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 A Tow, on Erie Canal, Tonawanda, postcard (1915).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1915 boat canal erie-canal