No longer roam house - White mansion torn down, article, transcription (Tonawanda News, 1907-04-08).jpg
Dublin Core
Title
No longer roam house - White mansion torn down, article, transcription (Tonawanda News, 1907-04-08).jpg
Description
NO LONGER ROAM HOUSE
Ghosts of the Haunted White Mansion Are Now Without a Home.
BUILDING IS TORN DOWN
Historic Landmark Where Daniel Webster Spent His Honeymoon Razed to the Ground to Make Way for Business.
Workmen today are removing the last of the stone and brick foundation of the old White mansion on Tonawanda Island, one of the most interesting of the historic landmarks of the Niagara Frontier. Around the ruins of the old building for the past quarter of a century have clustered a wealth of traditions and romances, and each year's added age has not detracted from the glamor of the tales evolving from its mystic past.
It was here that Daniel Webster spent his honeymoon, and within its walls some of the wealthiest of the middle century Americans were entertained with a lavishness that put to shame the social functions at the national capital. In place of the lumber piles and norway alleys that now surround the site, were 50 years ago, and as late as 1850, vineyards of grapes and orchards of peaches, apples and pears.
The house was built as the summer home of Stephen White of Boston, Mass., who was president of the Boston Timber Company, and the first lumberman of the Tonawandas. His company owned and operated the first gang saw mill on the river, located opposite the head of the island on Grand Island. Ruins of the docks are still to be seen.
The White house is torn down to make room for lumber operations on Tonawanda Island. It was sold last fall to the North Lumber Company by Smith, Bassett and Company. The building was in a fair state of preservation, but increased business demanded its removal. Of late years the place has been known as "The Haunted House," and no families have lived there for about 15 years. Hair-raising tales are told of ghosts who shrieked through the corridors of the building, and ghastly stories related of babes that died at midnight. Sober minds said the noises were the winds howling down the big chimneys to the fire places, with which every room was provided.
White was a lavish entertainer. Besides many prominent Buffalonians and New Yorkers, he had as his guest on several occasions, Daniel Webster. During one of his visits, Webster delivered a political address from a stage built beside the general store on Grand Island, then conducted by Vandervoort, White & Ward of Buffalo. The senior member of the firm was an uncle to Jackson Vandervoort, one of North Tonawanda's oldest residents, who was among those in Webster's audience.
It was on one of Daniel Webster's visits to the White house that Webster Street was named after him.
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Ghosts of the Haunted White Mansion Are Now Without a Home.
BUILDING IS TORN DOWN
Historic Landmark Where Daniel Webster Spent His Honeymoon Razed to the Ground to Make Way for Business.
Workmen today are removing the last of the stone and brick foundation of the old White mansion on Tonawanda Island, one of the most interesting of the historic landmarks of the Niagara Frontier. Around the ruins of the old building for the past quarter of a century have clustered a wealth of traditions and romances, and each year's added age has not detracted from the glamor of the tales evolving from its mystic past.
It was here that Daniel Webster spent his honeymoon, and within its walls some of the wealthiest of the middle century Americans were entertained with a lavishness that put to shame the social functions at the national capital. In place of the lumber piles and norway alleys that now surround the site, were 50 years ago, and as late as 1850, vineyards of grapes and orchards of peaches, apples and pears.
The house was built as the summer home of Stephen White of Boston, Mass., who was president of the Boston Timber Company, and the first lumberman of the Tonawandas. His company owned and operated the first gang saw mill on the river, located opposite the head of the island on Grand Island. Ruins of the docks are still to be seen.
The White house is torn down to make room for lumber operations on Tonawanda Island. It was sold last fall to the North Lumber Company by Smith, Bassett and Company. The building was in a fair state of preservation, but increased business demanded its removal. Of late years the place has been known as "The Haunted House," and no families have lived there for about 15 years. Hair-raising tales are told of ghosts who shrieked through the corridors of the building, and ghastly stories related of babes that died at midnight. Sober minds said the noises were the winds howling down the big chimneys to the fire places, with which every room was provided.
White was a lavish entertainer. Besides many prominent Buffalonians and New Yorkers, he had as his guest on several occasions, Daniel Webster. During one of his visits, Webster delivered a political address from a stage built beside the general store on Grand Island, then conducted by Vandervoort, White & Ward of Buffalo. The senior member of the firm was an uncle to Jackson Vandervoort, one of North Tonawanda's oldest residents, who was among those in Webster's audience.
It was on one of Daniel Webster's visits to the White house that Webster Street was named after him.
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Date
1907-04-08
Collection
Citation
“No longer roam house - White mansion torn down, article, transcription (Tonawanda News, 1907-04-08).jpg,” North Tonawanda History, accessed December 12, 2024, https://nthistory.com/items/show/3997.