Tonawanda (city), New York
Encyclopedia
Tonawanda is a city in Erie County
, New York
, United States
. The population was 16,136 at the 2000 census. It is located at the northern edge of Erie County, south across the Erie Canal
(Tonawanda Creek
) from North Tonawanda, and north of Buffalo, New York
. It is part of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area
.
says the best that can be said of the origin and meaning of the place name "Tonawanda" is that it is "probably from an Iroquoian source, but of unclear derivation". One theory is that it is a loanword
from Tuscarora
: Tahnawá•teh meaning "confluent stream." The Iroquoian-speaking Tuscarora are one of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) in the 18th century. They and the Oneida were allies of the American colonists in the American Revolutionary War
.
Post-Revolutionary War European-American settlement at Tonawanda began with Henry Anguish, who built a log home in 1808. He added to the hamlet in 1811 with a tavern, both on the south side of Tonawanda Creek where it empties into the Niagara River
. The hamlet grew slowly until the opening of the Erie Canal
, completed in the course of the creek in 1825. The Town of Tonawanda
was incorporated in 1836. The Erie Canal and the railroads that soon followed it provided economic opportunity. By the end of the 19th century, both sides of the canal were devoted to businesses as part of a leading lumber processing center. In the mid-19th century, the business center of Tonawanda was incorporated as a village within the town. The village united in a corporation with North Tonawanda across the canal. This corporation fell apart, and in 1904 the village was incorporated as the City of Tonawanda.
On September 26, 1898, a tornado struck the City of Tonawanda. After crossing over the river from Grand Island, the tornado damaged the old Murray School as well as several homes along Franklin and Kohler streets. Its worst havoc was wreaked along Fuller Avenue, where a dozen homes were severely damaged, several being leveled to the ground. No one was killed by the fierce storm, but there were numerous injuries.
) tube. Operating in Tonawanda from 1911–1992, it became the major employer in the city. The company was founded in 1873 with a leatherboard mill by Jonas Spaulding and his brother Waldo in Townsend Harbor, Massachusetts
. They did business as The Spaulding Brothers Company. Jonas Spaulding had three sons: Leon C., Huntley N.
and Rolland H.
.
With industry expanding, Jonas established leatherboard mills at Milton
and North Rochester, New Hampshire
, in part to allow his sons to join him in the business. The New Hampshire mills operated under the name J. Spaulding and Sons. After Jonas Spaulding's death in 1900, his sons (by then living in New Hampshire, where they had corporate headquarters at Rochester) continued to operate these mills successfully. They brought the Townsend Harbor mill under the J. Spaulding and Sons banner in 1902.
With continued success, the three Spaulding brothers added a vulcanized fibre
operation in Tonawanda, New York in 1911. They added a fourth leatherboard mill in Milton (second in this community) in 1913. The mayor of Tonawanda, Charles Zuckmaier, had solicited the Spaulding brothers’ business in Tonawanda. An official ground-breaking ceremony was held on July 17, 1911, for the new plant, a $600,000 investment by J. Spaulding and Sons. Operations at the plant began on April 1, 1912, with 40 employees. The daily capacity of the plant at that time was five tons of fibre sheeting and one ton of fibre tubing.
Around 1927, the sons changed the name of the company to the Spaulding Fibre Company. In the 1930s, they added a second product at the Tonawanda plant: Spauldite, a "me too" phenol formaldehyde resin
material made to compete with Bakelite. The trademark now owned by Spaulding Composites can be applied to laminates made with other natural or synthetic resins as well.
After Huntley Spaulding, the last of the three brothers, died in November 1955, the Spaulding Fibre Company became part of a charitable trust previously set up by Huntley and his only sister, Marion S. Potter. The trust was created to disperse their remaining wealth within 15 years of the death of the last sibling. Marion S. Potter died on September 27, 1957.
The company in Tonawanda flourished under foremen, superintendents and workers from the local blue collar workforce. It also attracted new residents who came for the jobs. One was Richard Spencer, who left the oil fields of Bradford, Pennsylvania
, to be a superintendent for two decades. He managed through several labor strikes and periods of economic unrest for the company.
In 1956 the Tonawanda plant completed an expansion that doubled the paper mill and the vulcanized fibre-making capacity of the plant. In addition, after the death of Huntley Spaulding, corporate offices relocated to Wheeler Street from Rochester, New Hampshire. In the 1960s, the Tonawanda plant added a third product line, Filawound (fiberglass
) tubing.
The 50th anniversary of the Wheeler Street Plant in 1961 was marked by a special 22-page section in the Tonawanda News. The Wheeler Street Plant reportedly covered 610000 square feet (56,670.9 m²), employed 1500 workers, and had an annual payroll of $9,000,000. The company paid $153,818 in city taxes that year and was Tonawanda’s largest tax payer. The plant was nearing its peak, but there was more expansion to come.
In 1966, the charitable trust sold the Spaulding Fibre Company to Monogram Industries. The Tonawanda plant began a slow decline during a period of industrial restructuring and product and manufacturing changes. In 1984, Monogram Industries sold the Spaulding Fibre Company to Nortek
. In 1988, Nortek changed the company name to Spaulding Composites. Spaulding Composites closed the Tonawanda plant on August 24, 1992.
By the time the plant closed, employment had declined to 300. Since the closure of the Tonawanda plant, Spaulding Composites twice filed for bankruptcy. The plant site had a footprint of 860000 square feet (79,896.6 m²). It fell into disrepair and, because of the wastes of the industrial processes, was classified as a brown field
site under environmental regulations.
In 2006, the Erie County Development Agency contracted for demolition of the derelict facilities. It was punctuated by the felling of the 250 feet (76.2 m)-tall smoke stack that dominated the site. (This event is documented with a handful of videos on YouTube.) Cleanup of the site was declared complete in August 2010.
:
Tonawanda is located at 43°0′40"N 78°52′38"W (43.01119, -78.877399).
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 4.1 square miles (10.6 km²), of which, 3.8 square miles (9.8 km²) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.8 km²) of it (7.34%) is water.
, City of North Tonawanda
- north
Town of Tonawanda - west/south/east
Town of Grand Island
across the Niagara River - northwest
The City of Tonawanda is called by many of its residents the "C.O.T.", meaning the "City" rather than "Town" of Tonawanda.
The first Canal Fest was held on both sides of the canal in 1983. Today, the Canal fest is organized by the Canal Fest of the Tonawandas Inc., a non-profit organization. It is estimated that over 150,000 people attend the Canal Fest each year, though an accurate number is impossible to obtain since attending the event is entirely free of charge and there are no turnstiles to measure crowds. The Canal Fest is the largest event held along the Erie Canal today and is in the top percentile of New York State events.
, there were 16,136 people, 6,741 households, and 4,361 families residing in the city. The population density
was 4,252.9 people per square mile (1,643.8/km²). There were 7,119 housing units at an average density of 1,876.3 per square mile (725.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.08% White, 0.42% Black or African American
, 0.46% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.17% from other races
, and 0.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.89% of the population.
There were 6,741 households of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.9% were married couples
living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.3% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.01.
23.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.2 males.
The median household income was $37,523, and the median family income was $46,242. Males had a median income of $36,980 versus $24,314 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $18,789. About 4.9% of families and 7.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.4% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.
s Boilerplate
and Femopolis, Perew creates an electromechanical man, called the 'Automatic Man', in the late 19th century. (At the time of writing, in February 2007, Femopolis has not been published.)
In the HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers, Easy Company soldier Warren Muck
states that he is from Tonawanda and that he swam across the Niagara River. "Skip" Muck died in the Battle of Bastogne
and is on the City of Tonawanda memorial to soldiers killed in World War II
.
In the 1999 film, Saving Private Ryan, Private James Ryan is rescued by Tom Hanks' character. The Ryan character was based upon Sgt. Fritz (Frederick) Niland. Niland lost two brothers
, Robert and Preston in the Normandy Landings. Edward Niland (a third brother) was listed as killed in action in the Pacific, but was found in a Japanese POW camp at the end of the war. Fritz and Skip Muck were best friends and enlisted in the 101st together in 1942.
In Mark Twain's The Diary of Adam and Eve (circa 1904), and popularized by the musical The Apple Tree, Tonawanda is identified as the site of the Garden of Eden.
Erie County, New York
Erie County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 919,040. The county seat is Buffalo. The county's name comes from Lake Erie, which in turn comes from the Erie tribe of American Indians who lived south and east of the lake before 1654.Erie...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 16,136 at the 2000 census. It is located at the northern edge of Erie County, south across the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
(Tonawanda Creek
Tonawanda Creek
Tonawanda Creek is a small river in Western New York, in the United States. William Bright says the best that can be said of the name is that it is "probably from an Iroquoian source, but of unclear derivation".-Description:...
) from North Tonawanda, and north of Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. It is part of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area
Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area
The Buffalo-Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area is a metropolitan area, designated by the United States Census Bureau, encompassing two counties – Erie and Niagara – in Western New York, with a population, as of the 2010 census, of 1,135,509 inhabitants...
.
History
According to William BrightWilliam Bright
William Bright was an American linguist who specialized in Native American and South Asian languages and descriptive linguistics....
says the best that can be said of the origin and meaning of the place name "Tonawanda" is that it is "probably from an Iroquoian source, but of unclear derivation". One theory is that it is a loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
from Tuscarora
Tuscarora language
Tuscarora, sometimes called Ska:rù:rę, is an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people, spoken in southern Ontario, Canada, and northwestern New York around Niagara Falls, in the United States. The historic homeland of the Tuscarora was in eastern North Carolina, in and around the Goldsboro,...
: Tahnawá•teh meaning "confluent stream." The Iroquoian-speaking Tuscarora are one of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) in the 18th century. They and the Oneida were allies of the American colonists in the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
.
Post-Revolutionary War European-American settlement at Tonawanda began with Henry Anguish, who built a log home in 1808. He added to the hamlet in 1811 with a tavern, both on the south side of Tonawanda Creek where it empties into the Niagara River
Niagara River
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
. The hamlet grew slowly until the opening of the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
, completed in the course of the creek in 1825. The Town of Tonawanda
Tonawanda (town), New York
Tonawanda is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a population of 78,155. The town is at the north border of the county and is the northern suburb of Buffalo...
was incorporated in 1836. The Erie Canal and the railroads that soon followed it provided economic opportunity. By the end of the 19th century, both sides of the canal were devoted to businesses as part of a leading lumber processing center. In the mid-19th century, the business center of Tonawanda was incorporated as a village within the town. The village united in a corporation with North Tonawanda across the canal. This corporation fell apart, and in 1904 the village was incorporated as the City of Tonawanda.
On September 26, 1898, a tornado struck the City of Tonawanda. After crossing over the river from Grand Island, the tornado damaged the old Murray School as well as several homes along Franklin and Kohler streets. Its worst havoc was wreaked along Fuller Avenue, where a dozen homes were severely damaged, several being leveled to the ground. No one was killed by the fierce storm, but there were numerous injuries.
Spaulding Fibre
Spaulding Fibre became a manufacturer of leatherboard (made from leather scraps and wood pulp), transformer board, vulcanized fibre, bakelite (under the trade name Spauldite) and Filawound (fiberglassFiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...
) tube. Operating in Tonawanda from 1911–1992, it became the major employer in the city. The company was founded in 1873 with a leatherboard mill by Jonas Spaulding and his brother Waldo in Townsend Harbor, Massachusetts
Townsend Harbor, Massachusetts
Townsend Harbor is a village in Townsend, Massachusetts, containing Harbor Pond dammed from the Squannacook River. At this location Jonas Spaulding and his brother Waldo started a mill in 1873 that made leatherboard . They did business as Spaulding Brothers...
. They did business as The Spaulding Brothers Company. Jonas Spaulding had three sons: Leon C., Huntley N.
Huntley N. Spaulding
Huntley Nowel Spaulding was an American manufacturer and Republican politician from Rochester, New Hampshire. He was elected governor of New Hampshire...
and Rolland H.
Rolland H. Spaulding
Rolland Harty Spaulding was an American manufacturer and Republican politician. He was elected Governor of Hew Hampshire in 1914, where he served one term.-Early life and education:...
.
With industry expanding, Jonas established leatherboard mills at Milton
Milton, New Hampshire
Milton is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,598 at the 2010 census. A manufacturing, resort and residential town, Milton includes the village of Milton Mills...
and North Rochester, New Hampshire
Rochester, New Hampshire
Rochester is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 29,752. The city includes the villages of East Rochester and Gonic. Rochester is home to Skyhaven Airport and the annual Rochester Fair....
, in part to allow his sons to join him in the business. The New Hampshire mills operated under the name J. Spaulding and Sons. After Jonas Spaulding's death in 1900, his sons (by then living in New Hampshire, where they had corporate headquarters at Rochester) continued to operate these mills successfully. They brought the Townsend Harbor mill under the J. Spaulding and Sons banner in 1902.
With continued success, the three Spaulding brothers added a vulcanized fibre
Vulcanized fibre
Vulcanized fibre is a laminated plastic composed of only cellulose. The material is a tough, resilient, hornlike material that is lighter than aluminium, tougher than leather, stiffer than most thermoplastics...
operation in Tonawanda, New York in 1911. They added a fourth leatherboard mill in Milton (second in this community) in 1913. The mayor of Tonawanda, Charles Zuckmaier, had solicited the Spaulding brothers’ business in Tonawanda. An official ground-breaking ceremony was held on July 17, 1911, for the new plant, a $600,000 investment by J. Spaulding and Sons. Operations at the plant began on April 1, 1912, with 40 employees. The daily capacity of the plant at that time was five tons of fibre sheeting and one ton of fibre tubing.
Around 1927, the sons changed the name of the company to the Spaulding Fibre Company. In the 1930s, they added a second product at the Tonawanda plant: Spauldite, a "me too" phenol formaldehyde resin
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
material made to compete with Bakelite. The trademark now owned by Spaulding Composites can be applied to laminates made with other natural or synthetic resins as well.
After Huntley Spaulding, the last of the three brothers, died in November 1955, the Spaulding Fibre Company became part of a charitable trust previously set up by Huntley and his only sister, Marion S. Potter. The trust was created to disperse their remaining wealth within 15 years of the death of the last sibling. Marion S. Potter died on September 27, 1957.
The company in Tonawanda flourished under foremen, superintendents and workers from the local blue collar workforce. It also attracted new residents who came for the jobs. One was Richard Spencer, who left the oil fields of Bradford, Pennsylvania
Bradford, Pennsylvania
Bradford is a small city located in rural McKean County, Pennsylvania, in the United States 78 miles south of Buffalo, New York. Settled in 1823, Bradford was chartered as a city in 1879 and emerged as a wild oil boomtown in the Pennsylvanian oil rush in the late 19th century...
, to be a superintendent for two decades. He managed through several labor strikes and periods of economic unrest for the company.
In 1956 the Tonawanda plant completed an expansion that doubled the paper mill and the vulcanized fibre-making capacity of the plant. In addition, after the death of Huntley Spaulding, corporate offices relocated to Wheeler Street from Rochester, New Hampshire. In the 1960s, the Tonawanda plant added a third product line, Filawound (fiberglass
Fiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...
) tubing.
The 50th anniversary of the Wheeler Street Plant in 1961 was marked by a special 22-page section in the Tonawanda News. The Wheeler Street Plant reportedly covered 610000 square feet (56,670.9 m²), employed 1500 workers, and had an annual payroll of $9,000,000. The company paid $153,818 in city taxes that year and was Tonawanda’s largest tax payer. The plant was nearing its peak, but there was more expansion to come.
In 1966, the charitable trust sold the Spaulding Fibre Company to Monogram Industries. The Tonawanda plant began a slow decline during a period of industrial restructuring and product and manufacturing changes. In 1984, Monogram Industries sold the Spaulding Fibre Company to Nortek
Nortek
Nortek is a subsidiary of Nortek Group Limited that produces peripheral devices for personal computers, such as speakers, mice, keyboards and webcams as well as mp3 players, DVD players and televisions. The company operates under the tagline of "Italian Design", based on their usage of shaping and...
. In 1988, Nortek changed the company name to Spaulding Composites. Spaulding Composites closed the Tonawanda plant on August 24, 1992.
By the time the plant closed, employment had declined to 300. Since the closure of the Tonawanda plant, Spaulding Composites twice filed for bankruptcy. The plant site had a footprint of 860000 square feet (79,896.6 m²). It fell into disrepair and, because of the wastes of the industrial processes, was classified as a brown field
Brown Field
Brown Field Municipal Airport is located in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, California, southeast of Downtown San Diego and named in honor of Commander Melville S. Brown, USN, who was killed in an airplane crash in 1936. Its primary runway is long....
site under environmental regulations.
In 2006, the Erie County Development Agency contracted for demolition of the derelict facilities. It was punctuated by the felling of the 250 feet (76.2 m)-tall smoke stack that dominated the site. (This event is documented with a handful of videos on YouTube.) Cleanup of the site was declared complete in August 2010.
Historic sites
The following are historic sites in Tonawanda of such significance as to be listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
:
| Site name | Image | Location | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kibler High School Kibler High School Kibler High School is a historic high school building located at the city of Tonawanda in Erie County, New York. It was designed by the Buffalo architectural firm of Edward B. Green, & Sons and constructed from 1925 to 1927 in the Classical Revival style... |
 |
284 Main St. | Added to the National Register of Historic Places, |
| 2 | Tonawanda (25th Separate Company) Armory Tonawanda (25th Separate Company) Armory The Tonawanda Armory is a historic armory originally built for the 25th Separate Company of the New York National Guard, and located in the city of Tonawanda in Erie County, New York. It is a brick and stone castle-like structure built in 1897, designed to be reminiscent of medieval military... |
 |
79 Delaware Ave. | Added to the National Register of Historic Places, |
| 3 | US Post Office-Tonawanda U.S. Post Office (Tonawanda, New York) US Post Office-Tonawanda is a historic post office building located at Tonawanda in Erie County, New York, United States. It was designed and built 1939-1940, and is one of a number of post offices in New York State designed by the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department... |
 |
96 Seymour St. | Added to the National Register of Historic Places, |
Geography
Tonawanda is located at 43°0′40"N 78°52′38"W (43.01119, -78.877399).
According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 4.1 square miles (10.6 km²), of which, 3.8 square miles (9.8 km²) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.8 km²) of it (7.34%) is water.
Adjacent cities and towns
Niagara CountyNiagara County, New York
Niagara County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 216,469. The county seat is Lockport. The county name is from the Iroquois word Onguiaahra; meaning the strait or thunder of waters. It is the location of Niagara Falls and Fort Niagara, and...
, City of North Tonawanda
North Tonawanda, New York
North Tonawanda is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 31,568 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is named after Tonawanda Creek, its south border...
- north
Town of Tonawanda - west/south/east
Town of Grand Island
Grand Island, New York
Grand Island is a town and an island in Erie County, New York, USA. As of the 2010 census, the town population is 20,374. This represents an increase of 9.41% from the 2000 census figure . The current town name derives from the French name La Grande Île, as Grand Island is the largest island in...
across the Niagara River - northwest
Neighborhoods and locations in the City of Tonawanda
- Gastown – A neighborhood in the northeast corner of Tonawanda, bordering the Erie Canal. Its name comes from the Gas Light Co., which was built on Long's Point, home of the historical Long's Homestead.
- "The Hill" (aka "Riverview") – A region centered around Tonawanda High School, so named because of its slightly elevated topography when compared with the rest of the relatively flat city. It is also known as Clay Hill as it was formed by a terminal glacial moraine that deposited the clay that forms the hill. The area near the high school was the site of some popular clay tennis courts for the city.
- Millstream – A neighborhood on the eastern side of the city. It is named for a stream that formerly flowed through the area, but has since been mostly channelled underground.
- Ives – a local skatepark, ice hockey rink, soccer field, and tennis court in the middle of Tonawanda. Starting out as a small blue kiddy pool, was remodelled to become a skatepark and other things.
The City of Tonawanda is called by many of its residents the "C.O.T.", meaning the "City" rather than "Town" of Tonawanda.
Major highways in the City of Tonawanda
-
New York State Route 265New York State Route 265New York State Route 265 is a state highway located in the western part of New York in the United States. NY 265 is a north–south route that roughly parallels the western parts of the Niagara River in Erie County and Niagara County...
(Main St., Seymour St., River Rd.) North-South Roadway from the Tonawanda town line (south) north through the city and over the Erie Canal/Tonawanda Creek into North Tonawanda.
-
New York State Route 266New York State Route 266New York State Route 266 is a state highway in Erie County, New York, in the United States. It runs along the Niagara River from the city of Buffalo to the city of North Tonawanda. The southern terminus of the route is at the ramps leading to Interstate 190 exit 8 in Buffalo...
(Niagara St.), East-West Roadway from in the city that parallels the Niagara River from the Tonawanda town line (west) through the city to its east end at Seymour St./River Rd. (NY 265) intersection in the city.
-
New York State Route 384New York State Route 384New York State Route 384 is a state highway in Western New York in the United States. It is a north–south route extending from the city of Buffalo, Erie County to the city of Niagara Falls, Niagara County, and is one of several routes directly connecting the two cities. The southern terminus...
(Delaware St.), North-South Road from the Tonawanda town line at the south, north through the city and to North Tonawanda by the way of Main St. across the Canal.
-
New York State Route 425New York State Route 425New York State Route 425 is a New York state highway that runs from NY 18 in Wilson, New York on the shore of Lake Ontario to a connection with Interstate 290 in the Town of Tonawanda...
(Twin Cities Memorial Highway.) North-South Highway through the east part of town from its south end at Interstate 290Interstate 290 (New York)Interstate 290 runs for near Buffalo, New York from I-90 to I-190. It connects Buffalo with its northern suburbs of Amherst and Tonawanda, and provides a route to Niagara Falls that bypasses the city of Buffalo. I-290 also connects to Interstate 990, and through this connection,...
north to North Tonawanda once it crosses over the Canal. (This is a major transportation route for traffic to-and-from North Tonawanda and beyond).
Canal Fest
In conjunction with the City of North Tonawanda, the City of Tonawanda celebrates an annual Canal Festival. For one week, members of both communities celebrate Tonawanda's historic location on the western end of the Erie Canal in the largest festival of its kind. The Festival began in 1983 when Freemasons in the area, in conjunction with several state and regional leaders, set out to promote the businesses of the Tonawandas, provide fund raising opportunities for local non-profit organizations, and provide recreational activities for the citizens of both Tonawanda and North Tonawanda.The first Canal Fest was held on both sides of the canal in 1983. Today, the Canal fest is organized by the Canal Fest of the Tonawandas Inc., a non-profit organization. It is estimated that over 150,000 people attend the Canal Fest each year, though an accurate number is impossible to obtain since attending the event is entirely free of charge and there are no turnstiles to measure crowds. The Canal Fest is the largest event held along the Erie Canal today and is in the top percentile of New York State events.
Gateway Harbor
Also in conjunction with the city of North Tonawanda, Tonawanda is home to Gateway Harbor, a public park that runs along the Erie Canal just before it joins the Niagara River. During summer months, local boaters are free to dock at the park, and the area becomes quite popular during the free concerts set up by the local chamber of commerce. Various local businesses sponsor a series of concerts on both the Tonawanda and North Tonawanda sides of the park.Landmarks
The Historical Society of the Tonawandas operates a museum in the former New York Central & Hudson Valley Railroad station, which has exhibits depicting the area's lumber industry and Erie Canal history. The Long Homestead is a restored Pennsylvania German-style house built in 1829 and containing period furniture from the early 19th century (guided tours are provided by the Historical Society of the Tonawandas). Isle View Park, on the Niagara River overlooking Grand Island, is available for biking, hiking, rollerblading, fishing and launching boats. The Riverwalk trail passes through the park, and a pedestrian foot bridge connects the partk to Niawanda Park.Demographics
At the 2000 censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, there were 16,136 people, 6,741 households, and 4,361 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 4,252.9 people per square mile (1,643.8/km²). There were 7,119 housing units at an average density of 1,876.3 per square mile (725.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.08% White, 0.42% Black or African American
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.46% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.17% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.89% of the population.
There were 6,741 households of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.9% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.3% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.01.
23.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.2 males.
The median household income was $37,523, and the median family income was $46,242. Males had a median income of $36,980 versus $24,314 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $18,789. About 4.9% of families and 7.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.4% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.
Tonawanda in popular culture
Tonawanda is mentioned as the home of the fictional character Louis Philip Perew, in the alternate history world created by artist and author couple Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett. In this history, created for the graphic novelGraphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
s Boilerplate
Boilerplate (robot)
Boilerplate is a fictional robot which would have existed in the Victorian era and early 20th century. It was created in 2000 by Portland, Oregon, artist Paul Guinan...
and Femopolis, Perew creates an electromechanical man, called the 'Automatic Man', in the late 19th century. (At the time of writing, in February 2007, Femopolis has not been published.)
In the HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers, Easy Company soldier Warren Muck
Warren Muck
-External links:**...
states that he is from Tonawanda and that he swam across the Niagara River. "Skip" Muck died in the Battle of Bastogne
Battle of Bastogne
The Siege of Bastogne was an engagement between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbor at Antwerp. In order to reach it before the Allies could regroup and bring their superior air power...
and is on the City of Tonawanda memorial to soldiers killed in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In the 1999 film, Saving Private Ryan, Private James Ryan is rescued by Tom Hanks' character. The Ryan character was based upon Sgt. Fritz (Frederick) Niland. Niland lost two brothers
Niland Brothers
The Niland brothers were four American brothers from Tonawanda, New York, serving in the military during World War II. Of the four, two survived the war, but for a time it was believed that only one, Frederick Niland, had survived...
, Robert and Preston in the Normandy Landings. Edward Niland (a third brother) was listed as killed in action in the Pacific, but was found in a Japanese POW camp at the end of the war. Fritz and Skip Muck were best friends and enlisted in the 101st together in 1942.
In Mark Twain's The Diary of Adam and Eve (circa 1904), and popularized by the musical The Apple Tree, Tonawanda is identified as the site of the Garden of Eden.