Briefly mentions slow start of the area due to flooding problems, and the importance of the state ditches of 1840. Also: exhaustion of local "fine oak," agricultural prospects, and a new Cleveland investor.
General progress and development to date. Lumber feet by year. Accounts of Tonawanda Herald and Index, as well as many lumber concerns such as J. A. Bliss, Vincent & Hittel, Cowper & Gregory, P. W. Scribner, J. H. DeGraff, A. G. Kent, Evans & Sons,…
Good general, early description. Earliest settlers seem to only account for south-siders
Lock built for Niagara-Creek access.
Cleveland Commercial enterprise draws attention. McGraw opens up lumber business, which starts growing around 1870.
To…
Webmaster's Note: This 2005 dissertation from a UB student examines the seven times the Guard were dispersed between 1877–1898 to mediate local labor disputes. Below are the portions related to the two visits to the Tonawandas, in June of 1892 and…
Weston's foreman, William Wood, has a bio in Landmarks of Niagara County (1897):
Wood, W.W. — This representative citizen of North Tonawanda has been connected with its lumber history and business life for the past ten years. He came here in 1887,…
Two years before the double murder, P. W. Scribner of the Eastern Lumber Company sends a telegram to Governor Flower on behalf of the area lumber dealers. He complains that neither the sherifs nor village authorities will provide protection for them…
The National Guard has been stationed at the bridge to the Little Island. Via the Citizens Committee of Tonawanda, unionized lumber shovers ask that John E. Oelkers (ex-village president) be appointed "chief stevedore" instead of President Robinson…
Soldiers have withdrawn, all is still quiet. 28 deputized to keep the peace. "About the usual number" of Poles have come down from Buffalo to work. It appears the (shovers?) union has been locked out: 200 were at work paving streets in the south…
Transcription by Dana Johnson:
The Realm Of Music
Where harmony producing instruments are manufactured
Home of the organ works
Only industry of this kind established in the United States
Everything About the Institution…
Captain loading out of turn at Scriber's dock. 12:30 a.m. 150 boatmen assembled. Took two bullets, sun clubbed, boats cut adrift. Phillips's boats the John Graft and the May. Phillips "shot in the head and the body as he stood upon his boat." "Young…
Captain Phillips and His Son Charles Brutally Murdered.
Mob of Frenzied Men Shed Blood in Tonawanda After the Midnight Hour -Pistols and Stones Freely Used in the Murderous Work - Flora Phillips Had One of the Most Terrible Experiences that Ever…
"The original contention resulting in last night's riot dates back to the formation of a brokers' office by William Godard and Ira M. Rose, both of this village. P. W. Scribner & Co....the boatmen…
Two Policemen and a Deputy Stood by Helpless While the Cowards Ran Riot.
Arrested now number 16: Nick Waudle, Ed. Dunn, James Reilly, Ed. Mulligan, George Hyde, Bonnie Warren, Joseph Dixon, Fred Oderkirk, John Lasher, John Stevens, Michael Kohn, Abe…
Says Lorenzo Phillips was captain of "Jennie Graft," Charles of "May." Says he fired a shot over his head, and was immediately fired on. Drifting boats intercepted by a tug at Little Island. Boatmen "like a pack of maddened wolves." Daughter knocked…
Rhineheart, owner of boats Hoff and Riley, arrested. Will be taken to Buffalo. Police complain tipsters repudiate. Goddard has "no statement" but goes onto say the newspapers have treated him harshly, that when facts come out they will realize their…
(Not sure of the date of this article, day or two after first inquest).Only A Half Hour Before the Murders Are Committed the Boatmen Meet in Secret Session in Their Hall in the Post Office BuildingsBeginning to look like a conspiracy. Prominent local…
The number of employees in local factories is said to double in one year. A list gives figures for all the major local industries, including Armitage-Herschell, de Kleist, and others.
After this date, the microfilm record of the paper is silent until November 1st, and the (remote) lighting of the "New Niagara Furnace" at the Tonawanda Iron Works by President-Elect William McKinley.
A lively description of the Tonawanda Bicycle Company's "mammoth" building burning to the ground. Night watchman Boss fought valiantly. All of Gratwick turned out to to see the blaze. "So searching were the flames that it was for a time feared that…
Wonderfully descriptive article relates a chance encounter by two wheeling dandies with Capt. James Ennis and his "Log Cabin," "a famous resort on the River Road" located "at the foot of trolley trestle."Resembling a picturesque tavern from a…
American ingenuity is ever striving for startling effects. It is never satisfied. Ordinary achievements seem beneath its attention. It looks beyond, even if the object of its aim be more or less fantastic.
Full article describes the role of the North Tonawanda substation.Photo captions: "Fig. 1. — the Exterior of the Transforming Station of the Tonawanda Power CompanyThe Six Upper Wires on the Poles in the Foreground Are the Two Three-Phase Lines…
Walking Automaton is a Mechanical Wonder
----------------
This Man May Walk For Years Without Rest or Sleep,
Yet Never Feel Fatigue or Need For Food or Drink
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Tonawanda Man Invents a Graven Image in the Form of
a Man That…
The entire speech as quoted by the Tonawanda News:
"My fellow citizens: I am glad to have the chance of meeting you this afternoon. In this contest I feel that we have a right to appeal to you. I wish to appeal to you in the first place on the…
Full article discusses the reliance of the area on the power of Niagara Falls, and has additional photos of call boxes, and view of the Niagara Falls plant. (NT and other photos grabbed here.)North Tonawanda substation tower(First photo) Captioned:…
Instrument Fa r Kevr Episcopa l Cathedra
l Wil l Be One of th e Most
POTT erf ul In th e World—Hope-Jone s
System of Tone Producing; Will Be
fcsed—The Gift of Mr. an d Mrs. Lev i
P. Morton.
An organ which is designed to be one
of the most…
Description of Daniel Webster's visits, and Uncle Vandervoort's store on Grand Island. A 1982 article claims: "Today, all that remains of its former splendor is a small piece of the black marble from the fireplace mantel preserved among the…