1 200 6 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/7995b3ee1a38d5b28000b99f1cf6c38f.jpg c041e1da77483d41a25d0f99942d00c5 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 Tonawanda Distribution Corporations, ad (c1960).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960 Description An account of the resource AKA Tondisco, 80 Thompson Street. illustration https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/79729fe8b678ab71a5a7c30e75322c2c.pdf 14094f5947d1e0b4e5a8d9c63f384ed2 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 Murder on the Docks (October 7, 1895) Description An account of the resource Articles relating to the murder of Captain Lorenzo Philips and his son Charles at the Scribner docks in Tonawanda, and the subsequent trials. "Pleads Guilty," Buffalo Evening News, 4/7/1896. George Hyde has been convicted. Unnerved, Captain Jesse T. Graves reverses and pleads guilty to first degree manslaughter and rioting. Quirk and Collins considered the same. Maximum sentence would be 20 years, just over 12 with good behavior. Perew was determined to stand trial, insisting (through his attorneys) he only came by to see what all the fuss was about, and never had a stake in canal affairs one way or another. He did however help tie up the drifting May and Graff and call for a physician. Justice Woodward, DA Kenefik. William Goddard, the canal broker, will plead guilty only to save money, and time, as he is an old man and in poor health. County of Erie would be saved many thousands of dollars with guilty pleas, the NEWS notes. 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 Is It Hyde or Jekyll?, article, illustrated (Buffalo Courier 1896-03-31).pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1896-03-31 illustration https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/372e5693523507b76751b0167e02d0b3.pdf 02615d82181380a852721fad1f25fadc 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 Murder on the Docks (October 7, 1895) Description An account of the resource Articles relating to the murder of Captain Lorenzo Philips and his son Charles at the Scribner docks in Tonawanda, and the subsequent trials. "Pleads Guilty," Buffalo Evening News, 4/7/1896. George Hyde has been convicted. Unnerved, Captain Jesse T. Graves reverses and pleads guilty to first degree manslaughter and rioting. Quirk and Collins considered the same. Maximum sentence would be 20 years, just over 12 with good behavior. Perew was determined to stand trial, insisting (through his attorneys) he only came by to see what all the fuss was about, and never had a stake in canal affairs one way or another. He did however help tie up the drifting May and Graff and call for a physician. Justice Woodward, DA Kenefik. William Goddard, the canal broker, will plead guilty only to save money, and time, as he is an old man and in poor health. County of Erie would be saved many thousands of dollars with guilty pleas, the NEWS notes. 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 Hyde in Court, illustration from article (Buffalo News, 1896-03-19).pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1896-03-19 illustration https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/19173c5fa0c03eee5ddc30002db106d4.pdf 31eaf699bafdcb27ca5baa1380125c43 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 Murder on the Docks (October 7, 1895) Description An account of the resource Articles relating to the murder of Captain Lorenzo Philips and his son Charles at the Scribner docks in Tonawanda, and the subsequent trials. "Pleads Guilty," Buffalo Evening News, 4/7/1896. George Hyde has been convicted. Unnerved, Captain Jesse T. Graves reverses and pleads guilty to first degree manslaughter and rioting. Quirk and Collins considered the same. Maximum sentence would be 20 years, just over 12 with good behavior. Perew was determined to stand trial, insisting (through his attorneys) he only came by to see what all the fuss was about, and never had a stake in canal affairs one way or another. He did however help tie up the drifting May and Graff and call for a physician. Justice Woodward, DA Kenefik. William Goddard, the canal broker, will plead guilty only to save money, and time, as he is an old man and in poor health. County of Erie would be saved many thousands of dollars with guilty pleas, the NEWS notes. 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 Captain Hyde's Fate, article, illustrations (Buffalo Courier 1896-04-01).pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1896-04-01 illustration https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/344b87f4e776d3b57d01a61dc79eb39e.jpg 192e80376509f95d00af0869a1c557a9 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/a9315f05f729a735f410287ab4b498e6.jpg c44e554a1cb1cd5a0d5c364eccbeeeb2 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/9b22eecec13ed1a0d1f6fa142841aa66.pdf 04bc9a9fbb09130597c0931327feda74 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/29d3bedea606c70326b374695af8f062.jpeg 8db0775dc9f962d2f6bd22bd099a7346 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> Sir William Johnson "The first white man to own Tonawanda Island was Sir William Johnson who was given all the islands in the river by the Seneca Indians as his personal property in part reparation for the Devil's Hole Massacre in 1763." - William Dittmar quoted 1984-12-29 Tonawanda News Carney Island (1819) <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/1070">James and Edward Carney</a> hope to "squat" their 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. Water works (<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Engineering_Record_Building_Record_and_S/STQ8AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA515&printsec=frontcover">detailed article)</a> 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 Ancient monuments in the United States, illustration and article (E. G. Squier, Harper's Monthly Magazine, May 1860).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1860-05 beechwater illustration tonawandaisland https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/695672cdbed52f137e53be55ff9fadcd.jpg 43c4099ccec54a630b6eee1e9f51184f 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 Accounts of the Tonawandas Description An account of the resource These book excerpts and articles describe the earliest days of the white settlers in the Tonawandas, as well as the nearby villages of Martinsville, Sawyer's Station, Gratwick and Ironton (incorporated into the city of North Tonawanda in 1897). 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 Frederick Smith steam mill on Sweeney, Zacharia Taylor, woodcut and article - (Tonawanda Herald, 1881-12-01).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1881-12-01 illustration village