1 200 63 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/74509c9b88ceba383e5a201449f738af.jpg 582f816bc118f8e8ab4dbb3bba1452e8 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). 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 40 boats completed at Tonewanta, letter (The documentary history of the campaign upon the Niagara frontier, Cruikshank, 1812-08-17).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1812-08-17 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/31b2064a9295f8a63f1da4c946f29731.jpeg e5bf6af79e0d65a659fcb7ac9514e0ee https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/e1e2f32aa8ffe6cbae68175135a2c5f0.jpeg 600f4c48415facd96ed8d808a6bfcf1e https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/28c74872e85ccb9b48c013476a3be61f.jpeg c63b78f99936baa34fff217df4c34d79 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/5f215e408593a1ea324f42787522d42f.jpeg 35ce51afb823423a51436e060735af32 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/a69411a88104df3150ad8b6209fcda3b.jpeg cb09daa6ec4faef920943d0a166bb0ef 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). 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 Letter of William Williams describing Tonawanda's prospects, transcription (1835-04-21).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1835-04-21 Description An account of the resource A marvelous 1835 firsthand account of conditions at Tonawanda from accomplished Utica bookseller / publisher / engraver / anti-mason / abolitionist and civic-minded Presbyterian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Williams_(printer_and_publisher)">William Williams</a> (1787 - 1850). Wiliams describes to his lawyer the land purchases and improvements he and others made south of the Creek beginning  in 1823, White's investments, the remaining native lumber, the flooding and more. <blockquote>In 1834 Williams fell into financial debt with his creditors, while also owing back taxes, and had many of his effects sold at Sheriff's auctions, while creditors ran his store, still under his name, seeking compensation.[61] By 1836 he sold his bookstore and moved his family to Tonawanda in Erie County to manage an estate of which he was part owner with his father-in-law, Henry Huntington, of Rome. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Williams_(printer_and_publisher)">Wikipedia</a></blockquote> In earlier letters found online (February 11th & 14th 1832) he is traveling from Buffalo to Canandaigua to assist with the anti-cholera effort, although he is sick himself: "I reached this place [Buffalo] last evening after a painful day's ride from Canandaigua. My sickness at my stomach came on soon after we started; and vomited a great deal; but without much relief, tho' I went without eating through the day except a cup of coffee and a cracker or two." He recalls the recent passing of his first wife, with whom he had 14 children, writing "The last letter Sophia wrote me at this place [Buffalo], reminds me that her hand is cold." Williams is gravely injured falling off the top of a stage coach around 1845. Returns to Utica and is buried there after his death in 1850. -- Transcription of beginning and end of 1835 letter: -- Tonawanda April 21, 1835 H. Huntington, Esq. Respected and Dear Sir, Your favor of 11th inst was this morning received, postmarked 13th inst. In the original purchase of Lots No. 84 & 85 there were four equal undivided shares, Townsend & Coit, Latham A. Burrows, A.H. Tracy and myself. In 1829 we mutually made a partition, Townsend & Coit and A.H. Tracy taking that part of the village plot, excepting 3½ acres, which lies north of the canal, about 35 ¾ acres, Burrows taking a small Block of village lots lying north of the canal and between the side cut into the Niagara River, and the toll bridge and on the guard lock, embracing one acre and a half as his proportion of said Lots Nos. 84 & 85, on condition that I should finish a wharf previously commenced, when we were joint owners, on his giving 6 mo. notice after he had built a tavern house and outhouses worth not less than three thousand dollars. The balance of the Tonawanda joint property came into my hands except some village lots previously sold and a few on which articles had been issued; say in all about three acres more. Burrows having erected his tavern house and given me notice that the wharfing must be done, to accommodate the Steamboat that has engaged to enter the mouth of the Tonawanda creek, I am redeeming my engagement with him, and as I think benefitting my own property at the same time. I did not intend to convey the idea in my last letter that I was to superintend the work. Mr. James Walker who has been employed in similar works at Buffalo harbor has the job. This explanation appeared necessary to correct an impression probably made by my careless mention of an expenditure of six six hundred dollars for wharfing. It is not safe to come into the Tonawanda without a wharf and snubbing posts, there not being room to swing around in the creek, without these advantages in handling the Boat. At times I fear you will regard me as visionary altogether in my expectations of this locality ever becoming a place of business. Without foreign capital it never will; but the Island owners have already embarked so much, that, with their amples means they are not likely to back out. Their steam saw mill occupies 22,500 square feet, four stories, & including the attic. It has generally been valued to have cost them 80,000 dollars, whereas it has really cost them but 34,000, as their agent informs me. Their lands were purchased for less than the original sale by the state some ten years since; the average cost being under five dollars. They have the fee to all except ten or fourteen hundred acres. The survey by the state made about 19,000 acres of all the islands. These prominent features of their purchase and improvement show well. Practical men are embarked in the undertaking which is the most favorable to its perpetuity as well as productiveness. Their desire to purchase more land indicates confidence. They cut no trees but those which have come to perfection or are not worth preserving for future use. By thinning out the large oaks the young ones have a vigorous & rapid growth secured them. All the timber of small value is cut and split into seam fuel [Much more rich detail about trees and cultivation.] As the country clears up it improves in other respects, particularly as to the banishment of [intermittent?] fevers, and will one day be as healthy as the banks of the Delaware or Hudson; at present it is far otherwise. Much of its unhealthiness, however, is owing to the dissipations and otherwise improvident modes of living. I have never enjoyed better health anywhere than at this same badly reputed place. Yet it is in an Ague & Fever country beyond any controversy, for at least five months in the year. I am truly yours, William Williams https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/b219c4da1b1c59c6123a89964c9c6536.jpg da9e568f205e3f1d0f936f50280dae98 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 Early letter from Tonawanda cabinet maker to England, letter (1852).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1852 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/f27a6c9224526e7b2e5d08c0b2138d0e.png fba7684fe538be4ebb9c2b170de724be https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/563205613d31c4a3c70a30d35efa4867.png cc846cde73ec9a13a1df9bf56a0d5188 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/e48456de6d402560fc2b0bf0f9ef434c.png 06d7e3cf260890afea6b6b85a6d14cbc https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/384c171b9deea6be35c744cf5b70f12f.png caa8a3059bfa4638a6aa95ec209e0254 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 Mary Jo Vandervoort in Boston to her husband William in Tonawanda, letter (1853-08-01).png Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1853-08-01 letter https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/6870607c7f8157f83001f59ecc3bcdfa.jpg 6f2fe6f9696556a405e6350fd5346820 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 Letter to William Vandervoort (c1860).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1860 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/d47ca9ee04333cb815a3d1cb2b921919.jpg 6698d09357d325644ca1664a075f03d6 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/fe7b38e6c08c4ea68b9862a63b49c3bc.jpg 1efa713b32410362a486bcd4ff2ea6c6 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 Postcard to H. M. Stocum, lumber dealer (1877-06-16).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1877-06-16 lumber https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/bd8cd0c3d6afa7b3e479ccc554ad6946.jpg 5be0bd1108009973f6b037020a4c72f7 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 Union Mills Co, illustrated envelope (c1880).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1880 lumber https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/2dbf6f87b6b925c930ed57790a526eb2.png 6fc66cd7ed3ab6c7c9430f0a640af60f https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/42bbc3d6a5db555679502ad101d89f73.png 19d8b948f8b02055cae2041523177bd9 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 Letter from C.M. Leslie in response to Thayer business ad (1884-07).png Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1884-07 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/9a6024e82d3c44508de551c849e61a14.jpeg 50a9cae3955735f986fb21baec367ed4 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 Calkins and Co. Planing Mill, Tonawanda, envelope (1889).jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1889 factory river tonawanda https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/9d2b1da77771c1db6a447b3d3cbf8a86.jpg f1f5e3212a0e56952b6332fec4d9ec71 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 Tonawanda Driving Park and Fairground Assn., illustrated envelope (c1890).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/34fb7dc6adbeefdb150b3d204c3da01c.jpg 3342b1ae5ee6a630b2f803e970aa491a https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/bb870719731c4ec3cce84f98bd7fb811.jpg 62b940c59b6082e58f40f600d4453c77 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 Niagara Cider and Vinegar Works 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 Niagara Cider and Vinegar Works, illustrated letterhead (1890-01-06).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1890-01-06 factory https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/da28f9da0114961aa47cec67bfdad325.jpg 13951d2e2da8c697917d1fc43434c87f 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 Hotel Sheldon Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="../../../custom/cover/51.jpg" alt="Hotel Sheldon" /> Postcard, c1890This massive hotel once occupied the southeast corner of Goundry and Main. A general description from <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/608">Lumber City</a> (1891): <blockquote>Nothing is more needed for the general prosperity of a city than a first-class hotel, and in this particular the Lumber City is especially fortunate, as outside of metropolitan places it would be difficult to find a house more complete in all its appointments than the Sheldon. It is fitted in attractive and elegant style throughout and contains all the modern improvements and appurtenances of a first-class hotel. It is an imposing four-story brick, with eighty rooms.</blockquote> An Internet search rears up <a href="https://www.geni.com/people/William-Truman-Godard/5494628848530068480">this pithy account</a> of one of the hotel's managers: <blockquote>Hope said that he (William Truman Godard, 1870-1937) earned his living in Altoona, Penn as a Pillsbury flour representative and she wrote that he earned his living in as the manager of the Hotel Sheldon in North Tonawanda, New York where Hope was born in 1905. She said he had very black hair and never seemed to have a well day. He went back East to his people after his wife died.</blockquote> The hotel is destroyed by fire in 1940. 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 Hotel Sheldon, illustrated letterhead (1891).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1891 hotel https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/084b8a25d4c5e5745d7fc71669300657.jpeg 281ee090a75e3eee69aa7f22478d17e8 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 Allan Herschell Companies Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/files/original/0a8137a27b9978ab2f72819b2bd699cf.jpg" alt="" /> An 1894 Armitage-Herschell advertisement shows a not-at-all-dangerous-to-children-looking steam boiler and pulleys providing motive power to the company's signature device. <div>On gilded signs posted at its southern and northern entrances, North Tonawanda introduces itself to visitors as "The Home of the Carrousel." The still-ubiquitous fairground staple was not invented in North Tonawanda (some version of it had been around <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dizzy-history-carousels-begins-knights-180964100">since at least the 12th Century</a>), but thousands were produced here and the highest levels of craftsmanship were attained here under the guidance of Scottish-born Allan Herschell. </div> In 1872 (Landmarks says 1873), the Armitage-Herschell Co. begins as a small brass and iron foundry on Manhattan Street, comprised of Englishman <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/889">James Armitage</a>, and Scottish brothers <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/880">George</a> and <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/877">Allan Herschell</a>. The firm survives devastating fires in 1874 and 1875, and expands to a location off Oliver Street (whence comes the name, "Mechanic Street"), adding engines and boilers to their specialties. Youngest partner Allan sees a carousel while traveling, and recognizes ways it can be improved. By 1887, his "Improved Steam Riding Gallery" captivates the world, and people from India and France demand the modern amusement. The merry-go-round-makers at first import the accompanying band organs from the old European master-builders of Germany and France, but high tariffs decide them to instead import German organ maker <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/936">Eugene de Kleist</a> from England (de Kleist begins making organs at his <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/24">North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory</a> in 1893). They organize in 1890. James Armitage and George Herschell die in early 1900. The Armitage-Herschell Company is succeeded by Herschell, Spillman & Company, and the Allan Herschell Company. Allan Herschell dies in 1927. The latter company continues making amusements, including miniature trains, boats and airplanes (some of which can be played upon at the <a href="http://www.carrouselmuseum.org">Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum</a> in North Tonawanda) as late as the 1960s. There is a large Herschell family plot in Sweeney Cemetery. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <ul> <li><a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/607">Landmarks of Niagara County (1897)</a></li> <li>“<a href="http://carrouselmuseum.org/site/about/allan-herschell">Allen Herschell History</a>.” Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum, 2014.</li> </ul> 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 Armitage-Herschell, illustrated letterhead (1893-12-31).jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1893-12-31 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/8d17ece57a710df0dd68c9b31d2d9999.jpg b311698bb4885275d3a186fbbecf7036 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 Marble, Granite and Stone Works, letter (1894-05-01).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1894-05-01 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/a15011fd9d7602e9013a93b43f7854e6.jpg 32fc0ef73e9e90066bc19fc1eb5887f8 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). 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 Tonawanda Iron and Steel, Niagara Furnace, invoice (1896).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1896 iron https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/cccfeca3b73c3c575859a52e02d57974.jpg f0d6b736997a521fa375d1b1ea909a9d https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/89209f5b75cdaa31fb3aa2abcda032d1.jpg 15d46c7924a785dd598110626b234cd5 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 Hotel Sheldon Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="../../../custom/cover/51.jpg" alt="Hotel Sheldon" /> Postcard, c1890This massive hotel once occupied the southeast corner of Goundry and Main. A general description from <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/608">Lumber City</a> (1891): <blockquote>Nothing is more needed for the general prosperity of a city than a first-class hotel, and in this particular the Lumber City is especially fortunate, as outside of metropolitan places it would be difficult to find a house more complete in all its appointments than the Sheldon. It is fitted in attractive and elegant style throughout and contains all the modern improvements and appurtenances of a first-class hotel. It is an imposing four-story brick, with eighty rooms.</blockquote> An Internet search rears up <a href="https://www.geni.com/people/William-Truman-Godard/5494628848530068480">this pithy account</a> of one of the hotel's managers: <blockquote>Hope said that he (William Truman Godard, 1870-1937) earned his living in Altoona, Penn as a Pillsbury flour representative and she wrote that he earned his living in as the manager of the Hotel Sheldon in North Tonawanda, New York where Hope was born in 1905. She said he had very black hair and never seemed to have a well day. He went back East to his people after his wife died.</blockquote> The hotel is destroyed by fire in 1940. 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 Hotel Sheldon, illustrated envelope (1897).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1897 hotel https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/115be4d01a509f2e6e36636accefda0a.jpeg efa3a542f4e5adbc866b2a7be6df4d19 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/de8dab827b060d607d818a487fb0a6ad.jpeg aa234c17a9e69e76415f2b5c03c24d3e 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 Buffalo Bolt, Roblin Steel Description An account of the resource Formerly situated on Oliver Street near East Ave., this longtime employer got its start in Amsterdam, N.Y. in 1855. They moved to a small two-story brick at the corner of Clinton & Adams Streets in Buffalo, where the brilliant Orrin C. Burdict joined the firm, and began inventing many superior machines. They were known as Plumb , Burdict & Barnard for a time. Eventually they extended to Eagle Street. In 1897 they were forced to suspended activities as patent expiration hurt their business. Soon after R. H. Plumb, the senior partner, removed the machinery to North Tonawanda, using steam for a few years until Niagara Falls electricity prevailed. From: <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=uo5PAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA225&ots=HsKZ916Mg0&dq=%22Buffalo%20Bolt%22%201855&pg=PA225#v=onepage&q=%22Buffalo%20Bolt%22%201855&f=false">History of the Bolt and Nut Industry of America</a> by W. R. Wilbur 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 President of Buffalo Bolt expects payment, letter (1898-08-15).jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898-08-15 https://www.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://www.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://www.nthistory.com/files/original/fef6ee6910189532e7a27c5ab942c583.jpg cbe2aa0df5ae7e75e49bf97578e80a8e 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 Creo-Dipt, Weatherbest Stained Shingles Description An account of the resource AI: By the 1920s, North Tonawanda is a minor empire of stained shingles, dominated by two closely linked firms: Creo-Dipt and Weatherbest. Creo-Dipt begins in 1908 as the Standard Stained Shingle Company in Rochester, developing “creo-dipped” shingles whose creosote treatment is meant to lock color into the wood; the company later relocates its headquarters to North Tonawanda and adopts the Creo-Dipt name. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) From a modest start it builds a national business in chemically treated shingles and stains, heavily advertised in trade journals and glossy catalogs and shipped from multiple plants, including major works in North Tonawanda and Seattle. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) Weatherbest grows out of a stained-shingle concern organized in 1913 (initially called the Transfer Stained Shingle Company), later headquartered on Main Street in North Tonawanda; by the mid-1920s it is marketing red-cedar “Weatherbest” shingles and plan books that promise to turn “old houses into charming homes,” positioning stained shingles as both modern siding and a cheap way to remodel tired frame houses. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][2]) Through the 1920s both companies bombard architects, builders and homeowners with catalogs and national advertising; Creo-Dipt leads the field, with Weatherbest usually ranked a close second in sales. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) In 1937 the two lines are formally pulled together: Creo-Dipt absorbs Weatherbest’s shingle and stain business, Weatherbest continues as a division, and the combined concern carries on selling Western red-cedar stained shingles and related finishes across the United States for several more decades. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) [1]: https://mycompanies.fandom.com/wiki/Creo-Dipt_Company "Creo-Dipt Company | MyCompanies Wiki | Fandom" [2]: https://mycompanies.fandom.com/wiki/Weatherbest_Stained_Shingle_Company "Weatherbest Stained Shingle Company | MyCompanies Wiki | Fandom" In November 1929 Weatherbest Island Street facility nearly wiped out by a disastrous blaze that does an estimated $250,000 in damage and destroys 100 carloads of shingles. Creo-Dipt used creosote to hold the color within the shingle. 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 Creo-Dipt Stained Shingles, letterhead (c1900).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1900 lumber https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/0dec55d98b18b5dc78538d4d99adc758.jpg fe4b55c69ba9faea0d466afaf5dca089 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 Rand Company, Kardex, Remington-Rand Description An account of the resource The Rand family powerfully shaped the Tonawandas' business landscape over several generations. Starting in banking, the Rand men (sometimes in direct competition with one another) would become involved in filing systems, office furnishings, <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/10">automatic musical instruments</a>, and even what would be come the modern computer.  In 1908, James Rand Sr.'s Rand Company has its Plant No.1 on the west side of Goundry, near the train bridge (now a parking lot). In 1919 Rand adds Plant No.2, the former North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works (now Liston Mfg. Co.). The rival <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardex_Group">Kardex company</a> (operated by James Rand Jr.) is in Tonawanda at Main, Wheeler and Franklin in 1920. This site is later Remington-Rand Plant No. 10 in Tonawanda, where a workers' strike is broken in early summer of 1936 (<a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2297">see plates 48 and 54 for maps</a> of Plants 10 and 11). Wikiepdia, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Rand_strike_of_1936%E2%80%931937">Remington Rand Strike of 1937-1937</a>: <blockquote>The strike is notorious for spawning the "Mohawk Valley formula," a corporate plan for strikebreaking to discredit union leaders, frighten the public with the threat of violence, use local police and vigilantes to intimidate strikers, form puppet associations of "loyal employees" to influence public debate, fortify workplaces, employ large numbers of strikebreakers, and threaten to close the plant if work is not resumed.</blockquote> 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 The Rand Company, letterhead (1901).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1901 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/25a242efec04445909e21e51d8d55450.jpg cb7b3193367267022eedfdf57c71d8a8 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 CF Oelkers shoes, letterhead (1901-04-05).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1901-04-05 retail https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/c292b713d1a0b9791ad0647a69d202ce.jpg bffc96497c6ff3b8348344ae242ecc6f 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). 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 Tonawanda Iron and Steel Co, illustrated letterhead (1902).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1902 iron https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/628676cc94a81b3726008c2cd88d1651.jpg d09a7e02e72cffebd5a9d55ef82c5aca 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 Robinson Bros Lumber Co, receipt (1902).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1902 lumber https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/b50080e3028ccf17dd97bdae553bff6e.jpg 9fe47612a740d9b9f75bd43fdce259b4 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/345eda2bc7074a71c6157bc42cfa2d98.jpg b568b3f04696f5bdecbbdf404e144691 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/5c3e9c91d98de3c43f25d2964ee5e36a.jpg c4e7689b735d897789c57f8df98fcd18 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 J&T Charlton Lumber, letterhead, letter and info from eBay seller (1903-11-05).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1903-11-05 factory https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/da32d1d3801881d917557c46a3fb910f.jpg aaac3015b39732ae649e06d4c99efcb6 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 W. G. Palmer Lumber Company 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 W.G. Palmer lumber, illustrated envelope (1904).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1904 lumber https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/cbaf097330fbe075f101a99118566a26.jpg f8917b5c1ee8292fe014bb666b48bc5d 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 Fenton and Sons Lumber Co, illustrated letterhead, detail (1905).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1905 lumber https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/9e4064b254932c89a4ae373c79e20c99.jpg 4f67c677d7342b6909fa98e5e58a6c03 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 Fenton and Sons Lumber Co, North Tonawanda, illustrated letterhead (1905).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1905 lumber https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/3afe70a0565a197e48cbc693d4573d1d.jpg 3700ef01bd0bb6ee7e5dc9f66363a03c 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 Walkinshaw and Co Modern Plumbing, 138 Goundry, North Tonawanda, illustrated letterhead (1905-02-23).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1905-02-23 retail https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/76e95d060af49e8e8c95de1abf9f52c6.jpg e0c51be4590e1a89a35ea8973de6b8f0 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 National Roofing Co., illustrated letterhead (1906-05-25).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1906-05-25 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/581714015763b588616104604ea71fc0.jpg c49bb30b6695176ef158e5f9dee9b6ed 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 Rand Company, Kardex, Remington-Rand Description An account of the resource The Rand family powerfully shaped the Tonawandas' business landscape over several generations. Starting in banking, the Rand men (sometimes in direct competition with one another) would become involved in filing systems, office furnishings, <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/10">automatic musical instruments</a>, and even what would be come the modern computer.  In 1908, James Rand Sr.'s Rand Company has its Plant No.1 on the west side of Goundry, near the train bridge (now a parking lot). In 1919 Rand adds Plant No.2, the former North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works (now Liston Mfg. Co.). The rival <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardex_Group">Kardex company</a> (operated by James Rand Jr.) is in Tonawanda at Main, Wheeler and Franklin in 1920. This site is later Remington-Rand Plant No. 10 in Tonawanda, where a workers' strike is broken in early summer of 1936 (<a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2297">see plates 48 and 54 for maps</a> of Plants 10 and 11). Wikiepdia, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Rand_strike_of_1936%E2%80%931937">Remington Rand Strike of 1937-1937</a>: <blockquote>The strike is notorious for spawning the "Mohawk Valley formula," a corporate plan for strikebreaking to discredit union leaders, frighten the public with the threat of violence, use local police and vigilantes to intimidate strikers, form puppet associations of "loyal employees" to influence public debate, fortify workplaces, employ large numbers of strikebreakers, and threaten to close the plant if work is not resumed.</blockquote> 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 The Rand Company, Bank Stationers, illustrated receipt (1906-11-15).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1906-11-15 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/2ada81c9991ac98ff1d37cbb04c75a2a.jpg 74ad2f29671d456a7dac1d12ccf4d271 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 Rand Company, Kardex, Remington-Rand Description An account of the resource The Rand family powerfully shaped the Tonawandas' business landscape over several generations. Starting in banking, the Rand men (sometimes in direct competition with one another) would become involved in filing systems, office furnishings, <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/10">automatic musical instruments</a>, and even what would be come the modern computer.  In 1908, James Rand Sr.'s Rand Company has its Plant No.1 on the west side of Goundry, near the train bridge (now a parking lot). In 1919 Rand adds Plant No.2, the former North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works (now Liston Mfg. Co.). The rival <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardex_Group">Kardex company</a> (operated by James Rand Jr.) is in Tonawanda at Main, Wheeler and Franklin in 1920. This site is later Remington-Rand Plant No. 10 in Tonawanda, where a workers' strike is broken in early summer of 1936 (<a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2297">see plates 48 and 54 for maps</a> of Plants 10 and 11). Wikiepdia, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Rand_strike_of_1936%E2%80%931937">Remington Rand Strike of 1937-1937</a>: <blockquote>The strike is notorious for spawning the "Mohawk Valley formula," a corporate plan for strikebreaking to discredit union leaders, frighten the public with the threat of violence, use local police and vigilantes to intimidate strikers, form puppet associations of "loyal employees" to influence public debate, fortify workplaces, employ large numbers of strikebreakers, and threaten to close the plant if work is not resumed.</blockquote> 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 Rand Company, Patent Bank Ledger, letter (1907-10-11).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1907-10-11 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/20f5c7ede98792d2885834de46df40d1.jpg 4798bec6727aba4920a08b1170213435 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 Niagara Silk Mills Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Niagara Silk Mills postcard" src="http://nthistory.com/custom/cover/44.jpg" /> Postcard c. 1913. According to a c.1913 news article, "The Niagara Silk Mills began business in an old wooden building on Sweeney street [around 1898] with thirty operatives." By 1913 the concern dominates Sweeney Street, standing where the old Vandervoort "mansion" on Sweeney was, and where Gateway Center is today. The Niagara Silk Mills (Van Raalte Silk Mills after 1917) produces ladies' undergarments, gloves, and similar fineries. They marketed their materials with the iconography of Niagara Falls (reminiscent of the Pan Am Exposition imagery), and with appearances by silent film sirens. By 1937 there are locations in Saratoga Springs, Dunkirk, Paterson and Boonton, N.J. Closed in 1963, the building along Sweeney was converted into the Downtowner Hotel in 1964 and later became the Packet Inn / Woodshed. 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 Niagara Silk Mills - logotype on envelope (1908).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1908 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/ee73cc9571d00a6a5d1a3b118522ff96.jpg 6112d3494b07083ea346c78df5b0d0ff 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 Bennett Lumber Company Description An account of the resource Island and Main Streets. <blockquote>Bennett began his lumber business at Main and Island Streets as Hoadley and Bennett in 1902, eventually expanding to 190 Oliver Street, the former W. G. Palmer Lumber Co. facilities.85 In addition to lumber, the Ray H. Bennett Lumber Co. also sold prefabricated mail order ‘kit homes,’ known as Bennett Redi-Bilt Homes. - <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2172">Sweeney Estate Historical Survey (2019)</a></blockquote> 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 Bennett Lumber Co, illustrated letterhead, detail (c1910).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1910 lumber https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/e2cb3034ae82f69e357db77bc90de4ce.jpg 3b83f793c9c52cc40fd8912b0cbcf0e3 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 Bennett Lumber Company Description An account of the resource Island and Main Streets. <blockquote>Bennett began his lumber business at Main and Island Streets as Hoadley and Bennett in 1902, eventually expanding to 190 Oliver Street, the former W. G. Palmer Lumber Co. facilities.85 In addition to lumber, the Ray H. Bennett Lumber Co. also sold prefabricated mail order ‘kit homes,’ known as Bennett Redi-Bilt Homes. - <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2172">Sweeney Estate Historical Survey (2019)</a></blockquote> 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 Bennett Lumber Co, illustrated letterhead (c1910).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1910 lumber https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/a3b2e4cd8ddd8918089cbe25e2fde8e6.jpg fbc6493e11ec4c1933e4011df5330d32 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 Sweeney Family 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 James Sweeney Jr, property agent, illustrated envelope (1910-01-05).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1910-01-05 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/f8df9d21102be2556404fa455862a21a.jpg 39f557654c103eb4270ba4a96b6264c6 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 Niagara Silk Mills Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Niagara Silk Mills postcard" src="http://nthistory.com/custom/cover/44.jpg" /> Postcard c. 1913. According to a c.1913 news article, "The Niagara Silk Mills began business in an old wooden building on Sweeney street [around 1898] with thirty operatives." By 1913 the concern dominates Sweeney Street, standing where the old Vandervoort "mansion" on Sweeney was, and where Gateway Center is today. The Niagara Silk Mills (Van Raalte Silk Mills after 1917) produces ladies' undergarments, gloves, and similar fineries. They marketed their materials with the iconography of Niagara Falls (reminiscent of the Pan Am Exposition imagery), and with appearances by silent film sirens. By 1937 there are locations in Saratoga Springs, Dunkirk, Paterson and Boonton, N.J. Closed in 1963, the building along Sweeney was converted into the Downtowner Hotel in 1964 and later became the Packet Inn / Woodshed. 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 Niagara Silk Millks, illustrated envelope (1911).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1911 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/cd03068b7b2029659e9b3af6c10adea7.jpg 8e4dd6cad07f49896808e0d975790d98 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 W. G. Palmer Lumber Company 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 W.G. Palmer, Oliver Street, illustrated letterhead (1911-03-13).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1911-03-13 lumber https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/ca54700b6eb99b6faf139386f68d0784.jpg 969ea96b341a17bb774465b1fc16df27 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 Van Slyke & Company, round silos, illustrated letterhead (1912-12-10).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1912-12-10 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/493590accd8f491d41325747a2b0236a.jpg 87d4667e2cd110f593268f558de71979 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 Allan Herschell Companies Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/files/original/0a8137a27b9978ab2f72819b2bd699cf.jpg" alt="" /> An 1894 Armitage-Herschell advertisement shows a not-at-all-dangerous-to-children-looking steam boiler and pulleys providing motive power to the company's signature device. <div>On gilded signs posted at its southern and northern entrances, North Tonawanda introduces itself to visitors as "The Home of the Carrousel." The still-ubiquitous fairground staple was not invented in North Tonawanda (some version of it had been around <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dizzy-history-carousels-begins-knights-180964100">since at least the 12th Century</a>), but thousands were produced here and the highest levels of craftsmanship were attained here under the guidance of Scottish-born Allan Herschell. </div> In 1872 (Landmarks says 1873), the Armitage-Herschell Co. begins as a small brass and iron foundry on Manhattan Street, comprised of Englishman <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/889">James Armitage</a>, and Scottish brothers <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/880">George</a> and <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/877">Allan Herschell</a>. The firm survives devastating fires in 1874 and 1875, and expands to a location off Oliver Street (whence comes the name, "Mechanic Street"), adding engines and boilers to their specialties. Youngest partner Allan sees a carousel while traveling, and recognizes ways it can be improved. By 1887, his "Improved Steam Riding Gallery" captivates the world, and people from India and France demand the modern amusement. The merry-go-round-makers at first import the accompanying band organs from the old European master-builders of Germany and France, but high tariffs decide them to instead import German organ maker <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/936">Eugene de Kleist</a> from England (de Kleist begins making organs at his <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/24">North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory</a> in 1893). They organize in 1890. James Armitage and George Herschell die in early 1900. The Armitage-Herschell Company is succeeded by Herschell, Spillman & Company, and the Allan Herschell Company. Allan Herschell dies in 1927. The latter company continues making amusements, including miniature trains, boats and airplanes (some of which can be played upon at the <a href="http://www.carrouselmuseum.org">Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum</a> in North Tonawanda) as late as the 1960s. There is a large Herschell family plot in Sweeney Cemetery. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <ul> <li><a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/607">Landmarks of Niagara County (1897)</a></li> <li>“<a href="http://carrouselmuseum.org/site/about/allan-herschell">Allen Herschell History</a>.” Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum, 2014.</li> </ul> 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 Herschell-Spillman, receipt letterhead (1914).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1914 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/0ada407709ea5288d2e0874fc8b33986.jpg c7906f09885ca0d42ce118f61917c2a7 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 Niagara Silk Mills Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Niagara Silk Mills postcard" src="http://nthistory.com/custom/cover/44.jpg" /> Postcard c. 1913. According to a c.1913 news article, "The Niagara Silk Mills began business in an old wooden building on Sweeney street [around 1898] with thirty operatives." By 1913 the concern dominates Sweeney Street, standing where the old Vandervoort "mansion" on Sweeney was, and where Gateway Center is today. The Niagara Silk Mills (Van Raalte Silk Mills after 1917) produces ladies' undergarments, gloves, and similar fineries. They marketed their materials with the iconography of Niagara Falls (reminiscent of the Pan Am Exposition imagery), and with appearances by silent film sirens. By 1937 there are locations in Saratoga Springs, Dunkirk, Paterson and Boonton, N.J. Closed in 1963, the building along Sweeney was converted into the Downtowner Hotel in 1964 and later became the Packet Inn / Woodshed. 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 Niagara Silk Mills, detail, illustrated letter (1914-06-10).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1914-06-10 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/91ebd8bf1361df211afbcd3ad1276111.jpg 4efb3663f51be3aa72fd933ac1a59c43 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 Niagara Silk Mills Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" alt="Niagara Silk Mills postcard" src="http://nthistory.com/custom/cover/44.jpg" /> Postcard c. 1913. According to a c.1913 news article, "The Niagara Silk Mills began business in an old wooden building on Sweeney street [around 1898] with thirty operatives." By 1913 the concern dominates Sweeney Street, standing where the old Vandervoort "mansion" on Sweeney was, and where Gateway Center is today. The Niagara Silk Mills (Van Raalte Silk Mills after 1917) produces ladies' undergarments, gloves, and similar fineries. They marketed their materials with the iconography of Niagara Falls (reminiscent of the Pan Am Exposition imagery), and with appearances by silent film sirens. By 1937 there are locations in Saratoga Springs, Dunkirk, Paterson and Boonton, N.J. Closed in 1963, the building along Sweeney was converted into the Downtowner Hotel in 1964 and later became the Packet Inn / Woodshed. 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 Niagara Silk Mills, illustrated letter (1914-06-10).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1914-06-10 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/d86e8ad7fb846e561b48e23ee6449002.jpg 588d2f32ef41bdf28fff7990c0459e5b 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 Adamite Abrasive Co., illustrated letter (1914-07-31).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1914-07-31 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/1acdd47710958e9c1b1c0a3ece17012e.jpg 1477545e096752efa62d0d3248220a54 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 Musical Instrument Works Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/10.jpg" alt="North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works, colorized by the webmaster." /> North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works factory at 435 Payne Avenue, c1913; photo colorized by the webmaster. <div>(1906-1919) The North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works produces military band organs, player pianos, organs for (still silent) "moving picture" theaters and more. The factory is the third automatic musical instrument manufacturer in the city, starting about a year after the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/75">Niagara Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company</a>. Like Niagara, NTMIW is partially comprised of men who have worked with <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/24">de Kleist's Musical Instrument Works</a> (president John Birnie had been secretary-treasurer for de Kleist). According to an article in this set, NTMIW originally operates out of "the Williams plant on the Ellicott Creek." They incorporate in 1906, and in the second half of 1907 build a substantial four-story factory. In 1911 that factory is tripled (articles suggest the work is not completed until early 1912). Although larger than Niagara, NTMIW will always be a distant second behind de Kleist and Wurlitzer. In 1918, NTMIW is acquired by the Rand Visible Records Company. Rand continues the musical manufacturing business, and the former NTMIW leadership at first sticks around. Rand's press officers kick into high gear, founding a monthly internal company magazine, <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1192">All of Us</a>, apparently aimed at easing the culture change. In spite of this gesture, NTMIW founding officer Stillman C. Woodruff and others leave Rand--and the bones of their former company--around 1920 to try their hand at the band organ game one last time with their <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/22">Artizan Factories Inc.</a> venture in 1922.</div> 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 North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works, letterhead (c1920).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1920 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/7d4e961fba993f2c00ad56df7e6c6f23.jpg 70779c256818094985aadc25b6a6016e 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 Musical Instrument Works Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/10.jpg" alt="North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works, colorized by the webmaster." /> North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works factory at 435 Payne Avenue, c1913; photo colorized by the webmaster. <div>(1906-1919) The North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works produces military band organs, player pianos, organs for (still silent) "moving picture" theaters and more. The factory is the third automatic musical instrument manufacturer in the city, starting about a year after the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/75">Niagara Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company</a>. Like Niagara, NTMIW is partially comprised of men who have worked with <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/24">de Kleist's Musical Instrument Works</a> (president John Birnie had been secretary-treasurer for de Kleist). According to an article in this set, NTMIW originally operates out of "the Williams plant on the Ellicott Creek." They incorporate in 1906, and in the second half of 1907 build a substantial four-story factory. In 1911 that factory is tripled (articles suggest the work is not completed until early 1912). Although larger than Niagara, NTMIW will always be a distant second behind de Kleist and Wurlitzer. In 1918, NTMIW is acquired by the Rand Visible Records Company. Rand continues the musical manufacturing business, and the former NTMIW leadership at first sticks around. Rand's press officers kick into high gear, founding a monthly internal company magazine, <a href="http://nthistory.com/items/show/1192">All of Us</a>, apparently aimed at easing the culture change. In spite of this gesture, NTMIW founding officer Stillman C. Woodruff and others leave Rand--and the bones of their former company--around 1920 to try their hand at the band organ game one last time with their <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/22">Artizan Factories Inc.</a> venture in 1922.</div> 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 Rand Company Musical Instrument Division, letterhead (c1920).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1920 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/60dfef8c1fab7974d63320aac347d3d4.jpg 14786ddfad688a77a85d568cfdd2c6d6 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/4b31ade335ab739735c7bffe579646ee.jpg d5449d63f351d70d88474bd00b5e02c0 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/1633c08ad9c5d493e678ce00c819a81c.jpg 5d05aad9ce5c23c0e3e234d96359aa2f 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 Auto-Wheel Coaster, Buffalo Sled Company (Schenck St.) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="https://nthistory.com/custom/cover/14d.jpg" style="border: 0px;" alt="The Buffalo Sled company building at Schenck and Marion, c.1917" />The Buffalo Sled company building at Schenck and Marion, as depicted in a 1917 catalog. It burns in a disastrous 1972 fire. The Buffalo Sled Co. starts business in 1899, apparently in Buffalo,  and organizes around 1905. It is led by John J. Schneider and Henry J. Tiedt. In 1909, the firm purchases the the Orient Novelty Company* of North Tonawanda, and moves into their large, 3-story factory (pictured above). The Buffalo Sled Company originally makes sleds and shovels. They add coasters (wagons) in 1912. Soon they are enjoying national success, advertising aggressively in several publications, and marketing their boys' toys ingenuously with clubs and giveaways. In July of 1920 they file paperwork to change their name to the "Auto-Wheel Coaster Company." At times they also have operations in Buffalo, on Ellicott Creek in the old A. B. Williams plant, and in Preston, Ontario.  From the Internet's <a href="http://www.harryrinker.com/col-1117.html">Harry Rinker</a>: <blockquote>A fire on April 16, 1920, destroyed the wheel department and storehouses. According to the 1921 City Directory, the company rebuilt and assumed a new name, Auto-Wheel Coaster Company.</blockquote> Auto Wheel files for bankruptcy in July 1964, but is bought by area men to resume production. This did not seem to be successful, as the plant was is in the process of being converted to a palette factory when it is completely destroyed in a spectacular fire on Memorial Day (May 29), 1972, taking at least seven nearby homes with it. * Orient when relocated here from Dayton, OH in 1903. They manufactured novelties, were led by D.W. Hyman, and had a modest subscription for electric power from Niagara Falls. In 1905 locals complain about the nuisance of smoke from the works. 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 Buffalo Sled Company correspondence on axle replacement for Auto Wheel Coaster (1920).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1920 Description An account of the resource In response to Frank B. Diehl's complaint about a flawed axle for a Number 33 Auto Wheel Coaster, the Buffalo Sled Company sent a replacement axle and requested the return of the broken one for inspection. Upon examination, they found no manufacturing flaw, attributing the damage to severe external impact likely from rough usage. They upheld their charge for the replacement, citing the durability of their materials and lack of prior defects, while expressing their willingness to address genuine issues responsibly. Transcriptions: --- Jan. 12, 1920. Mr. Frank B. Diehl, Defiance, Ohio. Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of January 9th, will say that we are sending under separate cover one front axle for a Number 33 AUTO WHEEL COASTER. As to your remarks relative same being billed free of charge, will ask that you kindly return the broken axle to us, and if upon examination here, we find there is an actual flaw in this article, we will be only too glad to send you a credit memorandum. We are asking you to return the axle for the reason that we have up to this time failed to find a single flaw in any of this material, and if the article in question is flawed we desire to take this up with the proper department with a view of avoiding similar cases. In the mean-time, therefore, we are billing on you for the axle in question, and if on return of the broken axle, same is found to be defective, we will promptly send you credit-memorandum. Thanking you for calling our attention to this, we are, Yours very truly, THE BUFFALO SLED COMPANY --- Here is the transcription of the second letter: --- Jan. 28, 1920. Mr. Frank B. Diehl, Defiance, Ohio. Dear Sir: With further reference to your letter of the 9th, and ours of the 12th, relative axle for #33 AUTO WHEEL COASTER. The axle in question was duly received this A.M. by us, and upon careful examination, we fail to find any flaw existed, but on the other hand, we are inclined to believe the wagon upon which this axle was used, came in contact with some extraordinary weight and received a severe jolt, as there is absolutely nothing to indicate a flaw. For your information will state that boys invariable ride up and down the curbs, and these sudden jars cause the axle to crack which permits the air to strike the opening, thereby causing a slight discoloration, and the next bump it gets, the axle breaks. On first glance, one who is not familiar with the facts, would readily arrive at the conclusion that a flaw existed. As stated in our letter of January 12th, up to the present time, we have failed to find a single flaw in any of the material, as the steel is cold-rolled, thereby avoiding any possibility of a flaw. The axle in question is considerably out of shape on both ends, thereby showing much hard-usage. In view of the facts as outlined above, we consider that our charge against you for replacement of this axle is in order. We are at all times prepared and welcome complaints, and are willing to make good where we are responsible. Thanking you for calling our attention to this, we remain, Yours very truly, THE BUFFALO SLED COMPANY logotype https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/dc5a49aca76c01e9482b0ac9b9f9655f.jpg a406e13b3ba0249ea411fa29e04a01aa 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 Bennett Lumber Company Description An account of the resource Island and Main Streets. <blockquote>Bennett began his lumber business at Main and Island Streets as Hoadley and Bennett in 1902, eventually expanding to 190 Oliver Street, the former W. G. Palmer Lumber Co. facilities.85 In addition to lumber, the Ray H. Bennett Lumber Co. also sold prefabricated mail order ‘kit homes,’ known as Bennett Redi-Bilt Homes. - <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2172">Sweeney Estate Historical Survey (2019)</a></blockquote> 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 Ray H. Bennett Lumber Co., letter (1921).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1921 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/28f251f978736184b98b83d2306e7c09.jpg 085282de1c39b7260a1ebc2424932148 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 Bennett Lumber Company Description An account of the resource Island and Main Streets. <blockquote>Bennett began his lumber business at Main and Island Streets as Hoadley and Bennett in 1902, eventually expanding to 190 Oliver Street, the former W. G. Palmer Lumber Co. facilities.85 In addition to lumber, the Ray H. Bennett Lumber Co. also sold prefabricated mail order ‘kit homes,’ known as Bennett Redi-Bilt Homes. - <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2172">Sweeney Estate Historical Survey (2019)</a></blockquote> 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 Ray H. Bennett Lumber Co. Inc. Invoice (1921).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1921 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/e3dd693b489a6eca17b2441b6bae0509.jpg b47c5daf1f0114640c48fa3d3643dea4 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 Allan Herschell Companies Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://www.nthistory.com/files/original/0a8137a27b9978ab2f72819b2bd699cf.jpg" alt="" /> An 1894 Armitage-Herschell advertisement shows a not-at-all-dangerous-to-children-looking steam boiler and pulleys providing motive power to the company's signature device. <div>On gilded signs posted at its southern and northern entrances, North Tonawanda introduces itself to visitors as "The Home of the Carrousel." The still-ubiquitous fairground staple was not invented in North Tonawanda (some version of it had been around <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dizzy-history-carousels-begins-knights-180964100">since at least the 12th Century</a>), but thousands were produced here and the highest levels of craftsmanship were attained here under the guidance of Scottish-born Allan Herschell. </div> In 1872 (Landmarks says 1873), the Armitage-Herschell Co. begins as a small brass and iron foundry on Manhattan Street, comprised of Englishman <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/889">James Armitage</a>, and Scottish brothers <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/880">George</a> and <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/877">Allan Herschell</a>. The firm survives devastating fires in 1874 and 1875, and expands to a location off Oliver Street (whence comes the name, "Mechanic Street"), adding engines and boilers to their specialties. Youngest partner Allan sees a carousel while traveling, and recognizes ways it can be improved. By 1887, his "Improved Steam Riding Gallery" captivates the world, and people from India and France demand the modern amusement. The merry-go-round-makers at first import the accompanying band organs from the old European master-builders of Germany and France, but high tariffs decide them to instead import German organ maker <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/936">Eugene de Kleist</a> from England (de Kleist begins making organs at his <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/24">North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory</a> in 1893). They organize in 1890. James Armitage and George Herschell die in early 1900. The Armitage-Herschell Company is succeeded by Herschell, Spillman & Company, and the Allan Herschell Company. Allan Herschell dies in 1927. The latter company continues making amusements, including miniature trains, boats and airplanes (some of which can be played upon at the <a href="http://www.carrouselmuseum.org">Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum</a> in North Tonawanda) as late as the 1960s. There is a large Herschell family plot in Sweeney Cemetery. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <ul> <li><a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/607">Landmarks of Niagara County (1897)</a></li> <li>“<a href="http://carrouselmuseum.org/site/about/allan-herschell">Allen Herschell History</a>.” Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum, 2014.</li> </ul> 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 Herschell-Spillman Motor Co., logotype, letter (1921-05-05).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1921-05-05 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/7d7c7c5a1759d67bee4cc4341650b436.jpg fc9ae92b32e84f885df08ade067556d3 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 Bennett Lumber Company Description An account of the resource Island and Main Streets. <blockquote>Bennett began his lumber business at Main and Island Streets as Hoadley and Bennett in 1902, eventually expanding to 190 Oliver Street, the former W. G. Palmer Lumber Co. facilities.85 In addition to lumber, the Ray H. Bennett Lumber Co. also sold prefabricated mail order ‘kit homes,’ known as Bennett Redi-Bilt Homes. - <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2172">Sweeney Estate Historical Survey (2019)</a></blockquote> 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 Bennett Homes Lumber Co. Letterhead (1922).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1922 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/e694af241a29eac89b16686f8bdabc2a.jpg f6a7285ae78937cab12e3f0b0329786a 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 Artizan Factories Inc. (583 Division Street) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://nthistory.com/custom/cover/22.jpg" alt="Artizan Factories photo, 1926" /> The only known photograph of the Artizan Factories Inc. building in its seven years of operation; published in a 1926 industrial survey. From the Historical Society of the Tonawandas. The red brick building at 583 Division Street was built for music. <div class="img-caption-container"><img src="http://nthistory.com/files/square_thumbnails/7737a2457cebcbaaa529e8a7c35d86e6.jpg" alt="A colorfully painted Style D band organ" /> <div class="caption">A "Style D" band organ on display at the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum, 2015</div> </div> Artizan Factories Inc. makes "automatic" musical instruments for carousels, fairgrounds, and parks. The men are refugees, so to speak, of the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/10">North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works</a>, which was purchased by the Rand Visible Records Company in 1918 and converted to making office supplies. Artizan president Stillman C. Woodruff was the first secretary and treasurer for the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/24">de Kleist Musical Instrument Mfg. Co.</a> in 1903 and served in a similar capacity for the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/10">North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works </a>. Vice president Frank Morganti and treasurer Christian Maerten have also made the rounds of the local organ factories, and each have 30 years of firsthand experience. Like the North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works' original factory, the single-elevator Artizan building is designed to accomodate expansion. However, in its case, an expansion is never necessary. In spite of its talented leadership, the competition from the nationwide Wurlitzer and changing tastes in public entertainment prove too much. After years of economic hardship, the venture fails in 1929. Other concerns have owned the building through the decades. Little trace remains of the original work done here. The first floor was removed and merged with the basement, as seen in a video tour in this collection. Doug Hershberger of the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum paid a visit in 2006, and found much the same, as he recorded in the <a href="http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/200811/2008.11.29.06.html">Mechanical Music Digest</a> that year: <blockquote>Inspection of the interior of the factory building is an exercise in frustration to a historian. I have never seen a building so utterly devoid of clues or artifacts or interest. There was not a partition, a workbench, a sign painted on the wall, anything that gave a clue as to the original occupant of the building. I'm not sure there was even paint on the wall. Moreover, even the first floor was gone! One of the post-Artizan owners of the property needed a higher ceiling, so he removed the first floor, making the basement ceiling the underside of the second level. Mr. Wagner was generous with his time and provided some interesting background on the building. He moved his business to the site in 1986. He said the previous owner was a pallet manufacturer who had gone bankrupt. The elevator had been sold off for income. Some of the (hardwood?) flooring had been removed by someone for the construction of a summer home. There were two boilers associated with the building, but evidently not within the four-story structure. Both have been removed and one boiler room is now used as a compressor room.</blockquote> 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 Artizan Factories Inc., letterhead (c1923).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1923 organ https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/c5ef345b9ea7870c085cd0d53b42c857.jpeg 8bb4eba87233d1690ea49beddef50ce3 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/14f1732673e8eb2d45e0e7d9015427a5.jpeg 009591916b3dd3f18980d6a88a45a0a6 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 Fenton Fibre Box Company, illustrated envelope (1924).jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1924 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/2301f28c67a537679855e23036cc5b5f.jpeg 293e2076a7eebfb5a8edd515be0d613a 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 Creo-Dipt, Weatherbest Stained Shingles Description An account of the resource AI: By the 1920s, North Tonawanda is a minor empire of stained shingles, dominated by two closely linked firms: Creo-Dipt and Weatherbest. Creo-Dipt begins in 1908 as the Standard Stained Shingle Company in Rochester, developing “creo-dipped” shingles whose creosote treatment is meant to lock color into the wood; the company later relocates its headquarters to North Tonawanda and adopts the Creo-Dipt name. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) From a modest start it builds a national business in chemically treated shingles and stains, heavily advertised in trade journals and glossy catalogs and shipped from multiple plants, including major works in North Tonawanda and Seattle. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) Weatherbest grows out of a stained-shingle concern organized in 1913 (initially called the Transfer Stained Shingle Company), later headquartered on Main Street in North Tonawanda; by the mid-1920s it is marketing red-cedar “Weatherbest” shingles and plan books that promise to turn “old houses into charming homes,” positioning stained shingles as both modern siding and a cheap way to remodel tired frame houses. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][2]) Through the 1920s both companies bombard architects, builders and homeowners with catalogs and national advertising; Creo-Dipt leads the field, with Weatherbest usually ranked a close second in sales. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) In 1937 the two lines are formally pulled together: Creo-Dipt absorbs Weatherbest’s shingle and stain business, Weatherbest continues as a division, and the combined concern carries on selling Western red-cedar stained shingles and related finishes across the United States for several more decades. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) [1]: https://mycompanies.fandom.com/wiki/Creo-Dipt_Company "Creo-Dipt Company | MyCompanies Wiki | Fandom" [2]: https://mycompanies.fandom.com/wiki/Weatherbest_Stained_Shingle_Company "Weatherbest Stained Shingle Company | MyCompanies Wiki | Fandom" In November 1929 Weatherbest Island Street facility nearly wiped out by a disastrous blaze that does an estimated $250,000 in damage and destroys 100 carloads of shingles. Creo-Dipt used creosote to hold the color within the shingle. 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 Weatherbest, letterhead (1927-07-01).jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1927-07-01 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/b17a55225aa7a949770a959e65eedbfe.jpg f481f7012b1e16bf67fd8c00aed7655e 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 Harry Dragan, 206 East Ave., Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee (1927-09-22).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1927-09-22 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/e950b12a653c128714affe4d89812dcf.jpg bb28e73ffd1d984188085d394947f7b2 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 Rand Company, Kardex, Remington-Rand Description An account of the resource The Rand family powerfully shaped the Tonawandas' business landscape over several generations. Starting in banking, the Rand men (sometimes in direct competition with one another) would become involved in filing systems, office furnishings, <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/10">automatic musical instruments</a>, and even what would be come the modern computer.  In 1908, James Rand Sr.'s Rand Company has its Plant No.1 on the west side of Goundry, near the train bridge (now a parking lot). In 1919 Rand adds Plant No.2, the former North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works (now Liston Mfg. Co.). The rival <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardex_Group">Kardex company</a> (operated by James Rand Jr.) is in Tonawanda at Main, Wheeler and Franklin in 1920. This site is later Remington-Rand Plant No. 10 in Tonawanda, where a workers' strike is broken in early summer of 1936 (<a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2297">see plates 48 and 54 for maps</a> of Plants 10 and 11). Wikiepdia, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Rand_strike_of_1936%E2%80%931937">Remington Rand Strike of 1937-1937</a>: <blockquote>The strike is notorious for spawning the "Mohawk Valley formula," a corporate plan for strikebreaking to discredit union leaders, frighten the public with the threat of violence, use local police and vigilantes to intimidate strikers, form puppet associations of "loyal employees" to influence public debate, fortify workplaces, employ large numbers of strikebreakers, and threaten to close the plant if work is not resumed.</blockquote> 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 Remington Rand, letterhead receipt (1928-01-14).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1928-01-14 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/51bf33e789f0131f44c31461f517ec2e.jpg a271a2fb8d412012a85c9df65364ae0b 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 Artizan Factories Inc. (583 Division Street) Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="http://nthistory.com/custom/cover/22.jpg" alt="Artizan Factories photo, 1926" /> The only known photograph of the Artizan Factories Inc. building in its seven years of operation; published in a 1926 industrial survey. From the Historical Society of the Tonawandas. The red brick building at 583 Division Street was built for music. <div class="img-caption-container"><img src="http://nthistory.com/files/square_thumbnails/7737a2457cebcbaaa529e8a7c35d86e6.jpg" alt="A colorfully painted Style D band organ" /> <div class="caption">A "Style D" band organ on display at the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum, 2015</div> </div> Artizan Factories Inc. makes "automatic" musical instruments for carousels, fairgrounds, and parks. The men are refugees, so to speak, of the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/10">North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works</a>, which was purchased by the Rand Visible Records Company in 1918 and converted to making office supplies. Artizan president Stillman C. Woodruff was the first secretary and treasurer for the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/24">de Kleist Musical Instrument Mfg. Co.</a> in 1903 and served in a similar capacity for the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/10">North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works </a>. Vice president Frank Morganti and treasurer Christian Maerten have also made the rounds of the local organ factories, and each have 30 years of firsthand experience. Like the North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works' original factory, the single-elevator Artizan building is designed to accomodate expansion. However, in its case, an expansion is never necessary. In spite of its talented leadership, the competition from the nationwide Wurlitzer and changing tastes in public entertainment prove too much. After years of economic hardship, the venture fails in 1929. Other concerns have owned the building through the decades. Little trace remains of the original work done here. The first floor was removed and merged with the basement, as seen in a video tour in this collection. Doug Hershberger of the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum paid a visit in 2006, and found much the same, as he recorded in the <a href="http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/200811/2008.11.29.06.html">Mechanical Music Digest</a> that year: <blockquote>Inspection of the interior of the factory building is an exercise in frustration to a historian. I have never seen a building so utterly devoid of clues or artifacts or interest. There was not a partition, a workbench, a sign painted on the wall, anything that gave a clue as to the original occupant of the building. I'm not sure there was even paint on the wall. Moreover, even the first floor was gone! One of the post-Artizan owners of the property needed a higher ceiling, so he removed the first floor, making the basement ceiling the underside of the second level. Mr. Wagner was generous with his time and provided some interesting background on the building. He moved his business to the site in 1986. He said the previous owner was a pallet manufacturer who had gone bankrupt. The elevator had been sold off for income. Some of the (hardwood?) flooring had been removed by someone for the construction of a summer home. There were two boilers associated with the building, but evidently not within the four-story structure. Both have been removed and one boiler room is now used as a compressor room.</blockquote> 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 Artizan letterhead and price sheet (HST, 1929).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1929 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/2158c0ec2b5d995c152004debeee17d4.jpg 88476f25f834c28f62604ddc9a90ee52 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 Creo-Dipt, Weatherbest Stained Shingles Description An account of the resource AI: By the 1920s, North Tonawanda is a minor empire of stained shingles, dominated by two closely linked firms: Creo-Dipt and Weatherbest. Creo-Dipt begins in 1908 as the Standard Stained Shingle Company in Rochester, developing “creo-dipped” shingles whose creosote treatment is meant to lock color into the wood; the company later relocates its headquarters to North Tonawanda and adopts the Creo-Dipt name. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) From a modest start it builds a national business in chemically treated shingles and stains, heavily advertised in trade journals and glossy catalogs and shipped from multiple plants, including major works in North Tonawanda and Seattle. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) Weatherbest grows out of a stained-shingle concern organized in 1913 (initially called the Transfer Stained Shingle Company), later headquartered on Main Street in North Tonawanda; by the mid-1920s it is marketing red-cedar “Weatherbest” shingles and plan books that promise to turn “old houses into charming homes,” positioning stained shingles as both modern siding and a cheap way to remodel tired frame houses. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][2]) Through the 1920s both companies bombard architects, builders and homeowners with catalogs and national advertising; Creo-Dipt leads the field, with Weatherbest usually ranked a close second in sales. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) In 1937 the two lines are formally pulled together: Creo-Dipt absorbs Weatherbest’s shingle and stain business, Weatherbest continues as a division, and the combined concern carries on selling Western red-cedar stained shingles and related finishes across the United States for several more decades. ([mycompanies.fandom.com][1]) [1]: https://mycompanies.fandom.com/wiki/Creo-Dipt_Company "Creo-Dipt Company | MyCompanies Wiki | Fandom" [2]: https://mycompanies.fandom.com/wiki/Weatherbest_Stained_Shingle_Company "Weatherbest Stained Shingle Company | MyCompanies Wiki | Fandom" In November 1929 Weatherbest Island Street facility nearly wiped out by a disastrous blaze that does an estimated $250,000 in damage and destroys 100 carloads of shingles. Creo-Dipt used creosote to hold the color within the shingle. 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 Weatherbest, letterhead (1929-12-30).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1929-12-30 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/f0a45854438089406fe0d2eac54a40fc.jpg 7fb37cb2a358a94cbe11c6b35c7cd907 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/a84025fcd7db962ccf8b4bf34450a3ad.jpg 1b2cac530ec079673214f6891b16ba5b 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 Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Wurlitzer: 100 Years of Musical Achievement. Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. Chicago, Illinois. 1956. Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="../../../custom/cover/52.jpg" alt="The signature tower of the North Tonawanda plant and occasional headquarters." /> The signature tower of the North Tonawanda plant and occasional headquarters. Postcard, c.1940. Its iconic tower has presided over Sawyer's Creek and Martinsville for over 100 years. The sprawling industrial campus left behind by the world-famous Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company produced merry-go-round organs, band organs, church organs, theater organs and jukeboxes that have left an indelible mark on the world, and on generations of North Tonawandans. Wurlitzer founder Rudolph Wurlitzer (1831-1914) was a German immigrant who (after stops in New Jersey and Philadelphia) landed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1854 at the age of 23. He worked for a bank, and down the street was a musical retail store. His father, Christian, was a successful music retailer in Germany, and Rudolph's experience told him the Ohio store's instruments were of poor quality, and priced too high. In 1856 he begins importing quality musical instruments from his family in Germany to sell at a profit in American retail stores. The business grows; Wurlitzer begins making instruments themselves for the U. S. military and for retail. The company branches out into "automatic" musical instruments, such as music boxes and player-pianos. Rudolph's three sons, Howard, Rudolph H., and Farny become involved along the way, and take on aspects of the growing family business. The youngest son, Farny, is sent to North Tonawanda to run the former <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/24">de Kleist Musical Instrument Mfg. Co.</a> shortly after it is purchased by Wurlitzer in 1908. (de Kleist was building player pianos and band organs for Wurlitzer and others since 1893). Farny brings eccentric English inventor Robert Hope-Jones to the plant in 1910, initiating the worldwide success of the "Mighty Wurlitzer" theater organ, which provides sound for the silent films of the day, and entertainment in its own right. This business evaporates when sound comes to movies, and electrical sound amplification permits musical entertainment to be furnished to venues of all types much less expensively. When the Wurlitzer company finds itself overextended in the wake of the Great Depression, Farny fights to keep the North Tonawanda facility open. In 1934 he strikes a deal with Homer Capehart to manufacture his automatic phonograph, which becomes the iconic Wurlitzer jukebox. Under his leadership the company also produces a successful line of electronic organs for home use, and the North Tonawanda plant becomes the flagship of the Wurlitzer factories, with 3,000 employees. After his death in 1972, jukebox and organ production are phased out, leaving 200 employees in 1974. By 1975, all manufacturing at the North Tonawanda plant is stopped, and by August 1976, all company activities are removed to other locations. 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 Wurlitzer letter to U. S. Indian School, letterhead (1931-01-02).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1931-01-02 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/873f78169e6e9d637946eb17bdcb87e6.jpg 6f2096d409926c350617c00fa3d33b91 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 Letter (Civil War Centennial Commission of the Tonawandas, 1965).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1965 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/bf42c4be46c1a2220cfe9b72e90a285c.jpg 60bd440eea440ab525bbc525e6e2c443 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 Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Wurlitzer: 100 Years of Musical Achievement. Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. Chicago, Illinois. 1956. Description An account of the resource <img class="cover" src="../../../custom/cover/52.jpg" alt="The signature tower of the North Tonawanda plant and occasional headquarters." /> The signature tower of the North Tonawanda plant and occasional headquarters. Postcard, c.1940. Its iconic tower has presided over Sawyer's Creek and Martinsville for over 100 years. The sprawling industrial campus left behind by the world-famous Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company produced merry-go-round organs, band organs, church organs, theater organs and jukeboxes that have left an indelible mark on the world, and on generations of North Tonawandans. Wurlitzer founder Rudolph Wurlitzer (1831-1914) was a German immigrant who (after stops in New Jersey and Philadelphia) landed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1854 at the age of 23. He worked for a bank, and down the street was a musical retail store. His father, Christian, was a successful music retailer in Germany, and Rudolph's experience told him the Ohio store's instruments were of poor quality, and priced too high. In 1856 he begins importing quality musical instruments from his family in Germany to sell at a profit in American retail stores. The business grows; Wurlitzer begins making instruments themselves for the U. S. military and for retail. The company branches out into "automatic" musical instruments, such as music boxes and player-pianos. Rudolph's three sons, Howard, Rudolph H., and Farny become involved along the way, and take on aspects of the growing family business. The youngest son, Farny, is sent to North Tonawanda to run the former <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/24">de Kleist Musical Instrument Mfg. Co.</a> shortly after it is purchased by Wurlitzer in 1908. (de Kleist was building player pianos and band organs for Wurlitzer and others since 1893). Farny brings eccentric English inventor Robert Hope-Jones to the plant in 1910, initiating the worldwide success of the "Mighty Wurlitzer" theater organ, which provides sound for the silent films of the day, and entertainment in its own right. This business evaporates when sound comes to movies, and electrical sound amplification permits musical entertainment to be furnished to venues of all types much less expensively. When the Wurlitzer company finds itself overextended in the wake of the Great Depression, Farny fights to keep the North Tonawanda facility open. In 1934 he strikes a deal with Homer Capehart to manufacture his automatic phonograph, which becomes the iconic Wurlitzer jukebox. Under his leadership the company also produces a successful line of electronic organs for home use, and the North Tonawanda plant becomes the flagship of the Wurlitzer factories, with 3,000 employees. After his death in 1972, jukebox and organ production are phased out, leaving 200 employees in 1974. By 1975, all manufacturing at the North Tonawanda plant is stopped, and by August 1976, all company activities are removed to other locations. 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 Invitation to anniversary tea in memory of Farny Wurlitzer at DeGraff Hospital, letter (1973-11-27).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-11-27 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/bc98cb7b57647e2244c694b732ccb3c0.jpg f74018aec5cf249069ba51fdc5c0b461 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 Sports Center (100 Ridge Road) Description An account of the resource In April 1974 construction began on the massive Twin City Racquet Club / Tonawanda Sports Center complex on Ridge Road in North Tonawanda, behind the high school. The 6-acre recreational--whose budget ballooned from $2 to over $5 million-- were co-owned by Drs. Dudley Turecki and Syde Taheri. The ice hockey pavilion (now NT Inter-Church Food) boasted twin indoor ice rinks, one of which hosted the North American Hockey League <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/9">Buffalo Norsemen</a> for one season, 1975-76. The Buffalo Sabres would practice there for a short time following the Norsemen's abrupt exit from the league (1977 def.). It was meant to be the home rink of the Junior A League team <a href="https://www.hockeydb.com/stte/buffalo-tondas-5056.html">The Tondas</a>, and was later known as "Tonawanda Ice Time." NTHS played at least some games there. In December 1980, the Jr. Sabres play Grimsby there, and UB's Buffalo hockey Bulls played there. Also figure skating, community lessons, at least one broomball match, and the hilariously titled 1976 bicentennial extravaganza, "<a href="https://nthistory.com/items/show/3658">America On Ice</a>." In January 1978, the Rec Dept holds second annual Winter Carnival there, w snowball fights, cross-country skiing, ice sculptures. Apparently another "Tondas," Junior C amateur team, plays there in 1978. Headquarters of Lumberjack Television Cable System. The tennis complex (now Sportsplex) was first called the Twin City Racquet Club. Its two steel buildings each contained six full, state-of-the-art tennis courts, and covered over 85K square feet. Eventually it would boast a pro shop, a second floor banquet facility, and men's and women's locker rooms replete with lounges and saunas. When it was built, it dwarfed rival facilities in Orchard Park and Williamsville. After a strong start, the club lost direction by the end of the decade. In 1980 the MISL's (Major Indoor Soccer League) Buffalo Stallions rented half the facility for a practice space, replacing four tennis courts in the southern building with an indoor soccer field. Seeing an opportunity, in August 1981 the Stallions purchased the entire facility, and it was rechristened Stallion Soccer World. They sold Stallions merchandise and pro soccer gear. The Stallions ran their own wildly popular indoor soccer leagues, with participants ranging in age from 8 to middle age, topping 160 teams in 1982. The last two tennis courts in the southern building were replaced when a mini soccer field was added. 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 Tonawanda Sports Center, illustrated letterhead (1976-11-29).jpg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1976-11-29 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/2c164a479172e86102f829e90dd0b056.jpeg 3acfa9eadc6cafb14f28b37bffdf52d8 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/d175495e1b8b4137cdff2b76a023252e.jpeg e70dd9a80ebfd968ee1f020e77ceb0cf https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/30b46e77598fb7322d0c12cd02dec0d3.jpeg 92b96523948d36411e7f7199b30c172c https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/fa7fa5fe601697bd251d6f97f13d843c.jpeg 7edc2d59386e168dca1fd63b968c1278 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/61a2559ab2619b1704443184e45f9c17.jpeg e194dd60f1610b6d474dbf3c23e912c9 https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/bb2f3e12c35d516226c53082f543e03f.jpeg 4d2617d3e1740e9125c4d2b47df4bf16 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 Letter from Wm Rice to Lathrop and Gerber of Tonawanda, suspension bridge (1839-02-23).jpeg Description An account of the resource Could this letter be a contractor or engineer sourcing material for the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, which would be completed eight years later, in 1948? It comes from eBay, described thus by the seller: <blockquote>It deals with William Rice of New York, who is writing to Lathrop and Gerber in Tonawanda, New York in 1839 to discuss drafts and planks of wood and boats, and building a suspension bridge someplace in New York.</blockquote> letter https://www.nthistory.com/files/original/3dad0e9b12342558f5ecd73d80bcea17.pdf 256ea8fe771c24216af29b04b31fec7e 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 (Some) John Sweeney correspondence with War Department over disability suffered at Fort George in November 1813 (1813–1821).pdf Description An account of the resource This is probably not the famous "Colonel John Sweeney." This John Sweeney in 1813 joined Capt. Ransom Harmon’s company of the 13th New York Militia—possibly as a volunteer within a drafted detachment—and was mustered into U.S. service at Fort George in Upper Canada. There, in November 1813, he suffered a debilitating hernia after falling into a cellar while returning from picket duty. Although multiple comrades and a surgeon attested to his injury and honorable service, the War Department ultimately denied his 1821 pension application on technical grounds, ruling the injury occurred outside the line of duty. He would have been present at the notorious burning of Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake). Colonel John Sweeney, in contrast, served the year before in Dox’s Light Infantry under Gen. Van Rensselaer, where he participated in the ill-fated 1812 Battle of Queenston and reportedly sustained a knee wound that left him lame the rest of his life (obit). <hr /> Affidavit of John Sweeney – August 31, 1818 Just previous to the 3rd of October last, Mr. E. of Youngstown being at my house, I enquired of him respecting the services of Mr. Sweeney during the present campaign. He stated that Capt. Sweeney had joined the militia in the early part of the campaign (probably about the 1st of September last) and performed duty until late in the year. On my farther inquiry, he observed that he joined the United States army as a volunteer or militia man; that his detachment was attached to several drafted men; was mustered into the U.S. service and formed part of the regular Militia; and performed his duty at Fort George. That he continued to do militia duty at Fort George in the service of the United States (the army at that post being under the command of Gen. George McClure) for about two months and until the destruction of the town of Newark, when he was again drafted together with the said detachment; that he did not procure a discharge from the commanding officer at that time, although he was offered one by Capt. R. Hannon, the said officer offering this believing it would be of no service to him. That about the 10th day of the said month of November, being under the pickets, upwards to the left of the barracks and on the return from the forts where the said guards were stationed, he the said John Sweeney stopped at an uninhabited house the floor of which at the door had been taken away, which not being perceived by this deponent, being in the dusk of the evening he fell into the cellar, which occasioned a rupture, which prevented him from doing duty for 7 or 8 days after, and that he was unfit for duty about a month. ...prevented his doing duty from and after the next morning until seven or eight days thereafter— That it was not at that time cured and that he has ever since at different times experienced great pain and inconvenience therefrom—That it at present disables him from attending to his customary business— That for his services in the militia mentioned, he has received his pay from Capt. Harmon. Harmon says that Joseph McClure was Paymaster of the said Regiment at that time. John Sweeney Sworn to and subscribed this 31st day of August 1818 before me, Ch. Townsend <hr /> Affidavit of James Campbell – August 31, 1818 State of New York, Niagara County James Campbell of Buffalo in said County being duly sworn sayeth that he was well acquainted with John Sweeney in the months of November and December of the year One thousand eight hundred and thirteen—That the said John at that time was a private in Capt. Ransom Harmon’s Company of drafted Militia—in which this deponent acted as Orderly Sergeant—That he well remembers that said company was stationed at Fort George in Upper Canada, and the said John Sweeney while there as this deponent was informed and verily believes received a fall, the effects of which prevented his attending to duty for several days as further sayeth not. James Campbell Sworn to and subscribed this 31st day of August 1818 Before me, Ch. Townsend <hr /> Affidavit of John Robson – August 31, 1818 State of New York, Niagara County John Robson of Buffalo in said County being duly sworn sayeth that he was well acquainted with John Sweeney in the months of November and December of the year One thousand eight hundred and thirteen; that the said Sweeney was then a private in Capt. Ransom Harmon’s Company enlisted then in the United States service and stationed at Fort George in Upper Canada. That while in said service the said John Sweeney was disabled and did no duty for several days in consequence of a fall, as this deponent then understood and verily believes; that this deponent was a private in said company at same time and further sayeth not. John Robson Sworn to and subscribed this 31st day of August 1818 Before me, Ch. Townsend <hr /> Affidavit of Capt. Ransom Harmon – September 1, 1818 State of New York, Niagara County Ransom Harmon being duly sworn sayeth that in the month of November 1813 a detachment was made from the 13th Reg. of New York Militia to serve with the U.S. Army then stationed at Fort George (U.C.); that this deponent commanded said detachment, then being a Captain of Militia, and that John Sweeney served as a private in said corps which was detached to serve one month, but that it was nearly six weeks before it was dismissed. That the said John Sweeney served faithfully until said dismissal but that this deponent did not give him a written discharge, not being applied for by him & further sayeth not. Ransom Harmon, Late Capt. Sworn to and subscribed this 1st day of Sept. 1818 Before me, Ch. Townsend <hr /> Affidavit of Surgeons Ebenezer Johnson and John E. Marshall – September 2, 1818 State of New York, Niagara County We, John E. Marshall and Ebenezer Johnson, being duly sworn say that we are resident Surgeons of the town of Buffalo in said County—That on the request of John Sweeney they have examined his person, and find him afflicted with a rupture or inguinal hernia, which must necessarily incapacitate him in a great measure from labor; that he is by profession a tailor and these deponents believe him to be disabled one half. Ebenezer Johnson John E. Marshall Sworn to and subscribed this 2nd day of Sept. 1818 Before me, Ch. Townsend <hr /> Affidavit of Benjamin Purcell – September 2, 1818 State of New York, Niagara County Benjamin Purcell of Ischua, residing in the County of Cattaraugus in said State being duly sworn sayeth that in the month of November in the year 1813 he belonged to Capt. Ransom Harmon’s Company of New York Militia drafted into the U.S. service and stationed at Fort George; that he was acquainted with John Sweeney also of said detachment, and this deponent well remembers that while in the said service the said John Sweeney fell by accident into the cellar of a dwelling house which prevented his doing duty for several days; that this deponent assisted in getting him out of the said cellar and that he knows that it injured him considerably and further sayeth not. Benjamin Purcell Sworn to and subscribed this 2nd day of Sept. 1818 Before me, Ch. Townsend, Judge of Niagara Com. Pleas <hr /> Certification of Judge Townsend's Authority – September 2, 1818 State of New York, Niagara County, Clerk’s Office I, Frederick B. Merrill, do certify that Charles Townsend, Esq., before whom the annexed affidavits were taken, was at the time one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of said County, and that the signatures thereto are of his proper handwriting. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the county this second day of September 1818. F. B. Merrill, Clerk of the County aforesaid <hr /> Letter from John Sweeney Jr. to Rep. Nathaniel Allen – February 11, 1821 Geneva, 11th Feb. 1821 Sir, I take the liberty of enclosing to you the enclosed papers, and request of you to present them to the Hon. Secretary of War, or to the proper authority appointed to receive applications for pensions. Your prompt attention to this business will confer a favor upon me. The claim I think a good one, the applicant is my father. The facts stated are true, and I think sufficiently proved. With much respect I remain, Dear Sir, your obt. servant, John Sweeney To: Nathaniel Allen, Esq. Member of Congress, Washington City <hr /> War Department Decision on Pension Claim – June 27, 1821 John Sweeney, late a drafted militia man of the 13th New York Regiment, served U.S. service. It appears that this applicant entered the service on the 10th Nov. 1813 and was marched to Fort George; that about the 15th of said month he was ordered on a Piquet Guard; that he left the Barracks and on the way from thence to the post (where the said guard was stationed), he the said J. Sweeney stopped at an uninhabited house the floor of which at the door had been taken away, which not being perceived by this deponent, being in the dusk of the evening, he fell into the cellar, which occasioned a rupture, which prevented him from doing duty for 7 or 8 days after, and that he was unfit for duty about a month. The above is proved by the affidavits of the claimant & several of his fellow soldiers, but the Captain in his certificate of the service of the said applicant does not mention anything of the injury he is said to have received. Pension Office, 27 June 1821 For decision of Mr. Edwards—whether this applicant can be considered as having been in the line of his duty when he entered the house (for what purpose he does not state)? Decision: The claimant is not entitled to a pension. He could not have been in the line of his duty when he was disabled. Inadmissible. See letter to Hon. Allen, Richmond, Ontario Co., New York. 29 June 1821