Tonawanda (city), New York
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- For other places with a similar name, see Tonawanda, New York.
| Tonawanda, New York | |
.png/154px-Erie-Tonawanda_(city).png) |
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| Coordinates: | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Erie |
| Government | |
| - Mayor | Ronald Pilozzi (D) |
| Area | |
| - City | 4.1 sq mi (10.6 km²) |
| - Land | 3.8 sq mi (9.8 km²) |
| - Water | 0.3 sq mi (0.8 km²) |
| Elevation | 571 ft (174 m) |
| Population (2000)[1] | |
| - City | 16,136 |
| - Density | 3,942.7/sq mi (1,522.3/km²) |
| - Metro | 1,254,066 |
| Time zone | EST (UTC−5) |
| - Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC−4) |
| Area code(s) | 716 |
| FIPS code | 36-74166 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0979550 |
| Website: Tonawanda, NY | |
Tonawanda (Tahnawá•teh[2] in Tuscarora) is a city in Erie County, New York in the USA. The population was 16,136 at the 2000 census.
The City of Tonawanda is at the northern edge of Erie County, across the Erie Canal from Niagara County. It is north of Buffalo, New York.
Contents |
[edit] History
Tonawanda began as a hamlet with the settlement of Henry Anguish who built a log home in 1808 and a tavern in 1811 at the mouth of Tonawanda Creek where it empties into the Niagara River. The hamlet grew slowly until the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. The lumber industry provided economic opportunity and the two Tonawandas on either side of Tonawanda Creek became a leading lumber processing center by the end of the 19th century. Tonawanda incorporated as a village in mid century and as a city in 1904. It was formerly part of the Town of Tonawanda.
--Spaulding Fibre--
Spaulding Fibre was a manufacturer of leatherboard, transformer board, vulcanized fibre, bakelite (under the trade name Spauldite) and Filawound (fiber glass) tube. It operated in Tonawanda from 1911 to 1992 and became a major employer and contributer to Tonawanda's economic life. The origins of the the company can be traced to a leatherboard mill in Townsend Harbor, MA founded in 1873 by Jonas and his brother Waldo Spaulding. Jonas and Waldo did business as The Spaulding Brothers Company. Jonas Spaulding had three sons: Leon C., Huntley N. , and Rolland H. . (Rolland and Huntley would later each serve terms as governor of New Hampshire) Jonas expanded further into the leatherboard business with mills at Milton and North Rochester, NH to allow his sons to join him in the business. The New Hampshire mills operated under the J. Spaulding and Sons banner. Jonas died in 1900 shortly before the North Rochester mill became operational. The sons continued to operate these mills sucessfully and bought the Townsend Harbor mill under the J. Spaulding and Sons banner in 1902.
The success continued and the three brothers added a vulcanized fibre operation in Tonawanda, NY in 1911 and a fourth leatherboard mill in Milton, NH (second in this community) in 1913. Tonawanda Mayor Charles Zuckmaier influenced the Spaulding brothers’ decision to build their new facility in Tonawanda.[3] On May 23, 1911 the plans were announced that the new facility would be built on Julia Phol’s farm at 310 Wheeler Street. The official ground breaking occurred on July 17, 1911 for the new plant which was to represent a $600,000 investment by J. Spaulding and Sons Company. Operations at the plant began on April 1, 1912 with 40 employees. The designed daily capacity of the plant at that time was five tons of fibre sheeting and one ton of fibre tubing. The first of the three Spaulding brothers to die was Leon. Leon died in Tonawanda, NY on September 11, 1924[4] while overseeing an expansion of the facility there that included the addition of a continuous vulcanized fibre making line.
Around 1927 the name of the company changed from J. Spaulding and Sons to the Spaulding Fibre Company. In the 1930's a second product was added at the Tonawanda plant under the trade name Spauldite. Spauldite was originally a "me too" phenol formaldehyde resin material made to compete with Bakelite. However, the trademark now owned by Spaulding Composites can be applied to laminates made with other natural or synthetic resins as well. On March 14, 1942 Rolland became the second Spaulding brother to die. He died at the Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NH, an institution that benefitted from the philanthropy of the Spaulding Family. Huntley Spaulding was the last son of Jonas Spaulding to die. He died on November 11, 1955. At this time the Spaulding Fibre Company became part of a charitable trust Huntley and his only sister Marion S. Potter had set up to disperse their remaining wealth within 15 years of the last to die. Marion S. Potter followed her brother in death on September 27, 1957.[5]
The Spaulding Fibre Company prospered for a time under the auspices of the charitable trust. With the momentum of the family ownership and the shelter of the charitable trust the Tonawanda plant completed in 1956 an expansion that doubled the paper mill and the vulcanized fibre making capacity of the plant. Also the importance of the Wheeler Street operation to the overall company was further recognized when the corporate offices were relocated there from Rochester, NH. In the 1960's a third product line was added at the Tonawanda plant. That product line was Filawound (fiber glass) tube. The fiftieth anniversary of the Wheeler Street Plant was marked by a special 22 page section in the Tonawanda News. In the special section it was reported that Spaulding’s Wheeler Street Plant covered 610,000 square feet, employed 1500 workers, and had a payroll of $9,000,000. The Tonawanda News also reported the company paid $153,818 in city taxes that year and was Tonawanda’s largest tax payer. The plant was nearing its peak but there were still more expansion to come. At the time demolition began on the plant in 2006 it was said to have a footprint of 860,000 square feet.[6]
In 1966 the charitable trust sold the Spaulding Fibre Company to Monogram Industries and the Tonawanda plant began a slow decline to an abandoned brown field site. In 1984 Monogram Industries sold the Spaulding Fibre Company to Nortek. In 1988 Nortek changed the company name to Spaulding Composites. Spaulding Composites closed the Tonawanda plant on August 24, 1992. At the time it closed employment had declined to 300. Since the closure of the Tonawanda plant Spaulding Composites has twice filed bankruptcy and the plant site has fallen into disrepair and became a community eyesore. In 2006 demolition of the derelict site began and was punctuated by the felling of the 250 foot tall smoke stack that dominated the plant site on December 21, 2006.[7] This event is document with a handful of videos on you-tube. As of the writing of this article demolition is not complete, but the city of Tonawanda anticipates reclaiming the 43 acre site for development by the end of the decade.
[edit] Geography
Tonawanda is located at (43.01119, -78.877399)[8].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.1 square miles (10.6 km²), of which, 3.8 square miles (9.8 km²) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.8 km²) of it (7.34%) is water.
[edit] Adjacent Cities & Towns
Niagara County,City of North Tonawanda - north
Town of Tonawanda - west/south/east
Town of Grand Island across the Niagara River - northwest
[edit] Neighborhoods and locations in the City of Tonawanda
- Gastown -- A neighborhood in the northeast corner of Tonawanda, bordering the Erie Canal. Its name comes from the Gas Light Co., which was built on Long's Point, home of the historical Long's Homestead.
- "The Hill" -- A region centered around Tonawanda High School, named so for its slightly elevated topography when compared with the rest of the relatively flat city. It is also known as Clay Hill as it was formed by a terminal glacial moraine that deposited the clay that forms the hill. The area near the high school once was the home of some popular clay tennis courts for the city.
- Millstream -- A neighborhood on the eastern side of the city. It is named for a stream that formerly flowed through the area, but has since been mostly pushed underground.
- Ives -- a local skatepark, hockey rink, soccor field, and tennis court in the middle of tonawanda. Starting out as a small blue kiddy pool, was redone to become a skatepark and other things. in the warmer part of the year, it is the main hangout area for local sport playing teenagers.
The City of Tonawanda is called by many of its residents the "C.O.T." C.O.T is used to clarify to people that they mean the City of Tonawanda and not the Town of Tonawanda.
[edit] Major Highways in the City of Tonawanda
New York State Route 265 (Main St., Seymour St., River Rd.) North-South Roadway from the Tonawanda town line (south) north through the city and over the Erie Canal/Tonawanda Creek into North Tonawanda.
New York State Route 266 (Niagara St.), East-West Roadway from in the city that parallels the Niagara River from the Tonawanda town line (west) through the city to its east end at Seymour St./River Rd. (NY 265) intersection in the city.
New York State Route 384 (Delaware St.), North-South Road from the Tonawanda town line at the south, north through the city and to North Tonawanda by the way of Main St. across the Canal.
New York State Route 425 (Twin Cities Memorial Highway.) North-South Highway through the east part of town from its south end at Interstate 290 north to North Tonawanda once it crosses over the Canal. (This is a major transportation route for traffic to-and-from North Tonawanda and beyond).
[edit] Culture
[edit] Canal Fest
In conjunction with the City of North Tonawanda, the City of Tonawanda celebrates an annual Canal Festival. For one week, members of both communities celebrate Tonawanda's historic location on the western end of the Erie Canal in the largest festival of its kind. The Festival began in 1983 when Freemasons in the area, in conjunction with several state and regional leaders, set out to promote the businesses of the Tonawandas, provide fund raising opportunities for local non-profit organizations, and provide recreational activities for the citizens of both Tonawanda and North Tonawanda.
Though the event only took place on the north side of the canal the first year, it soon grew into both cities. Today, the Canal fest is organized by the Canal Fest of the Tonawandas Inc., a non-profit organization. It's estimated that over one-hundred fifty thousand people attend the Canal Fest each year, though an accurate number is impossible to obtain since attending the event is entirely free of charge and there are no turnstiles to measure crowds. The Canal Fest is the largest event held along the Erie Canal today and is in the top percentile of New York State events.
[edit] Rivalry With North Tonawanda
[edit] Football
Football is one of the most celebrated sports in Tonawanda and the Tonawanda High School Warriors football team have existed for almost 100 years. The biggest tradition is the T-NT game, which generally takes place in mid-October and is played against the North Tonawanda football team, the Lumberjacks. Thousands of fans attend the game, some of which are past players.
[edit] Gateway Harbor
Also in conjunction with the city of North Tonawanda, Tonawanda is home to Gateway Harbor, a public park that runs along the Erie Canal just before it joins the Niagara River. During summer months, local boaters are free to dock at the park, and the area becomes quite popular during the free concerts set up by the local chamber of commerce. Various local businesses sponsor a series of concerts on both the Tonawanda and North Tonawanda sides of the park.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census[9] of 2000, there were 16,136 people, 6,741 households, and 4,361 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,252.9 people per square mile (1,643.8/km²). There were 7,119 housing units at an average density of 1,876.3/sq mi (725.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.08% White, 0.42% Black or African American, 0.46% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.17% from other races, and 0.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.89% of the population.
There were 6,741 households out of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.9% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.3% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.01.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.9% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $37,523, and the median income for a family was $46,242. Males had a median income of $36,980 versus $24,314 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,789. About 4.9% of families and 7.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.4% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Tonawanda in Popular Culture
Tonawanda is mentioned as the home of the fictional character Louis Philip Perew, in the alternate history world created by artist and author couple Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett. In this history, created for the graphic novels Boilerplate and Femopolis, Perew creates an electromechanical man, called the Automatic Man, in the late 19th century. [10] (At the time of writing, in February 2007, Femopolis has not been published.)
In the HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers, platoon member Warren 'Skip' Muck states that he is from Tonawanda and that he swam across the Niagara River. Skip Muck died in the Battle of Bastogne and is on the City of Tonawanda memorial for soldiers who perished in WWII.
In the 1999 film "Saving Private Ryan", the real life character Private James Ryan who is rescued by Tom Hanks is from Tonawanda. "James Ryan" is in reality Sgt. Fritz (Frederick) Niland. Fritz lost two brothers, Robert and Preston on D-day. Edward Niland (a third brother) was listed as killed in action in the Pacific, but was found in a Japanese POW camp at the end of the war. Fritz and Skip Muck were best friends and enlisted in the 101st together in 1942.
[edit] References
- ^ Metropolitan & Central City Population: 2000-2005. Demographia.com, accessed September 3, 2006.
- ^ Rudes, B. Tuscarora English Dictionary Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999
- ^ Tonawanda News; "SPAULDING FIBRE: From prosperity to decline"; Dave Hill;January 16, 2008 12:26 am
- ^ Spaulding Mausoleum on Rockcraft lodge Estate grounds in East Sebago, Me
- ^ "The orange tree and the inchworm : an abbreviated history of the Spaulding-Potter Charitable Trusts"; Eugene C. Struckhoff; Concord, NH; 1973
- ^ http://www.ecidany.com/news.asp?ID=66
- ^ The Buffalo News; "Demolition marks end of era: Smokestack at old Spaulding Fibre plant comes a-tumbling down"; Harold Mcneil; 12/22/2006
- ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ Louis Perew's Automaton. Retrieved on 2006-06-01.
[edit] External References
[edit] External links
- Tonawanda (city), New York is at coordinates Coordinates:
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