Tonawanda (city), New York
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Tonawanda (formally ''City of Tonawanda'') is a
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
in Erie County,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
, United States. The population was 15,130 at the 2010 census. It is at the northern edge of Erie County, south across the
Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing ...
( Tonawanda Creek) from
North Tonawanda North Tonawanda is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 31,568 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is named after Tonawanda Creek, its south bo ...
, east of Grand Island, and north of Buffalo. It is part of the
Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area Buffalo Niagara may refer to a variety of places and things in the vicinity of Buffalo, New York, and Niagara Falls. Geography *Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area *Buffalo Niagara Region Infrastructure *Buffalo Niagara International Airport ...
.


History

The city's name is from the word ''Tahnawá•teh'' in
Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following: First nations and Native American people and culture * Tuscarora people **'' Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960) * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people * ...
meaning "confluent stream" Post-Revolutionary War white settlement at Tonawanda began with Henry Anguish, who built a log home in 1808. He added to the hamlet in 1811 with a tavern, both on the south side of Tonawanda Creek where it empties into the
Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York in the United States (on the east). There are diffe ...
. The hamlet grew slowly until the opening of the
Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing ...
, completed in the course of the creek in 1825. The Town of Tonawanda was incorporated in 1836. The Erie Canal and the railroads that soon followed it provided economic opportunity. By the end of the 19th century, both sides of the canal were devoted to businesses as part of a leading lumber processing center. In the mid-19th century, the business center of Tonawanda was incorporated as a village within the town. The village united in a corporation with North Tonawanda across the canal. This corporation fell apart, and in 1904 the village was incorporated as the City of Tonawanda. On September 26, 1898, a tornado struck the City of Tonawanda. After crossing over the river from Grand Island, the tornado damaged the old Murray School as well as several homes along Franklin and Kohler streets. Its worst havoc was wreaked along Fuller Avenue, where a dozen homes were severely damaged, several being leveled to the ground. No one was killed by the fierce storm, but there were numerous injuries.


Goose Island

From the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, a section of Tonawanda was known as Goose Island. Goose Island was a man-made island in the Niagara River formed by the Erie Canal. Goose Island was a triangular piece of land bordered on one side by the Niagara River, on the second side by the Tonawanda Creek, and on the third by the Erie Canal. It was then famous with seamen the world over as the terminus of the Erie Canal and for the Goose Island girls. The Goose Island Section of Tonawanda had many cheap boarding houses, cheap hotels, bars, and houses of ill repute. Canalers often wintered over on Goose Island. Goose Island was known as a bad section of Tonawanda, with drunkenness, brawling, and bawdy displays being commonplace. The gentrification of Goose Island began with the decline of the lumbering port business in Tonawanda and the building of a boxboard mill there on the island. Then the canal was motorized, eliminating mules and many canal men. Next the section of the canal from Tonawanda to Buffalo was abandoned in 1918. That section of the canal was filled in and Goose Island was no longer an island. The establishments in the Goose Island section of Tonawanda came under community pressure in the 1920s and 1930s and were closed, with more of the land there being given over to the boxboard mill. In the 1970s the boxboard mill closed and was razed along with many remaining Goose Island structures. Goose Island street names Tonawanda, First, Clay and Chestnut disappeared. At the turn of the millennium waterfront dwellings were built along the Niagara River, completing the gentrification of this area.


Spaulding Fibre

Spaulding Fibre became a manufacturer of leatherboard (made from leather scraps and wood pulp), transformer board, vulcanized fibre,
bakelite Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, better known as Bakelite ( ), is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed ...
(under the trade name Spauldite) and Filawound (
fiberglass Fiberglass ( American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...
) tube. Operating in Tonawanda from 1911 to 1992, it became the major employer in the city. The company was founded in 1873 with a leatherboard mill by Jonas Spaulding and his brother Waldo in
Townsend Harbor, Massachusetts Townsend Harbor is a village in Townsend, Massachusetts, containing Harbor Pond dammed from the Squannacook River. At this location Jonas Spaulding and his brother Waldo started a mill in 1873 that made leatherboard (composed of leather scraps a ...
. They did business as The Spaulding Brothers Company. Jonas Spaulding had three sons: Leon C., Huntley N. and Rolland H. With industry expanding, Jonas established leatherboard mills at Milton and
North Rochester, New Hampshire North Rochester is a community in the city of Rochester, New Hampshire, United States, and is the site of the third leatherboard mill built by Jonas Spaulding. Jonas' sons were Leon C., Huntley N. and Rolland H., of whom Huntley N. and Rolland ...
, in part to allow his sons to join him in the business. The New Hampshire mills operated under the name J. Spaulding and Sons. After Jonas Spaulding's death in 1900, his sons (by then living in New Hampshire, where they had corporate headquarters at Rochester) continued to operate these mills successfully. They brought the Townsend Harbor mill under the J. Spaulding and Sons banner in 1902. With continued success, the three Spaulding brothers added a vulcanized fibre operation in Tonawanda, New York in 1911. They added a fourth leatherboard mill in Milton (second in this community) in 1913. The mayor of Tonawanda, Charles Zuckmaier, had solicited the Spaulding brothers’ business in Tonawanda. A ground-breaking ceremony was held on July 17, 1911, for the new plant, a $600,000 investment by J. Spaulding and Sons. Operations began on April 1, 1912, with 40 employees. The daily capacity of the plant at the time was five tons of fibre sheeting and one ton of fibre tubing. Around 1924, the sons changed the name of the company to the Spaulding Fibre Company. In the 1930s, they added a second product at the Tonawanda plant: Spauldite, a "me too" phenol formaldehyde
resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on nat ...
material made to compete with
Bakelite Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, better known as Bakelite ( ), is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed ...
. The trademark now owned by Spaulding Composites can be applied to laminates made with other natural or synthetic resins as well. After Huntley Spaulding, the last of the three brothers, died in November 1955, the Spaulding Fibre Company became part of a charitable trust previously set up by Huntley and his only sister, Marion S. Potter. The trust was created to disburse their remaining wealth within 15 years of the death of the last sibling. Marion S. Potter died on September 27, 1957. The company in Tonawanda flourished under foremen, superintendents and workers from the local blue collar workforce. It also attracted new residents who came for the jobs. One was Richard Spencer, who left the oil fields of Bradford, Pennsylvania, to be a superintendent for two decades. He managed through several labor strikes and periods of economic unrest for the company. In 1956, the Tonawanda plant completed an expansion that doubled the paper mill and the vulcanized fibre-making capacity of the plant. In addition, after the death of Huntley Spaulding, corporate offices relocated to Wheeler Street from Rochester, New Hampshire. In the 1960s, the Tonawanda plant added a third product line, Filawound (
fiberglass Fiberglass ( American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...
) tubing. The 50th anniversary of the Wheeler Street Plant in 1961 was marked by a special 22-page section in the ''Tonawanda News''. The Wheeler Street Plant reportedly covered , employed 1,500 workers, and had an annual payroll of $9,000,000. The company paid $153,818 in city taxes that year and was Tonawanda's largest taxpayer. The plant was nearing its peak, but there was more expansion to come. In 1966, the charitable trust sold the Spaulding Fibre Company to Monogram Industries. The Tonawanda plant began a slow decline during a period of industrial restructuring and product and manufacturing changes. In 1984, Monogram Industries sold the Spaulding Fibre Company to Nortek. In 1988, Nortek changed the company name to Spaulding Composites. Spaulding Composites closed the Tonawanda plant on August 24, 1992. By the time the plant closed, employment had declined to 300. Since the closure of the Tonawanda plant, Spaulding Composites twice filed for bankruptcy. The plant site had a footprint of . It fell into disrepair and, because of the wastes of the industrial processes, was classified as a brown field site under environmental regulations. In 2006, the Erie County Development Agency contracted for demolition of the derelict facilities. It was punctuated by the felling of the -tall smoke stack that dominated the site. (This event is documented with a handful of videos on YouTube.) Cleanup of the site was declared complete in August 2010.


Historic sites

The following are historic sites in Tonawanda of such significance as to be listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
:


Geography

Tonawanda is at (43.01119, -78.877399). According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
, the city has an area of , of which is land and , or 7.34%, is water.


Adjacent cities and towns

Niagara County,
City of North Tonawanda North Tonawanda is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 31,568 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is named after Tonawanda Creek, its south bo ...
- north
Town of Tonawanda - west/south/east
Town of Grand Island across the Niagara River - northwest


Neighborhoods and locations

* Gastown – A neighborhood in the northeast corner of Tonawanda, bordering the Erie Canal. Its name comes from the Gas Light Co., which was built on Long's Point, home of the historical Long's Homestead. * "The Hill" (aka "Riverview") – A region centered around Tonawanda High School, so named because of its slightly elevated topography when compared with the rest of the relatively flat city. It is also known as Clay Hill as it was formed by a terminal glacial moraine that deposited the clay that forms the hill. The area near the high school was the site of popular clay tennis courts. * Millstream – A neighborhood on the city's eastern side. It is named for a stream that flowed through the area, but has since been mostly channelled underground. * Ives – a local skatepark, ice hockey rink, soccer field, and tennis court in the middle of Tonawanda. Starting out as a small blue kiddy pool, it was remodelled to become a skatepark and other things. * Delawanda – an older residential neighborhood north of Canton St. and east of Delaware St. The City of Tonawanda is called by many of its residents the "C.O.T.", meaning the "City" rather than "Town" of Tonawanda.


Major highways

* 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 New York State Route 266 (NY 266) is a state highway in Erie County, New York, in the United States. It runs along the Niagara River from the city of Buffalo to the city of Tonawanda. The southern terminus of the route is at the ramps ...
(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 New York State Route 265 (NY 265) is a long state highway located in the western part of New York in the United States. NY 265 is a north–south route that roughly parallels the western parts of the Niagara River in Erie Co ...
) 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 New York State Route 425 (NY 425) is a north–south state highway in the western portion of New York in the United States. It extends for from an interchange with Interstate 290 (I-290) in the town of Tonawanda to an intersection ...
(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).


Culture


Canal Fest

In conjunction with the City of North Tonawanda, the City of Tonawanda celebrates an annual Canal Fest of the Tonawandas. For one week, members of both communities celebrate Tonawanda's historic location on the western end of the Erie Canal in the largest festival of its kind. The Festival began in 1983 when Freemasons in the area, in conjunction with several state and regional leaders, set out to promote the businesses of the Tonawandas, provide fund raising opportunities for local non-profit organizations, and provide recreational activities for the citizens of both Tonawanda and North Tonawanda. The first Canal Fest was held on both sides of the canal in 1983. Today, the Canal fest is organized by the Canal Fest of the Tonawandas Inc., a non-profit organization. It is estimated over 150,000 people attend the Canal Fest each year, though an accurate number is impossible to obtain since attending the event is 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. In 2020, Canal Fest was cancelled for the first time due to the 2019-2020 Coronavirus Pandemic.


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 the summer, local boaters are free to dock at the park, and the area becomes popular during the free concerts set up by the local chamber of commerce. Various local businesses sponsor a series of concerts on both the Tonawanda and North Tonawanda sides of the park.


Landmarks

The Historical Society of the Tonawandas operates a museum in the former New York Central & Hudson Valley Railroad station, which has exhibits depicting the area's lumber industry and Erie Canal history. The Long Homestead is a restored Pennsylvania German-style house built in 1829 and containing period furniture from the early 19th century (the Historical Society of the Tonawandas provides guided tours). Isle View Park, on the Niagara River overlooking Grand Island, is available for biking, hiking, rollerblading, fishing and launching boats. The Riverwalk trail passes through the park, and a pedestrian foot bridge connects the park to Niawanda Park.


NFL team

Tonawanda was home of the
Tonawanda Kardex Lumbermen The Tonawanda Kardex (also known as the Tonawanda Lumbermen and during its first season, the All-Tonawanda Lumberjacks) was an American football team active between 1916 and 1921. It played its games in Tonawanda, New York, a suburb of Buffalo w ...
, a professional football team active between 1916 and 1921, best known for its brief one-game stint in the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
.


Demographics

At the 2000
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...
, there were 16,136 people, 6,741 households, and 4,361 families residing in the city. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...
was 4,252.9 people per square mile (1,643.8/km2). There were 7,119 housing units at an average density of 1,876.3 per square mile (725.2/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 98.08%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 0.42%
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
or
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.46% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.01%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 0.17% from other races, and 0.46% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino of any race were 0.89% of the population. There were 6,741 households, of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.9% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.3% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.01. 23.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.2 males. The median household income was $45,721.


In popular culture

Tonawanda is the home of inventor Phillip Louis (Phil) Perew, who is fictionalized in the
alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alte ...
world created by artist and author couple Paul Guinan and
Anina Bennett Anina Bennett is an American writer and comic book editor and producer. Some of the famous works she has been part of are the Boilerplate robot hoax/comic or various Dark Horse Comics she has produced. Anina Bennett is part of the husband-and-w ...
. In this history, created for the
graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
s '' Boilerplate'' and '' Femopolis'', Perew creates an electromechanical man, called the 'Automatic Man', in the late 19th century. (At the time of writing, in February 2007, ''Femopolis'' has not been published.) In the HBO miniseries ''Band of Brothers'',
Easy Company E Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles", is a company in the United States Army. The company was referred to as "Easy" after the radio call for "E" in the ph ...
soldier Warren Muck states he is from Tonawanda and he swam across the Niagara River. "Skip" Muck died in the
Battle of Bastogne The siege of Bastogne () was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbor at Antwerp. In order to r ...
and is on the City of Tonawanda memorial to soldiers killed in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. In the 1998 film ''Saving Private Ryan'', Private James Ryan is rescued by Tom Hanks' character. The Ryan character was based upon Sgt. Fritz (Frederick) Niland. Niland lost
two brothers Two Brothers may refer to: Films * ''Two Brothers'' (1929 film), a 1929 German silent film, directed by Mikhail Dubson * ''Two Brothers'' (2004 film), a 2004 French-British film, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud * ''The Two Brothers'' (film), a ...
, Robert and Preston in the
Normandy Landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
. Edward Niland (a third brother) was listed as killed in action in the Pacific, but was found in a Japanese POW camp at the end of the war. Fritz and Skip Muck were best friends and enlisted in the 101st together in 1942. In Mark Twain's ''The Diary of Adam and Eve'', written in 1904, and popularized by the musical ''The Apple Tree'', Tonawanda is identified as the site Adam and Eve move to after they are removed from the Garden of Eden (which is identified as "Niagara Falls Park").


Notable people

* Ockie Anderson, former NFL player *
Fred Brumm Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rodr ...
, NFL player *
John T. Bush John T. Bush (April 16, 1811 Fort Ann, Washington County, New York – November 10, 1888) was an American lawyer, businessman and politician from New York. Life He began to practice law in Tonawanda, New York in 1836, and the next year became a ...
, former New York State Senator *
Rick Cassata Rick Cassata (born November 17, 1947) is an American former gridiron football quarterback who played seven seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for five different teams. He led the Ottawa Rough Riders to victory in the 61st Grey Cup. He ...
, retired CFL quarterback who attended
Tonawanda High School Tonawanda High School is a public high school located in the City of Tonawanda, New York, United States. It is part of the Tonawanda City School District. The school's football field was at one time the home of the Tonawanda Kardex, a professio ...
* Glen Cook, retired Texas Rangers pitcher, attended
Tonawanda High School Tonawanda High School is a public high school located in the City of Tonawanda, New York, United States. It is part of the Tonawanda City School District. The school's football field was at one time the home of the Tonawanda Kardex, a professio ...
, Graduate of
Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and ...
*
Jane Corwin Jane Lewis Corwin (born February 29, 1964) is an American politician and businesswoman who currently serves a Commissioner of the International Joint Commission for United States and Canada. She previously served as a Republican Party member of ...
, New York State Assemblywoman * Dave Geisel, retired MLB player who attended
Tonawanda High School Tonawanda High School is a public high school located in the City of Tonawanda, New York, United States. It is part of the Tonawanda City School District. The school's football field was at one time the home of the Tonawanda Kardex, a professio ...
* Gregory John Hartmayer, Bishop of Savannah * Frank Hinkey, member of
College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...
* Chris Lee, former U.S. Congressman * Bert Lewis, former MLB pitcher *
Richard Matt Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
, convicted felon, prison escapee *
Sam Melville Samuel Joseph Melville (born Samuel Joseph Grossman, 1934 – September 13, 1971), was the principal conspirator and bomb setter in the 1969 bombings of eight government and commercial office buildings in New York City. Melville cited his opposi ...
, bombing conspirator *
Joe Mesi "Baby" Joe Mesi (born November 27, 1973) is an American retired boxer and Democratic Party politician from Tonawanda, New York. During his career, he defeated former world champion Vassily Jirov as well as former title challengers Bert Cooper ...
, retired boxer * Blake Miller, former football head coach of Central Michigan Chippewas * Warren H. Muck, Member of famed
Easy Company E Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles", is a company in the United States Army. The company was referred to as "Easy" after the radio call for "E" in the ph ...
506th, 101st. * John Neumann, first American bishop to be canonized *
Niland brothers The Niland brothers were four American brothers of Irish descent from Tonawanda, New York, who served in the military during World War II. They were sons of Mr and Mrs Michael C. Niland. Two survived the war, but for a time, only one, Frederick ...
, notable
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
soldiers * Marc Panepinto, New York State Senator * Phillip Louis (Phil) Perew, Lake boat captain, inventor, sporting promoter, landlord of notorious establishments on Goose Island in Tonawanda * Thomas Perry, author *
Bobby Shuttleworth Robert "Bobby" Shuttleworth (born May 13, 1987) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper for multiple teams in MLS and USL Championship. Early life Shuttleworth grew up in Buffalo, New York, and while attendi ...
, MLS goalkeeper * John Simson Woolson, former Federal judge *
Jules Yakapovich Jules Yakapovich (1921–1993) was an American football coach and former NFL player for the Detroit Lions. Born in Tonawanda, New York, he served during World War II as a U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, ...
, longtime Kenmore West High School football coach


See also

*
Tonawanda (disambiguation) Tonawanda may refer to: *Tonawanda (CDP), New York, consisting of the Town of Tonawanda less the Village of Kenmore *Tonawanda (city), New York, officially City of Tonawanda, bordered on three sides by the Town of Tonawanda *Tonawanda (town), New Y ...


References


External links


City of Tonawanda official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonawanda (City), New York Cities in New York (state) Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area Cities in Erie County, New York