Welcome to Tonawanda Traditional Cache
Rayman: Looks like this one is gone for sure. Had a real nice run. Thanks to all who found it. Opening the area up for someone else to potentially hide something.
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Size: 
(small)
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Lately there have been several area caches hidden providing the history of a town or city. As a lifelong resident of the City of Tonawanda, I'd like to share some of the early history of the city I live in. This cache is a small Lock & Lock located just off a newer bike path along the Erie Canal.
The history of the City of Tonawanda can be traced back to the year 1823. During that year, a group of Buffalonians bought land and laid out a village in order to accommodate the increasing number of people working on the new Erie Canal. This area became known as the "Village of Niagara", and was the first community to develop in what would become the Town of Tonawanda. By 1825, the village consisted of 12 buildings, including a post office. The first postmaster was appointed to the job November 29, 1825 and was the first to use the name Tonawanda. While the canal was being built, progress could be seen all around in the village. Once the canal opened October 26, 1825 the growth subsided and not many improvements were made for many years.
While the canal continued on towards Buffalo, many settlers decided to stop in Tonawanda to establish some roots. Many farms began to emerge in the tiny village until on January 7, 1854, Tonawanda was then incorporated as a village. The year 1870 brought a second railroad line to the area, the Niagara Falls branch of the Erie Railroad. This line, and the New York Central line which opened in 1836, further increased the village's commercial and industrial growth. While the farms continued to grow within the town, the village saw an opportunity to capitalize on the growing lumber demand along the east coast. Tonawanda unloaded its first cargo of lumber in 1867 and business increased rapidly until the turn of the century. The Villages of Tonawanda and North Tonawanda jointly became known as "The Lumber City", and briefly was the largest lumber supplier in the world. The year 1876 brought about an important event in village history, as the J.S. Bliss and Co. began manufacturing shingles. The company quickly became the second largest shingle manufacturer in the world, making as many as 56 million white pine shingles a year. As the village economy boomed, other industries developed such as a brick yard, a brewery, and a pipe and pump works.
Because of the large amounts of manufacturing and commercial development going on in the village, the residents wanted to incorporate as a city in order to take advantage of less-restrictive laws allowed by New York State. As a result, the City of Tonawanda was born on March 23, 1903 and separated from the Town.
I hope you enjoyed this small piece of early history about Tonawanda, and I hope to place another cache in the future telling about the more recent history.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
ubyr va gerr