Editing Lackawanna, New York (section)

==History==
Originally part of the [[Buffalo Creek Reservation]], the area was not open to settlement until 1842 when the [[Seneca Indians]] sold it. In 1851 the [[Administrative divisions of New York#Town|town]] of Seneca was formed; the name was changed to [[West Seneca]] in 1852. The area now known as Lackawanna was then called West Seneca or Limestone Hill.

Lackawanna was a center of [[steel]] manufacture throughout most of the 20th century. In 1899, the Lackawanna Steel Company, based in [[Scranton, Pennsylvania]] since its founding, purchased all the land along the West Seneca shore of [[Lake Erie]]. Construction was started in 1900 and the [[Lackawanna Steel Company]] relocated to the area in 1902. The plant began operations in 1903. In 1909, the area's residents voted to split from West Seneca, forming the city of Lackawanna.<ref name="History"/>

With most of the city's workers employed by Lackawanna Steel, city affairs often revolved around events at the mill. Several attempts to organize a labor union at the mill resulted in violence. In 1910, a strike was broken by mounted police, who killed one worker.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Whelan |first=Frank |date=September 2, 1991 |title=THE VIOLENT STRIKE OF '41 BETHLEHEM STEEL CLASH FOREVER CHANGED NATION'S WORKER-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS LABOR PAINS |url=https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1991-09-02-2810498-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717212533/https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1991-09-02-2810498-story.html |archive-date=July 17, 2021 |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=The Morning Call}}</ref> In 1919, steel workers formed a union again and joined the nationwide [[Steel strike of 1919]]. The workers were joined by sympathy strikes in adjacent companies, and two picketing workers were killed by company guards.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cichon |first=Steve |date=July 23, 2021 |title=[BN] Chronicles: Lackawanna Steel laborers martyred in the fight to organize, 1919 |url=https://buffalonews.com/news/local/bn-chronicles-lackawanna-steel-laborers-martyred-in-the-fight-to-organize-1919/article_3d637050-eb2f-11eb-abc1-77e4bf787b64.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725055338/https://buffalonews.com/news/local/bn-chronicles-lackawanna-steel-laborers-martyred-in-the-fight-to-organize-1919/article_3d637050-eb2f-11eb-abc1-77e4bf787b64.html |archive-date=2021-07-25 |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=Buffalo News |language=en}}</ref> Although the strike lasted into the summer of 1920, well after the national strike had ended, the union failed to win recognition from the company. As a result of the strike, Lackawanna elected a [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]] mayor, John H. Gibbons.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brady |first=Erik |date=June 28, 2021 |title=Erik Brady: India Walton surprised many. 100 years ago in Lackawanna, John Gibbons did her one better |url=https://buffalonews.com/news/local/erik-brady-india-walton-surprised-many-100-years-ago-in-lackawanna-john-gibbons-did-her/article_f94042b8-d80a-11eb-af04-2378cb8b6e10.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725055338/https://buffalonews.com/news/local/bn-chronicles-lackawanna-steel-laborers-martyred-in-the-fight-to-organize-1919/article_3d637050-eb2f-11eb-abc1-77e4bf787b64.html |archive-date=July 25, 2021 |access-date=December 15, 2021 |website=Buffalo News |language=en}}</ref> After another violent strike in 1941, the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations|CIO]] finally succeeded in negotiating a contract for the Lackawanna steel workers.<ref name=":0" />

In 1922, the [[Bethlehem Steel]] Company acquired the Lackawanna Steel Company. With the 20th-century growth of the Bethlehem Steel plant, at one time the largest in the world, came the continued growth of the city and its institutions. At its peak, the plant employed 20,000 people. It attracted immigrants from many lands to settle and make their homes.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} Due to industrial restructuring in the latter half of the 20th century, as well as property tax assessment increases levied on the plant by the city, the steel plant declined in business and eventually closed in 1983, following massive job layoffs.<ref>{{cite news| title = Bethlehem Rejects Lackawanna Plan| work = [[The New York Times]]| date = March 18, 1983| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/18/business/bethlehem-rejects-lackawanna-plan.html| access-date =3 July 2009 }}</ref>

In the 21st century, efforts have been made to develop the former steel plant [[brownfields]] to other uses. The site has a diversity of tenants, some occupying buildings remaining from the former steel plant and a few in newer buildings. Opponents say that the brownfield is not safe and claim that contaminants in the field have caused cancer and other medical issues.<ref>{{cite web| last1 = DePalma| first1 = Anthony| last2=Staba |first2=David | title = Sickened, and Fighting Another Cold War| work = CCAM NEWS 2007 part 4| publisher = Mothball Millstone! Connecticut Coalition Against the Millstone Nuclear Power Reactor| date = December 23, 2007| url = http://www.mothballmillstone.org/news2007d.html#sickened| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071116072232/http://mothballmillstone.org/news2007d.html#sickened| url-status = usurped| archive-date = November 16, 2007| access-date =3 July 2009 }}</ref> [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]] reports are still ongoing and contested.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/~clinton/news/statements/details.cfm?id=252984&& |title=Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator for New York: Senators Clinton, Schumer and Representatives Slaughter, Higgins Urge President Bush to Compensate Nuclear Workers |access-date=2007-08-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070731071537/https://www.senate.gov/~clinton/news/statements/details.cfm?id=252984&& |archive-date=July 31, 2007 |df=mdy-all }} Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Statement & Releases March 20, 2006</ref>

As part of redevelopment, [[wind turbine]]s were built on the former Bethlehem Steel property in 2007. These initial eight 2.5 megawatt turbines will provide power for up to 9,000 households and are considered a sustainable energy source.<ref>{{cite web| title = About Steel Winds| publisher = Steel Winds.com| url = http://www.steelwinds.com/steelwinds/about.cfm| access-date = 3 July 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081120050322/http://www.steelwinds.com/steelwinds/about.cfm| archive-date = November 20, 2008| url-status = dead}}</ref>

The [[Buffalo Harbor South Entrance Light]] was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2007.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

On November 9, 2016, a [[2016 Bethlehem Steel fire|major fire]] broke out at the former galvanizing plant of the Bethlehem Steel complex.

===Railroads===
The [[Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad]], originally the [[Lackawanna and Western Railroad]], operated from 1851 to 1960. In 1960 it was consolidated with the [[Erie Railroad]] to become the [[Erie Lackawanna Railway]]. This operated until 1976, when it was absorbed by [[Conrail]].

===Notable court case===
The city of Lackawanna was the defendant in the 1971 district court decision ''[[Kennedy-Park Homes Association v. City of Lackawanna]]''. This decision forbade the municipal government (Lackawanna) from interfering with the construction of a low-income housing development in a predominantly white section of the city. The court ruled such action would amount to [[racial discrimination]].<ref>{{cite web|title =436 F. 2d 108 - ''Kennedy Park Homes Association v. City of Lackawanna, New York''| year =1970| volume =F2d| issue =436| page =108| publisher =OpenJurist| url=http://openjurist.org/436/f2d/108|access-date =1 January 2011}}</ref>

===The Lackawanna Six===
The [[Buffalo Six|Lackawanna Six]] (also known as the Buffalo Six) are a group of [[Yemeni Americans]] convicted of providing "material support" to [[Al-Qaeda]]. The group was accused of traveling to [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]] in the spring of 2001 to attend terrorist training camps.<ref>{{cite news |last = Purdy |first = Matthew |author2=Lowell Bergman  |title = WHERE THE TRAIL LED Unclear Danger: Inside the Lackawanna Terror Case |work = The New York Times |date = October 12, 2003 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/nyregion/12LACK.html?position=&ei=5007&en=6c72ae19117871d4&ex=1381291200&adxnnl=1&partner=USERLAND&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1130180644-8piERM4UI408SpeT7oO5EA |access-date = 2007-09-08}}</ref> The men had claimed that their travel was to Pakistan only, and for the purpose of religious instruction.

The group was arrested in Lackawanna on September 13, 2002, by the FBI. A member of the Lackawanna Cell, [[Jaber A. Elbaneh]], never returned to the U.S. after his trip to Afghanistan. In September 2003 the FBI announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. Captured by [[Yemen]] police, he was convicted and sentenced to a prison in Yemen for involvement in the 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker ''Limburg'' off the coast of Yemen. The remaining members of the group pleaded guilty in December 2003 and were given various sentences in federal prison.<ref>{{cite web| last = Aziz| first = Roya|author2=Monica Lam | title = Profiles: The Lackawanna Cell| work = Chasing the Sleeper Cell| url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sleeper/inside/profiles.html
| access-date =July 3, 2009 }}</ref>

Jaber Elbaneh escaped from a Yemeni prison in 2006 after joining a successful group prison break. He was identified as one of 23 people, 12 of them Al-Qaeda members, who escaped on February 3, 2006. On February 23, 2006, the FBI confirmed the escape, as they issued a national press release naming Elbaneh to the [[FBI Most Wanted Terrorists]] list.<ref name="fbi">{{cite web| title=Recent Escapees from Yemen Prison Added to Most Wanted Terrorists and Seeking Information - War on Terrorism Lists| date=February 23, 2006| publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation| url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/recent-escapees-from-yemen-prison-added-to-most-wanted-terrorists-and-seeking-information-war-on-terrorism-lists| access-date=1 January 2011}}</ref> On May 20, 2007, Elbaneh turned himself in to Yemen authorities on the condition that his prison sentence would not be extended. The incident of the Lackawanna Six has tarnished the city's reputation, but it is recovering.<ref>{{cite news |last = Vezner |first = Tad |title = The lessons of Lackawanna: Terror case leaves lasting mark on New York town |work = The Toledo Blade |date = February 26, 2006 |url = http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS08/602260378 |access-date = 2007-09-08}}</ref>

In July 2009, it was reported that prior to authorities sending in 130 federal and local members of the Western New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, there were suggestions that [[United States Army|federal troops]] be used to capture the suspects.<ref name="buffalo">{{cite news | last = Michel| first = Lou| title = Lackawanna officials say troops in city was bad idea| work = The Buffalo News| date = July 26, 2009| url =http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/744712.html| access-date =27 July 2009 }}</ref> At the time, Vice President [[Dick Cheney]] and Defense Secretary [[Donald Rumsfeld]] believed that the Yemeni men should be declared [[enemy combatant]]s and could have been tried by a [[Guantanamo military commission|military tribunal]]. [[George W. Bush|President Bush]] rejected this proposal, and the arrests proceeded without incident.<ref name="buffalo" />