Editing Gowanda, New York (section)

==History==

===Early habitation by American Indians===
The area was first inhabited during the Stone Age by nomadic [[Algonquian peoples]].<ref name="Redbook">Kirby, C.D. (1976). ''The Early History of Gowanda and The Beautiful Land of the Cattaraugus''. Gowanda, NY: Niagara Frontier Publishing Company, Inc./Gowanda Area Bi-Centennial Committee, Inc.</ref> An Algonquian earthwork mound from the first or second [[Stone Age]] is located on a farm in the area of Rosenberg along Zoar Valley near Gowanda.<ref name="Redbook" /> The mound is believed to be about 3,500 years old. Artifacts including spearheads, copper heads, and stone implements of a crude nature have been excavated from the site.<ref name="Redbook" /> In the latter half of the 14th century, [[Iroquoian]]-speaking peoples traveled to the area and lived along Cattaraugus Creek.<ref name="Redbook" /> They were proud, considering themselves to be "chosen people".<ref name="Redbook" /> Other tribes lived in the area around this time. The powerful nations of the Iroquois Confederacy defeated the [[Erie people]] (also an Iroquoian-speaking tribe), driving them out of the area or assimilating captives by adoption in certain clans. About this time, the [[Iroquois|Five Nations]] of the Confederacy coalesced as distinct peoples. They made a pact of cooperation rather than warfare. They controlled much of present-day New York state west of Albany and the Hudson River.<ref name="Redbook" />

After the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], the American government secured land treaties with the Iroquois nations in [[western New York]] in 1784 and 1788. Because the majority of the nations had been allies of the British, they were forced to cede most of their lands in New York after the British defeat and United States independence.<ref name="Redbook" />

In 1796 and 1797, [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]] purchased extensive lands in the upstate areas, mostly American Indian lands, and mortgaged them to the [[Holland Land Company]] of [[Willem Willink]] and 11 associates of [[Amsterdam]] in the Netherlands.<ref name="Redbook" /> Excluded from his purchases in 1797 were territories for ten American Indian reservations within the state, with the [[Cattaraugus Reservation]] of {{convert|42|sqmi}} among these.<ref name="Redbook" /> Thereafter, two land offices of the Holland Land Company were opened in [[Batavia, New York]], and [[Danby, Vermont]].<ref name="Redbook" /> Many early settlers to Gowanda were from the Danby area, and many were [[Quakers]].<ref name="Redbook" />

===Settlement and incorporation===
Originally called "Aldrich's Mills" after the first European-American settler, Turner Aldrich, the European-American village was settled in 1810 and began to develop.<ref name="Redbook" /><ref name="History">''Historical Sketch of the Village of Gowanda, N.Y. in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of its incorporation, August 8, 1898''. Buffalo, NY: The Matthews-Northrup Company, Leonard, I.R., Reprinted 1998, Salem, MA: Higginson Book Company.</ref> He and his family of three sons and three daughters traveled up Cattaraugus Creek from [[Connecticut]], taking {{convert|707|acre}} of land, comprising a large portion of what is Gowanda today.<ref name="Redbook" /> Aldrich built a sawmill and in 1817 a gristmill. Records of farmers  coming from a {{convert|30|mi|adj=on}} radius for their grain to be ground are held by the historical society.<ref name="Redbook" /> At that time, farmers and pioneers traveled along American Indian trails through the dense forest, with their wagons being pulled by oxen.<ref name="Redbook" />

Jacob Taylor, a Quaker [[missionary]] from the Friends Yearly Meeting of [[Philadelphia]], was sent in 1809 to serve the American Indians in the area. Taylor Hollow is named for him.<ref name="Redbook" /> In 1811, he built, owned, and operated a sawmill and gristmill.<ref name="Redbook" /> Other missionaries accompanied Taylor, and though they called themselves a "family," they were not related.<ref name="Redbook" />

The village later adopted the name "Lodi", though there was confusion in mail delivery due to "[[Lodi, New York|Lodi]]" in [[Seneca County, New York]] (the post office officially used the name "West Lodi" for what is now Gowanda to distinguish the two). When the village was incorporated, it dropped that name, although the post office retained the name "Persia."<ref name="Redbook" /><ref name="History" /> The Seneca in the area had once identified this place as ''Juc-Gowanda'', meaning "a valley among the hills".<ref name="Redbook" /><ref name="History" /> The settlers adopted the name ''"Gowanda"'' for the village.<ref name="History" /> It was first incorporated in 1848, and was re-incorporated in 1878 under a new state regulation. At the latter time, the village extended its  territory to annex the nearby hamlet of Hidi.<ref name="Redbook" /><ref name="History" />

===19th century===
Most of the village in Erie County, made up of wooden buildings, was destroyed by a fire in 1856. Another fire in 1875 burned many businesses in the Cattaraugus part.<ref name="Redbook" /><ref name="History" />

A historical book about Gowanda identifies 120 men, including Caucasians and American Indians, who were Gowanda residents and who fought in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] in New York regiments.<ref name="History" /> The same book also identifies six men who had been Gowanda residents, but who enlisted and fought in the Civil War with regiments from [[Ohio]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Pennsylvania]], and [[Michigan]].<ref name="History" />

Long associated with Gowanda although located outside its boundaries, the Thomas Asylum for Orphan and Destitute Indian Children (also known as the "Thomas Indian School")<ref name="Redbook" /> was built following a gift of {{convert|50|acre}} of land on the Cattaraugus Reservation. The school was incorporated in 1855.<ref name="History" /> In June 1856, the institution opened and was immediately at capacity in housing 50 orphaned American Indian children.<ref name="History" /> The Thomas Asylum housed and schooled orphaned American Indian children for decades, until the latter part of the twentieth century.

In 1894, the Erie County Legislature passed an act that authorized establishment of the Homeopathic State Hospital<ref name="Redbook" /> (later known as the "Gowanda Psychiatric Center") in Gowanda and Collins.<ref name="History" /> Erie County purchased {{convert|500|acre}} of land for the hospital site, known as the "Taylor tract".<ref name="History" /> When the State Care Act was effected in 1894, the land was transferred<!-- from whom? --> to the State of New York, which conveyed it to the state hospital.<ref name="History" />

Since the late 20th century, the facility has been adapted for use as a correctional center. It borders Taylor Hollow Road in Gowanda. The road was named for the original owner of the land that was purchased and used for the State Hospital.<ref name="History" />

===20th century===

====Tanning and glue industries====
Important industries that flourished in Gowanda during the twentieth century, but which also polluted the adjoining Cattaraugus Creek, included the [[Peter Cooper]] Corporation Glue Factory and the Moench Tannery.<ref name="Redbook" /><ref name="Theatre">[https://www.proquest.com/docview/381229715? Community gets gift of Hollywood Theater for restoration], ''Buffalo News - Southern Tier Edition'', Buffalo, NY: Berkshire Hathaway, December 16, 1996, O'Brien, B. | Accessdate November 2, 2013.</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20140610052216/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-22405784.html Gowanda reeling under new job loss: Closing of tannery follows shutdown of psychiatric center]}}, ''Buffalo News'', Buffalo, NY: Berkshire Hathaway, May 30, 1992, Robinson, D., In ''Highbeam.com'', Retrieved November 12, 2013</ref> The first [[tannery]] in Gowanda was begun by Samuel T. Munger in 1829,<ref name="Redbook" /> although one was already in operation by Smith Bartlett since 1815 in Collins.<ref name="Redbook" /> In 1829, to tan one side of leather in six months was considered quick work.<ref name="Redbook" /> Other tanneries in operation in Gowanda were by the Benton Brothers; K. Webster (which was purchased by Agle & Sons in 1860); and Albert Gaensslen. In 1852, Albert Gaensslen converted the former wool factory in Gowanda to a leather plant with 12 liquor vats. The Gaensslen Brothers tannery manufactured only shoe sole leather. Gaensslen Brothers tannery was established in 1855; reorganizing as Gaensslen, Fisher & Company in 1896, following the partnership with E.C. Fisher.<ref name="Redbook" /> In 1879, the Gaensslen Brothers tannery "included 250 liquor vats and shipped 20,000 sides of sole leather to [[Cleveland]] each year."<ref name="Redbook" /> Additionally, the Agle & Sons tannery was expanded, containing 40 liquor vats and annually finishing 700 sides of leather by 1879.<ref name="Redbook" />

A [[glue factory]] was originally started in association with the Gaensslen Brothers Tannery in 1874 in order to utilize the tanning waste.<ref name="Redbook" /> At that time, {{convert|30000|lb}} of glue was produced annually.<ref name="Redbook" /> The first construction of Richard Wilhelm's Eastern Tanners Glue Company plant began on May 5, 1904.<ref name="Redbook" /> In 1898, tanning factory waste from the now-reorganized Gaensslen, Fisher & Company tannery produced {{convert|300000|to|400000|lb}} of glue.<ref name="Redbook" /> In 1899, the tannery was purchased by C. Moench & Sons.<ref name="Redbook" /> Although it was purchased by the Brown Shoe Company in 1925, it existed as the Moench Tanning Company, Incorporated.<ref name="Redbook" />

====America's glue capital====
A 1976 historical book about Gowanda states that the Eastern Tanners Glue Company begun by Richard Wilhelm, and later purchased and operated by the Peter Cooper Corporations, was "the largest glue making plant in the world."<ref name="Redbook" /> Gowanda, therefore, was known as America's glue capital.<ref name="Redbook" />

===21st century===
The [[Bank of Gowanda]] building and [[Gowanda Village Historic District]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>  The historic Hollywood Theatre is also located in Gowanda.<ref name="Theatre" />