Just north of the Methodist Episcopal Church on Chapel Street. It was then considered to be quick work to tan a side of leather in six months. The tan-bark was ground out by a one horse sweep machine

In 1845 a tannery was built on the southeast corner of Jamestown and Hill Streets by K. Webster. It was operated under his management until 1860 when the business was purchased by Agle & Sons. By 1879 it had been enlarged to contain 40 liquor vats and about 700 sides of rough leather were finished annually.

However, the greatest impetus to the tanning industery in Gowanda was supplied by Albert Gaensslen. In 1852 he converted the old woolen-factory at Hidi into an upper-leather plant. It contained 12 liquor vats.

From 1855 'to 1896 the operations of the Gaensslen factory were confin.ed to the manufacture of sole leather under the firm name of Gaensslen Brothers. In 1879 the factory had 250 vats and shipped 20,000 sides of sole leather to Cleveland each year. As a by-product of the tanning operations and a means of utilizing the tanning refuse, a glue factory was started in connection with the Gaensslen

tannery in 1874. It produced 30,000 pounds · of glue annually.

The firm was reorganized in 1896 when E. C. Fisher joined the organization and the name became Gaensslen, Fisher & Company, with Mr. Fisher as manager. By 1898 the waste from the factory was sufficient to produce between 300,000 and 400,000 pounds of glue. The tannery was bought out by C. Moench & Sons in 1899, In 1925 the tannery was acquired by the Brown Shoe Company although it has continued to be known as the Moench Tanning Company, Inc.

Glue Industry

The glue industry has been a most vital factor in the steady- growth and stabilized commercial structure of the Gowanda community. While glue had been made as a byproduct by the tanning companies for several years previous to 1904, the glue business in its major phases really had its inception in the formation that year of the Eastern Tanners Glue Company by Richard Wilhelm.

Construction on the first building of this plant was started on May 5th, 1904. The company has improved and grown until it is now

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the largest glue making plant in the world. Since 1904, numerous other companies and factories have been absorbed throughout the United States and Canada and are now operated and managed under the name of the Peter Cooper Corporation.

Thus Gowanda became America's glue capital and it is a matter worthy of mention that the consistent growth of this large business was achieved under the direction of the man who founded it-Richard Wilhelm. All of

which proves the value of the old admonition of "sticking to it"-even in the glue business! In all seriousness, the accomplishments of Richard Wilhelm represent the kind of consistent business progress that is a matter of credit and pride for the community that possesses an industry so well conducted as Gowanda's glue business.

At the turn of the century, Gowanda had a census of 2,782 with 514 families and 491 homes. The first issue of The Gowanda News appeared on March 2, 1905 and became one f of the best edited village newspapers in the country. The Iroquois Press Building ,was built on Water Street in 1904. Subsequently, as The Frontier Publishing Company, it became known as one of the most successful printing establishments of Western New York.

Michael McIntyre purchased a controlling interest in the Gowanda Natural Gas Company in 1908. 0. J. Gutekunst started a cider, vinegar, apple butter and jelly factory, near the Erie depot, in 1909. A new depot was obtained the next year, the business men of the village successfully contended for its erection with the Public Service Commission.

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The Peter Thompson, who had been pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church for three years, moved to Spencerport in 1908. his daughter, the celebrated Dorothy Thompson, is well remembered for her girlhood days in Gowanda .

The J. N. Adam Memorial Hospital — named for the famous Buffalo ayor—was opened at Perrysburg on Nov. 1, 1912. Dr.Horace LoGrasso was superintendent. This institution was built by the city of Buffalo for the treatment of incipient pulmonary patients.

The cornerstone of the Evangelical Lutheran church was laid on Walnut Street on October 17, 1912. The first camp of the Gowanda Boy scouts was held on the Sisson farm the same year and Dr. Ira W. Livermore was the scoutmaster. The Bank of Gowanda occupied their impressive new building at Main and Jamestown Streets in May, 1913. Gowanda again had a newspaper named the Gowanda Enterprise in 1914, with B. L. Dalrymple as publisher. The population by 1915 had increased to 3,930. In 1916, the Gowanda light & Power Company erected a new power plantand later built a new reinforced concrete

dam on the site of the old one built by Ralph Plumb.

Gowanda met its responsibilities in the World War with the characteristic wholehearted Gowanda spirit. Nearly $700,000 of liberty bonds were subscribed for by Gowandians and $5,000 was raised for the Red Cross-a splendid response. At the conclusion of the war, Gowanda Post 409 of the American Legion was formed in 1919 with nearly a hundred members.

The last major disaster that Gowanda has had to face was the fire of 1924. It started Monday night, October 27th in the Opera House and a half million dollars damage was done before it was brought under control the next day. The villages of Little Valley, Salamanca, Springville, Cattaraugus, Collins, Perrysburg and others sent apparatus to help the Gowanda fire department. The fine work of the firemen prevented an even more serious conflagration. Among the buildings destroyed - although all records were preserved - was the Gowanda Co-operative Saving and Loan Association which was also the first to announce that a new building would be erected. In recent years there have been a number of

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