Gowanda Area Historical Society
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Gowanda Area
Historical
Museum

2 Chestnut Street
PO Box 372
Gowanda, NY 14070
716-532-4064

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We are "Seeking the Past to Record for the Future"

East Main Strret Gowanda 1900

Gowanda's Early Settlers

The name "Gowanda" is derived from the Seneca Indian phrase meaning "a valley among the hills," or "under the cliffs," referring to the village's location below the Zoar Valley gorge along Cattaraugus Creek. Occupied by various Indian tribes before the American Revolution, the westward movement of our growing nation brought the first settlers here from New England in the 19th century.

What is now Gowanda was settled in 1810 by Turner Aldrich, who bought 707 acres on both sides of the creek from the Holland Land Company. He cleared the land, built a cabin, a saw mill and a grist mill. The settlement was called Aldrich's Mills until 1823 when the name was changed to Lodi.

Ahaz Allen settled next in 1812, erecting a cabin above Aldrich's in what is now called Hidi. The first white child born here was his daughter, Caroline, in 1813. The next year he dug a race, dammed the creek, and built a sawmill. Allen built the first frame house here in 1815 on what is now Beech Street. It burned and was torn down in 1970.

Those who followed these pioneers to this beautiful valley have each left their mark, large or small, in its streets, buildings, factories, businesses and institutions. The history of Gowanda is charted through fire and flood, economic boom and bust, immigration and migration, and the inevitable march of time.


Historical Notes About Gowanda
1820
First Bridge over Cattaraugus Creek
1820
First, post office, Aldrich Street
1824
First school, Buffalo & Mechanic Streets
1820-1833
First cemetery, near Seneca Street
1827
First newspaper, "Lodi Pioneer"
1835
Town of Persia formed from Perrysburg
1856
Great Fire destroys downtown Gowanda
1861
Flood destroys Main Street bridge
1867
Pine Hill Cemetery established
1870
Many brick homes and stores built
1874
Railroad station opens
1881
Bank of Gowanda opens
1884
Fire department organized
1889
Iron bridge on Main Street opens
1889
Gowanda Cooperative Savings & Loan Association organized
1896
Gaensslen, Fisher & Co. tannery locates in Hidi
1898
Gowanda State Homeopathic Hospital opens
1904
Eastern Tanners Glue Company built
1912
J. N. Adam Memorial Hospital opens in Perrysburg
1926
Hollywood Theater built by Wilhelm family
1956
New Junior-Senior high school dedicated
1963
Iron bridge replaced by modern bridge

© 2009 Gowanda Area Historical Society - Website Services Donated by Frank Broughton