Published: October 22, 2007 01:16 pm            

REMEMBERING YESTERYEAR: Organizers say history center can help

The North Tonawanda History Museum’s founders’ goal in 2003 was to create a tourist attraction that would serve to bring economic benefits to the city and its residents based on its unique and wonderful history. Our constituents tell us our efforts since have restored a sense of historical identity and appreciation for the city’s history.

The Erie Canal Federal Heritage corridor is a tourist destination across the state. The North Tonawanda waterfront on the Erie Canal and Niagara River, along with the adjoining waterfront on both the Canal and River on the Tonawanda side, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. North Tonawanda’s Lumber City Development Corp. seeks to market the downtown area to small shops and businesses and has obtained funding for improvements to the structures in the downtown area.

The lack of a 7-day-a-week, year-round active community attraction downtown presently limits its attractiveness to new businesses which require steady foot traffic to be successful.

The Webster-Main-Manhattan shopping district area, with the departure in 1997 of the anchor G. C. Murphy’s 5 & 10 cent store, has been in decline. A new year-round anchor is needed to restore foot traffic. Present through traffic on Route 265 passes between Buffalo and Niagara Falls without stopping here because the Manhattan Street rear entrances to the downtown businesses offer no draw for visitors.

We plan to establish the Lumber City History Center to fill the role of an economic engine for the recently designated Downtown Historic District and Gateway Harbor/Erie Canal area to draw more visitors, stimulate relocation of more services and businesses and the startup of others, including overnight accommodations and a quality restaurant/banquet facility to provide an economic benefit to the city as a whole and to the existing and potential future businesses.

The city has had a stagnant and shrinking tax base caused by the loss of industry over the last 50 years. A cultural tourism/recreational tourism focus developed in the last two decades with no coordinating mechanism. North Tonawanda’s “main” street, Webster Street, has been very much in need of rebirth. As a member organization of and working with the Downtown Merchants Association of North Tonawanda and the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas Tourism Committee for the last three years, we have ascertained the needs of the downtown area and its existing merchants and other businesses.

We plan to bring back the essence of the beloved G. C. Murphy and Sugar Bowl presence on Webster Street in our Lumber City History Center. We plan to be open all week year round as an active cultural and educational center and a welcome center to the Gateway Cities of North Tonawanda and Tonawanda and to Niagara County from its southwestern corner. This will increase foot traffic in the Downtown Historic District and take advantage of the heavy influx of tourists already coming to this part of the city because of Gateway Harbor.

We will market the Tonawandas through the Gateway Cities Welcome Center as a cultural and recreational destination and seek to increase attendance at all other area cultural and recreational venues and businesses in the two cities. We will be an indoor community hub facility with meeting facilities and a large event hall. We will have an interactive virtual reality entertainment type museum to attract tourists, as well as to provide a serious history center for residents and students of all ages. We hope to entice visitors to all local facilities to remain in the downtown area and the rest of the two cities for longer stays.

The 40,184-square-foot facility was home to the G. C. Murphy’s 5 & 10 cent store from 1928 until 1997. The 500-car municipal parking lot across the street from the Manhattan Street entrance to the building was built by the city initially to benefit the downtown shopping district. The building’s rear entrance constructed to make the building accessible to those parking in the lot when the building was a thriving 5 & 10 cent store. The Manhattan Street side of the building is visible to traffic passing between Buffalo and Niagara Falls on Route 265.

“Remembering Yesteryear” is produced under the auspices of the North Tonawanda History Museum. We invite individuals with stories or news of local history to tell to e-mail nthistorymuseum@aol.com.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.