Companies in Lancaster, New York

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Lancaster, Erie, New York, United States
Surnames/tags: Companies New_York

It’s hard to think of Lancaster as a hotbed of industry, but from the 1890s to the 1950s plants and public utilities employed thousands. Companies such as Gould Coupler, National Battery, Buffalo Batt and Felt, Hazel Atlas Corp., Lancaster Malleables and the Knife Works were major employers.

When the railroads entered the area in the early 1840s it had a major impact. The railroads connected Lancaster with other parts of the state. The Village expanded in size and in importance as a result of the increased wealth and business brought by the railroads.

Milling was the first permanent industry within the area starting in 1811. As manufacturing developed in the early 1890s, other industrial endeavors joined milling in the new settlement.

The Village received a significant economic boost in 1893, when the New York Central erected a locomotive works just northwest of the Village corporate limits Lancaster.

By the end of 1893, the Gould Coupler Company in Depew, the Union Car Company and the National Car Wheel Company had opened in Depew. The demographic character of the Village of Lancaster changed considerably with the growth of these nearby industries when large numbers of European immigrants came to Lancaster to live while they worked in Depew.

This industrial growth brought about improvements in business in general, with which came road improvements and an increase in new residential construction. That growth spawned the development of schools,churches and industrial expansion.

Along with the Great Depression came the demise of dozens of small businesses, including Palmer's Greenhouse. Typical of all the nation, Lancaster suffered widespread unemployment, which continued unabated throughout the 1930s.

The prosperity of the war years of the 1940s ushered in new industrial development around the Village

The prosperity, however, would not survive beyond the 1960s. The Gould Battery plant moved its operation out of state in 1960. The Malleables abruptly closed its doors in 1954, Hazel-Atlas suspended operations in 1964, Scott Aviation was purchased in 1967. Lancaster has struggled to regain that early prosperity ever since. (1)

Sources Lancaster Memories, A Pictorial History, By Mary Jo Monnin, Published by Dick Young Fire Services Publishing LLC Copyright : 2016