Cheektowaga, New York

Cheektowaga, is a town in Erie County, New York, and the largest of Buffalo's suburbs. During the 19th century, Cheektowaga developed into a transportation nexus, due to its location, just ten miles south of the Canadian border on the outskirts of Buffalo. More rural than its heavily industrialized neighbor, Cheektowaga's neighborhoods developed along the railroad lines and highways which run through the town. Today the town is largely residential, with primarily service-sector industries, including higher education, retail and restaurants. Cheektowaga is home to Villa Maria College, a small Catholic college with a focus on music and the arts. The Walden Galleria, the largest shopping mall in the Buffalo-Niagara area, opened in 1989.

The name Cheektowaga is derived from a Seneca Native word meaning "place of the crabapple tree." When settlers from New England arrived in 1808, they established a farming community which was initially part of the town of Erie before incorporating in 1829. Prominent residents such as Appollos Hitchcock and George Urban promoted industrial activity, founding mills, breweries, farms and investing in public utilities. The George Urban Milling Company became the first mill in the Buffalo area powered solely by electricity from Niagara Falls. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, transportation development, including several railroad lines, trolley lines and highways, spurred housing construction and sub-divisions sprang up around the railroad stations. The Buffalo Municipal Airport was opened in Cheektowaga in 1920. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the Curtis Wright Aircraft plant in Buffalo purchased land for a new factory near the airport to meet anticipated wartime need. The #2 plant, which opened in 1941, built more than 17,000 aircraft before it closed in 1946. The site was then occupied by Westinghouse Electric Company, which ran its Motor and Industrial Controls division there until 2000, when the property was demolished for an airport expansion.

Cheektowaga's active construction and transportation industries have made asbestos exposure an issue. Workers exposed to asbestos are at risk to develop diseases such as pleural mesothelioma. If you or a loved one have been exposed to asbestos in Cheektowaga, you may benefit by seeking counsel from a mesothelioma attorney.

Jobsites in Cheektowaga where Asbestos Exposure Occurred

A number of jobsites in Cheektowaga, NY have been identified as harboring asbestos containing materials. These sites, at one point in their history, were known to have exposed a variety of tradesmen to asbestos. We will be documenting in more detail how asbestos exposure occurred at these sites in the future on this web site.