Gratwick

Gratwick. . , The history of Gratwick begins in the 1870s when its namesake, William H. Gratwick, purchased 50 acres of desolate, wind-swept property along the upper Niagara River for his lumber business. This pioneering move away from the Erie Canal shipping center at Tonawanda Harbor owed its success to the advent of rail transportation. The lumber planing, storage, and shipping operations became so expansive that the New York Central Railroad was convinced to build a station at the remote site - Gratwick Station., Gratwick and his business partners were more than just lumbermen; they were titans of industry, controlling all aspects of the lumber trade. Not only did they own thousands of acres of white pine forest in Michigan along with the requisite logging and sawmill operations but they also owned a fleet of the largest steamships on the Great Lakes that transported the lumber to their facilities at Gratwick., The burgeoning number of Gratwick Lumber employees and their families rapidly established themselves as a distinct community. Small retail businesses, churches, a school and a fire company cropped up across from the lumber yard. The community remains today, having been incorporated into the City of North Tonawanda in 1897. But the massive lumber piles have vanished revealing the sprawling shoreline now transformed into Gratwick Riverside Park., A Lasting Legacy , William H. Gratwick started as a tally boy in a lumber yard, married the boss's daughter and ended up a millionaire lumber baron. A self-made man of strong convictions, he railed against the evils of alcohol, prostitution and government corruption. He believed in the importance of civic involvement and gave generously of his time and money to a variety of social, cultural and health-related organizations throughout Western New York. Upon his death from colon cancer in 1899, his family donated $25,000 to Dr. Roswell Park, Gratwick's personal physician, for the construction of a laboratory devoted to cancer research; today it is Roswell Park Cancer Institute. In recognition of the generosity of the Gratwick family, a philanthropic entity was formed. "The Gratwick Society," which is comprised of prominent donors who annually provide significant financial support in the fight against cancer at Roswell Park.