[PDF] Playdancing by Diane Lynch Fraser at Arts-Photography

Description

When some of the richest men in America; including John Jacob Astor; realized in the 1890s that the New York Central; Lehigh Valley; Erie; and Delaware; Lackawanna Western Railroads passed through a one-mile corridor; they began planning a community. In 1892; the renowned firm of Olmsted; Olmsted Eliot designed a residential development surrounding manufacturing facilities. In 1894; it was incorporated as the village of Depew. The first tenant; the New York Central Locomotive Works; attracted a number of railroad-related industries; and Depew continued to grow until advances in technology and the Depression caused the New York Central to withdraw in 1931. Gradually; others such as Magnus Metal; National Battery; and Symington-Gould were phased out. Depew would never become a vast industrial complex as first planned; but today; the village is a mixture of residential and commercial development.