cleanup · Cattaraugus County
Bush Industries
Village of Cattaraugus
Property with early Standard Oil and apple-evaporator uses followed by decades of veneer manufacturing. Cleanup removed about 3,400 tons of petroleum-affected soil and demolished asbestos-containing industrial buildings before completion in 2010.
The documented story
What happened here?
The 4.43-acre Bush property at 1 North Main Street tells several layers of Cattaraugus industrial history in one village block. Sanborn-era records place Standard Oil facilities, gasoline service, and an apple evaporator along the Main Street side before Setter Brothers and Bush Industries expanded veneer and furniture-related manufacturing across the property.
The factory stood vacant after about 1989. By the time the village entered New York's Environmental Restoration Program, partial demolition had left a building shell and rubble, concrete slabs covered much of the western ground, and a 2006 investigation had identified petroleum-affected soil tied to former operating areas.
Cleanup in 2007 and 2008 removed the remaining structures and about 3,400 tons of petroleum-affected soil. The project made reuse possible, but not by pretending the industrial history vanished: an environmental easement and soil-management requirements still govern disturbance of slightly affected soil left at depth.
Chronology in context
Turning points in the public record
Early industrial era
Standard Oil and an apple-evaporator operation used portions of the property.
Veneer-manufacturing era
Wood-product and veneer operations became the site's long-term industrial identity.
Circa 1989
Manufacturing ended and the property remained vacant, with a partly demolished industrial complex.
2006
Site investigation identified petroleum-affected soil and defined work needed for village-led restoration.
2007–2008
Crews removed the remaining building shell and rubble and disposed of approximately 3,400 tons of petroleum-affected soil off site.
2010
New York completed the Environmental Restoration Program project.
News record
Major news events
Coverage selected here marks a turning point in public awareness, policy, enforcement, employment, or cleanup. Links open at the original publisher or archive; WNYAtlas does not reproduce restricted articles or images.
A village-led cleanup clears petroleum soil and asbestos buildings
The state restoration removed about 3,400 tons of petroleum-affected soil and demolished asbestos-containing factory structures before DEC certified the property in 2010.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗The cleared factory ground is folded into Cattaraugus's One Main vision
Local reporting described plans for a farmers market, affordable space for artists and entrepreneurs, outdoor events and connections to new rail recreation on the former industrial ground.
Olean Star ↗Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Petroleum contamination affected soil in former fuel-handling or industrial areas.
- Industrial buildings contained asbestos requiring controlled demolition and disposal.
- Slightly affected soil remained outside the principal excavation areas, requiring controls during future construction rather than a claim of unrestricted cleanup.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- Approximately 3,400 tons of petroleum-affected soil were excavated and properly disposed.
- Asbestos-containing industrial buildings were demolished under controlled conditions.
- An environmental easement and site-management plan require controlled soil handling during future development.
Then and now
The site today
The cleared property is now part of Cattaraugus's wider downtown-revival planning. That is an environmental story as much as a development story: a long-idle factory parcel can serve new public uses because petroleum soil and asbestos buildings were removed, while the easement preserves the obligations that remain below ground.
Atlas connections
Connected places
These collections explain documented material, facility, waterway, ownership, or cleanup relationships. Inclusion does not imply that every place shares one contaminant source or plume.
Little Valley TCE plume and Bush Industries
The valley-scale Superfund plume and the Bush Industries property overlap in source-investigation history, but they remain distinct records with different contaminants, boundaries, and cleanup programs.
Little Valley documents the approximately eight-mile TCE plume, treated private wells, five investigated source areas, vapor mitigation, and continuing controls.
Investigated source area and separate property cleanupBush IndustriesBush was investigated as part of the TCE source study, while its own Atlas record documents the separate village restoration of petroleum-affected soil and industrial buildings.
Southern Tier small-industry cleanups
Foundries, furniture and veneer works, machining plants, dry cleaners, and rural disposal sites show that Western New York's cleanup history extends well beyond its largest waterfront factories.
Farwell Road represents a managed hazardous-waste landfill outside the major urban industrial corridors.
Municipal landfillCarroll LandfillCarroll connects local waste disposal to wetlands, Conewango Creek, and long-term treatment.
Tool-manufacturing complexD.C. Rollforms / Proto ToolProto Tool brings electroplating, heat treatment, degreasing, and river-edge remediation into the collection.
Small solvent siteC&B Dry CleanersThe dry cleaner demonstrates how a very small parcel can create a consequential subsurface cleanup.
Coatings and solvent siteEssex / Hope SiteEssex / Hope documents a long-running coatings property with an amended remedy and a separately investigated downgradient area.
Chlorinated-solvent groundwater cleanupDowcraft — South Dow StreetDowcraft connects former manufacturing and vapor degreasing to continuing groundwater treatment and monitoring.
Municipal and industrial-waste landfillJamestown City LandfillThe former city landfill preserves Jamestown's documented municipal and industrial-disposal history while clearly stating its current Class 3 status.
Bronze foundry cleanupEllison Bronze CompanyEllison Bronze adds metal-bearing foundry material, stabilization, containment, and continuing management to the Falconer record.
Petroleum and veneer worksBush IndustriesBush Industries layers early petroleum use with later wood-products manufacturing.
Foundry and machine shopRandolph FoundryRandolph adds discarded foundry sand, drums, and asbestos to the southern-tier industrial record.
Die-casting and machining plantLexington MachiningLexington documents solvent use and long-term groundwater management at a smaller manufacturing plant.