cleanup · Niagara County
Gratwick Riverside Park
North Tonawanda
Niagara River park established on a former municipal and industrial landfill, with a documented remedial program and long-term site management.
The documented story
What happened here?
Historical aerial photographs show filling at Gratwick from approximately 1938 through 1968. Metallurgical slag formed a base layer, with municipal and industrial waste above it. Records name the City of North Tonawanda, Durez/Hooker Chemical, Bell Aerospace-Textron, Browning-Ferris Industries, Booth Oil, and Niagara Mohawk among the operators, owners, or potentially responsible parties—not as proof that every company used every part of the property.
The landfill closed in 1968, was covered and seeded, and reopened as a public park in 1969. By 1979, monitoring found phenol and halogenated organic contamination in groundwater moving toward the Niagara River. Shoreline erosion later exposed 33 drums containing cured phenolic resin, which were removed in 1982.
New York's remedy combined a park-wide cover, groundwater and leachate collection, shoreline controls, contaminated-sediment capping, habitat work, and long-term management. The green waterfront landscape is therefore both a public amenity and an operating containment system.
A waterfront park rests above a managed landfill
Gratwick turned disposal land into public river access without removing its history
53 acresapproximate former landfill and park property
Industrial era-1968
Lumber, iron, municipal refuse, and chemical waste shaped the shore
The Gratwick district had a long industrial identity. From the late 1930s through 1968, the city-operated landfill received municipal and industrial material, including documented waste associated with Durez, over slag and other fill near the Niagara River.
1969 onward
The landfill reopened quickly as public parkland
North Tonawanda reopened the property as a park after disposal ended. Later investigation showed why public appearance and environmental condition were different questions: landfill material affected soil, groundwater, leachate, and shoreline areas.
Remedy and stewardship
Recreation became compatible with containment
The remedy established an approximately 18-inch soil cap with a demarcation layer, groundwater collection, shoreline and wetland work, and long-term management. Trail or utility excavation must protect and restore those controls.
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 closed Niagara River landfill reopens as a public park
The city covered and seeded the former municipal and industrial disposal area, then opened it for recreation the following year—well before later groundwater and shoreline investigations defined the remedy.
NYSDEC Gratwick Riverside Park decision archive ↗Shoreline erosion exposes drums along the public park
Investigators documented and removed 33 drums containing cured phenolic resin after erosion revealed them at the Niagara River edge.
NYSDEC Gratwick Riverside Park decision archive ↗Chronology
Timeline
- 1938–1968
Successive filling placed metallurgical slag beneath municipal and industrial wastes along the Niagara River shoreline.
- 1969
The covered and seeded landfill reopened as a public park only one year after disposal ended.
- 1979–1982
Monitoring identified contaminated groundwater flowing toward the river, and erosion exposed 33 drums of cured phenolic resin along the shoreline.
- 1991
New York issued the Record of Decision establishing the site's remedial approach.
- 1990s–2001
Remedial construction established the park cover, groundwater controls, shoreline work, and a cap over contaminated Niagara River sediment.
- Present
The property remains a public park and closed landfill under continuing operation, monitoring, maintenance, and excavation controls.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Up to roughly 13 feet of heterogeneous fill included a basal slag layer with municipal and industrial wastes above it.
- Groundwater investigation identified phenols, chlorinated organics, and other compounds, with hydraulic flow generally toward the Niagara River.
- Shoreline erosion demonstrated that a covered landfill could still create exposure and migration pathways at its edges.
- Because waste remains contained beneath the park, excavation and changes to drainage or cover systems require environmental review.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- An approximately 18-inch soil cap and underlying geotextile demarcation layer isolate landfill material from normal park use while making future excavation recognizable.
- A groundwater collection system operates as part of the remedy, with inspection and maintenance documented through site-management reporting.
- Shoreline engineering and the 2001 contaminated-sediment cap reduce movement toward the Niagara River.
- Construction within the park must protect the cap, use approved clean material, and follow contaminated-material and health-and-safety procedures.
Then and now
The site today
Gratwick is both a valued waterfront park and an actively managed closed landfill. The remedy supports recreation, trails, boating access, and habitat while requiring permanent care of the cap and groundwater-control system.
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.
Western New York sediment controls
These sites contain documented sediment remedies or affected sediment areas. They are a comparative research collection, not evidence of a shared source or connected plume.
A geotextile and stone cover isolates PAHs, PCBs, and metals in part of the former industrial canal.
Chlorinated-solvent sediment coverWeber-Knapp CompanyDEC records a clean-stone cover at this Jamestown manufacturing cleanup.
PCB-affected sediment areaTennessee Gas Pipeline Station 229The Eden compressor-station record extends sediment concerns into a rural drainage setting.
PCB-affected shoreline sediment5565 River RoadThe River Road entry connects an upland Class 2 site with Niagara River-edge sediment.
PCB-affected shoreline sediment1660 Niagara Street ShorelineThe Niagara Street marker represents a bounded sediment record rather than the entire river shoreline.
Dioxin- and furan-affected sedimentDurez / Occidental ChemicalThe Durez record adds a distinct chemical-manufacturing and sediment-contaminant history.
Riprap and habitat coverGratwick Riverside ParkGratwick combines landfill containment, shoreline protection, and present-day park use.