cleanup · Cattaraugus County
Peter Cooper Corporation — Gowanda
Gowanda
Former animal-glue and industrial-adhesive works along Cattaraugus Creek. Manufacturing operated from 1904 into the 1980s, and a five-acre elevated area received glue-manufacturing sludge from 1925 to 1970. The closed Class 4 site remains under long-term management.
The documented story
What happened here?
Animal-glue production began on the Palmer Street property in 1904. Peter Cooper and predecessor operations later made industrial adhesives, connecting the site to Gowanda's long leather, rendering, and animal-products economy.
From 1925 through October 1970, glue-manufacturing sludge was placed in an elevated disposal area covering about five acres. The plant closed after later synthetic-adhesive operations ended in the 1980s.
Some waste also left the factory property and was transported to the separate Markhams disposal site in Dayton. That documented transfer—not a continuous groundwater plume—is the connection between the two Atlas stories.
Animal remains became glue, adhesives, and decades of sludge
Peter Cooper's Gowanda works linked an unusual factory process to Cattaraugus Creek
1925-1970documented period of sludge placement
1904-1980s
Gowanda supplied animal glue and industrial adhesives
The factory processed animal-derived material into products used by other industries. Its creekside location supported manufacturing but made drainage, flood, erosion, and groundwater pathways important to the later cleanup.
1925-1970
Sludge built an elevated disposal area beside the works
Glue-manufacturing residuals were placed across about five acres. The raised disposal ground became a distinct cleanup unit within the larger former industrial property.
Remedy and long-term care
Closure controls the waste while the creek edge remains active
The state remedy uses containment, drainage, groundwater monitoring, inspection, access restrictions, and erosion management. DEC classifies the closed site as Class 4 under continuing management.
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.
Animal-glue production creates a two-site waste history
The Gowanda works manufactured glue and adhesives and managed sludge on site, while other factory waste was transported to the separate Markhams property in Dayton.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation record ↗Residents and the Seneca Nation question the proposed cleanup
About 50 residents, business owners, officials, and a Seneca Nation representative attended EPA's public meeting. The formal record preserves questions about exposure, health effects, remedy scope, effectiveness, and long-term maintenance.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Record of Decision ↗The former glue works leaves Superfund and reopens as Gateway Park
Local redevelopment converted a previously unusable creekfront industrial property into public space, while groundwater monitoring, landfill-gas venting, land restrictions, and five-year reviews continued beneath the reuse story.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ↗Chronology
Timeline
- 1904
Animal-glue manufacturing began at the Gowanda property.
- 1925–1970
Glue-manufacturing sludge was placed in the elevated disposal area.
- 1970s–1985
Industrial-adhesive operations continued before the facility closed.
- Waste-transfer history
Manufacturing waste from Gowanda was transported to the separate Bentley Road disposal property at Markhams.
- 2005
DEC selected the principal site remedy.
- Present
The closed Class 4 site remains subject to inspection, maintenance, and institutional controls.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Animal-glue manufacturing sludge and associated waste occupied a defined disposal area near Cattaraugus Creek.
- Soil, groundwater, surface-water, sediment, and creek-edge conditions were evaluated during the state cleanup.
- The five-acre sludge area is a defined feature within the former industrial property; it should not be presented as the boundary of every historic operation or remaining control.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- Waste was consolidated and covered within an engineered remedy.
- Drainage, erosion protection, groundwater monitoring, access restrictions, and site-management requirements protect the closed disposal area.
Then and now
The site today
Part of the former industrial property is associated with Zoar Valley Gateway Park, while the managed cleanup controls remain legally and physically important.
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.
Gowanda animal-products and waste network
Glue production, leather tanning, creek-edge disposal, and the transport of glue waste to Markhams form a connected industrial history. Each cleanup retains its own official boundary and remedy.
The Gowanda plant generated animal-glue waste and managed an on-site sludge-disposal area.
Leather tannery and landfillMoench TanningThe neighboring tannery adds a separate century-scale leather-waste and creek-management history.
Off-site disposal propertyPeter Cooper–Markhams Superfund SiteMarkhams received waste transported from the Peter Cooper operation in Gowanda and is managed as a separate Superfund site.