Industrial history
Factories, products, employers, and material flows
Founding edition · 2026
Western New York Industrial & Environmental Atlas
What happened here?
Follow the evidence across factories, waterways, waste sites, cleanup projects, and the places Western New Yorkers know today.
Cleanup Industry Waterway Radiological PFAS documented PFAS under review
Environmental legacy
Documented contaminants, disposal, and waterways
Waterways transformed
Straightened creeks, filled wetlands, and hardened shorelines
Recovery & restoration
Cleanup, habitat repair, monitoring, and what returned
Documented collection
Explore places
Search 188 researched places by name, community, county, or environmental history.
Current environmental place records span 7 Western New York counties. This is a documented research collection, not a complete inventory; an unlisted county or property should not be read as evidence that no qualifying history exists. See coverage and research status.
Love Canal
Niagara Falls · Niagara County
Buffalo Color
Buffalo · Erie County
Buffalo River
Buffalo · Erie County
Linde Air Products
Town of Tonawanda · Erie County
Bethlehem Steel
Lackawanna · Erie County
West Valley Demonstration Project
Ashford · Cattaraugus County
Republic Steel
Buffalo · Erie County
Tonawanda Coke
Town of Tonawanda · Erie County
Showing 8 of 188 places
Built as a public record
Document the past. Understand the present.
WNYAtlas connects industrial history with environmental records, cleanup decisions, ongoing management, and redevelopment. Proximity is context—not proof of causation—and every meaningful claim will lead back to a source.