Letters & Notes from Museum Visitors

June 2005

I loved the articles by Sarah Moses and this made me have some questions about how North Tonawanda was settled.  I know that Many of the Irish, Italian, German and Polish people settled in NT because there were large populations of each group nearby in Buffalo.  But what attracted some of the smaller ethnic groups to settle in NT such as the Lebanese, and Slovak people?  I believe that the lumber industry was the main draw for most people who settled at the turn of the 1900's.  It would be nice to see more stories of each ethnic group and how their families came to live in NT.  I would also like to read articles that link cultural threads past and present (not just ethnic) who currently live in NT and how they came to live in NT.

Anthony Abdulla

May 2004

I live in California in the San Francisco Bay Area and I found this site last month.  It's a wonderful site and I love how it's growing.  I hope that I will have some historical information to share as I go through my things.  Hopefully there are photos and record books that I can pass onto the History Museum .  I used to live on Vandervoort Street next to the Bodoni Press and across the street from the Hershel Spillman Factory.

Mayor Betty Hoffman (married to Real Estate Owner Henry Hoffman) - formerly Betty Farrell (Booth - maiden name) was elected as the first woman mayor and the first independent sometime in the 1970's.  I believe that she held office for 3 or 4 terms.  Her mother Sarah Booth owned the Pilot House Tavern/Restaurant on Oliver Street and her late father was a ship captain.

Her mother Sarah ran on the Republican ticket for alderman an unprecedented amount of times and never won an election.  She later owned Grandma Booth's fabric store located next to the Pilot House Tavern on Oliver St .

Betty Hoffman's aunt (Angie Saliba) and Grandmother owned the Webster Street Hotel.

I heard that she ran for some office in Albany and that was the last thing that I heard.

Does anyone know the Auregema Family who used to have a flooring store on Oliver St , and who's son Norton Jr. owned and restored the DeGraff Mansion in the 1970's?  He used to rent out rooms to the actors that were playing at Melody Fair each summer.  Every Opening night of a new show, he would throw a party for the star of the show in his home.  He also operated a pizza parlor in the basement of the home in later years.  I have an artists lithograph of a drawing of the mansion that I recently purchased. I remember that one of the rooms in the house had autographs of many famous stars on the wall.  I hope that somehow that got preserved by the owners of the house.

Tony Abdulla

Anthony:

Wow!  What memories you brought back!  I lived across and kittycorner from Jay (Norton, Jr.) Aurigema when he owned the DeGraff Mansion .  He and I were both with Wilma Toye's Dance Studio when we were young, he as a dancer (terrific and so talented) and me as a pianist/accompanist for her students and at her outside performances.

George Saliba is a volunteer and member of our new museum.  He worked at Richardson Boat and was a member of the family that owned the Webster Hotel . He was a volunteer this last weekend at our open house at 345 Goundry Street .

Donna Zellner Neal

Hi Donna;

I'm grateful that you had the foresight to start the NT History Museum .  Yes, many people really want to see it happen.  About 4 years ago when I decided to decorate my home in memorabilia, I began looking on E-bay for things from NT and Buffalo .  I noticed that most of the items from NT had many bidders and people really seemed to want the items badly.  Then I began looking for NT items on google search on the web and found the official NT site.  Sometime in April while on that site I noticed the NT History Museum .

I was born in NT in 1957 and my father lived next door to the Bodoni Press on Vandervoort across from the Carousel Factory and around the corner from Wagenschuetz. I remember the wooden floors and the ladders they used to reach the shelves in the hardware store.  My mother died when I was 5, so my aunt and uncle raised me in Buffalo .  I would visit my dad on weekends, and had many memories of NT.  My dad was a member of Ascension Church and part of the Lebanese community in NT.  I moved away from Western New York in 1977, and visited my dad every year until his death in 1993.  I have a sister in Town of Tonawanda and relatives of my dad still live in NT (Baker, Stefanucci, Saliba).  The only one's that I'm really in touch with are the Stefanucci's since some of them live here in California .

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck, and I thank you for all of your hard work organizing this entire project.  I'll do what I can and keep my eyes open for artifacts from NT.

Thank you again.
Tony (Abdulla)

"I heard that Jay (Norton, Jr.)  Aurigema passed away many years ago.  I briefly saw his parents at my fathers funeral in 1992 and they told me the news at that time.  But I didn't have the time to sit and talk with them or to ask questions. He was always such a vivacious man with a vision for the artistic side of life.  My parents used to borrow costumes from him to attend theme parties in the 1960's.   A couple of years ago I purchased a lithograph of the mansion on E-Bay.  I didn't know Jay very well, but he and his family were friends of my parents. My cousin worked for Melody Fair and that's how I knew about the parties and the autograph room in the house.  But being away from the area for so many years, I've kind of lost touch with what's going on. I still have some distant relatives who still live there.

My dad worked for Buffalo Bolt and always told me the story that they closed down one day and everyone was out of work.  He later worked at Remington Rand and the Benman Company after retirement.

Are you collecting artifacts that will eventually be displayed in the museum?

Living in California all these years, I've become nostalgic and started decorating my home with various things from NT & Western NY.  I've found many things on e-bay over the years such as Thiele's milk bottles, Vic & Kai's ice cream cartons, postcards, Polk's book from 1962 of everyone's address, including who lived at the address, spouse's names and where they worked in the Tonawanda 's (I think this was used by insurance companies and contains information that most people would find intrusive today).

I wish you the best in getting the History Museum going.  I remember seeing that you're very involved in this project.  I'm curious as to who and how your group decided to make this happen.  I'm not in the area physically, but I'd love to support your project in any way that I can.

Best Wishes
Tony Abdulla

Yes, you can use my comments.

FYI - here is an interesting item that I found on your website from the newsclips from 1965

"*Elizabeth Farrell of North Tonawanda was a finalist in the Genesee Brewing Co.'s Jenny Look-A- Like contest. The winner will be judged at Fantasy Island ."

This was former mayor Betty Hoffman before she was mayor.

PS - I have some cousins from NT (Stefanucci's) that live in LA and Seal Beach .

Thanks,
Tony
email 5/20/04