Buffalo Express, June 4, 1893
New Industrial Town
Gatling Is Launched
The New Town Was Dedicated Formally Yesterday
A Cornerstone Laid
Dr. Gatling Tells a Throng what the plans of the New Ordnance Company Are - Building-lots Sold at Auction at Good Prices.
Yesterday marked an important event in the industrial history of this part of the State. It will long be remembered as the day on which the new town of Gatling was dedicated and the corner-stone of the Gatling Ordnance Company's works was laid. After careful preparations and the outlay of much money, an opportunity was given to the citizens of Buffalo to investigate the real condition of affairs at Gatling and see for themselves what a little enterprise can accomplish when well directed.
The Gatling Town-site Company had two special trains run out to the new town and provided transportation to all who wished to go. A large tent had been erected on the highest part of the new town, and Caterer Weeks of New York and his assistants fed about 3,000 people. The first train left Buffalo at 10 o'clock and consisted of 10 cars, all of which were crowded. The second train, which left the city at 1.30 o'clock, was made up of nine cars. Although the day was extremely hot and the sun made many a man's head dizzy with its fierce rays, still the immense crowd was jolly, good-natured and, what is more, very well pleased with all it saw and heard in Gatling.
The site of the proposed town is well chosen and commands a fine view of all the surrounding country. The town is cut in two by Eighteen-mile Creek, a lively, sparkling stream which flows through a kind of canyon with precipitous sides of solid rock about 100 feet high. The hamlet of Idlewood can be seen nestled among the trees about two miles as the crow flies, from Gatling, and the natural beauties and picturesqueness of Eighteen-mile Creek are some of the attractions which make this place so popular as a summer resort. It was on account of the deep ravine and the stream of water at the bottom that the Gatling Ordnance Company decided to erect its plant there for the manufacture of heavy ordnance. In order to cast guns of immense size it is necessary that a mold should be built, and as the one in process of construction at Gatling is intended to be 75 feet deep and 20 feet in diameter, the neighboring ravine is used as the natural drain, and is connected with the bottom of the mold.
At 11 o'clock Dr. Gatling delivered a brief address in which he outlined the plans of the ordnance company for the coming summer. The corner-stone of the main furnace building was then laid. It contained a copper box in which were the list of officers and stockholders of the company, copies of yesterday's Buffalo papers, coins, a steel engraving of Dr. Gatling and a printed biographical sketch of his life and a list of the officers of the State, county and city governments. At noon lunch was served in the big tent and the people pushed and shoved one another and devoured the refreshments provided with an appetite sharpened by the hot sun and pure country air.
Immediately after the luncheon Jere Johnson, Jr., the real-estate auctioneer of New York, climbed up into a carriage and opened the sale. The first lot was bought by Mrs. Sarah Shannon of No. 212 Landon Street for $215. The bids came in fast and furious and over 30 lots had been sold in 1 1/5 hours at an average price of $215 a lot. At 2.30 o'clock the crowd was greatly enlarged by the arrival of the second train from Buffalo. The lots were auctioned off one at a time and considerable rivalry and enthusiasm were manifested.
The lots on 8th Avenue, which is to be the business street, sold as high as $365 and none of them fell below $300. At 6 o'clock about 175 lots had been knocked down by Mr. Johnson, the average price being $215. No lot fell below $200.
A great many lots were disposed of in the office of the company. One lucky young real-estate man of this city bought two lots on Idlewood Avenue for $250 apiece at the commencement of the sale and re-sold the lots for $400 each during the afternoon. Mr. George M. Bailey told an Express reporter that he thought about 150 lots had been sold.
"The success of the sale has far exceeded my most sanguine expectations," said Mr. Bailey. "We have received as first payments of lots sold over $5,000 today in cash and a great many of the buyers were unable to make that first deposit on the spot."
All the real-estate men who visited Gatling yesterday predict that the town will contain 5,000 people in two years. Nearly all of the large dealers bought property at the auction. The erection of the furnace building will be begun as soon as the material is placed upon the ground. The Lehman Shoe Company has built its factory, which is now in operation. This firm will employ about 50 hands and the Gatling Ordnance Company will employ 1,000 men.
The large purchases made yesterday and the sums paid for lots were surprising even to old real-estate men. The town of Gatling has been placed before the public in all the glory of electric-lights and mechanical effects and those interested say the boom will never die.
Buffalo Express, June 4, 1893, page 13.
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library