The Union Carbide Company was founded in Niagara Falls in 1898. At the time of its inception, Union Carbide was not only one of Niagara Falls’ first industrial firms, but it was also the nation’s largest producer of carbide products. Union Carbide occupied three major facilities in Western New York and employed roughly 5,000 people. […]
Founded by Franklin Olin in 1892, Olin Industries began as a blasting powder company, which supplied powder to Midwestern coal fields. Olin’s success allowed for the company’s expansion into small arms ammunition and the formation of the Western Cartridge Company in 1898. By the 1950s Olin Industries product line included brass and other nonferrous alloys, […]
Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford, LLC, represents numerous former and retired laborers who were employed at the Hooker Electrochemical Company (Hooker Chemical or Hooker Niagara) located in Niagara Falls, NY. In recent years, former employees of Hooker Chemical have developed and died of mesothelioma, various cancers, and other chemical and asbestos-related diseases. Hooker Chemical’s Niagara Falls, […]
The Hooker Chemical Company is a name that is unfortunately synonymous with one of America’s largest and most tragic chemical disasters, Love Canal. It is estimated that between 1942 and 1975 Hooker Chemical disposed of 199,900 tons of chemical waste at four dump sites in Niagara Falls, NY. One of the most notorious sites, Love […]
In 1947, the Pathfinder Chemical Company, a subsidiary of Goodyear Tire & Rubber, constructed a chemical plant at the corner of 56th Street and Baker Avenue in Niagara Falls, New York. The plant consisted of ten buildings on twenty-three acres of land, and it manufactured vinyl resins and chemical additives used in the production of […]
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) is one of the nation’s largest chemical companies, headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. The US chemical industry’s biggest merger closed on August 31, 2017, between DuPont and Dow Chemical Company in an all-stock transaction, making the combined company, DowDuPont, have an estimated value of $130 Billion. It was […]
In recent years, former employees of Carbide Graphite Group, Inc., have developed and died of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other asbestos-related diseases. Laborers who were employed at its Packard Road plant located in Niagara Falls, New York, were routinely exposed to asbestos-containing materials. The Carbide Graphite Group, Inc., manufactured graphite electrode products, needle coke, and calcium […]
In recent years, former employees of Carborundum have developed and died of mesothelioma, lung cancer and other asbestos-related diseases. Laborers employed at both the Buffalo Avenue and Walmore Road plants were at high risk for exposure to asbestos-containing materials. Carborundum, located in Niagara Falls, New York, manufactured general purpose grinding wheels that were used to grind […]