Late in the 19th century, an entrepreneur named William Love began construction of a canal around the Niagara Falls to produce power for a utopian industrial community in Lewiston, New York, just north of Niagara Falls. The plan failed, as a result of the 1890’s depression and Nicola Tesla’s invention of the transformer to convert DC to AC current, and only part of the so-called Love Canal was dug. This 16-acre elongated ditch (about 3,000 feet long and at most 100 feet wide), located in the southeastern sector of Niagara Falls, was subsequently owned by the Hooker Chemical Company (HCC) which used it from 1942 to 1953 as a dump site for industrial wastes. Material dumped consisted primarily of chemicals arising from HCC’s production of pesticides. Some parts of the Canal, however, were also used for other dumping purposes, including municipal wastes from the City of Niagara Falls.
In 1953, when the Canal was completely filled with waste materials, it was sealed by HCC with a clay cap and sold to the City of Niagara Falls for one dollar. Thereafter, the adjoining area was developed for residential use. Single family homes were constructed on both sides of the Canal site, and the 99th Street elementary school was built atop its central section.
By the mid-1970’s, after record snowfalls, it became increasingly apparent that the clay cap had been broken, allowing rainwater and melting snow to enter the Canal and to overflow its margins. The presence of water forced waste chemicals to the surface of the Canal and caused chemical seepage through surrounding surface soil into basements of nearby homes. Vegetation died, odors of volatile organics and oily slime were noted in puddles and in basements. In the summer of 1978, this growing problem of community chemical contamination led to action by state and federal authorities to purchase the first two "rings" of homes adjacent to the Canal (238 homes), to relocate the residents of those homes, and to begin corrective drainage construction around the Canal site. A system of drains, together with an on-site leachate treatment plant, was completed in 1979, and the Canal was resealed with a new clay cap. The City of Niagara Falls’ tertiary care waste water treatment center’s brand new stainless steel tanks corroded within one year.
Throughout this time period (mid-1970’s on), concern steadily grew among local residents that exposure to Canal chemicals might be producing a variety of health effects, ranging from skin lesions and neurologic problems to cancer and congenital malformation. (Lois Gibbs, a community activist who pushed the System to address their concerns, was the model for the heroine in the movie "The Love Canal Story" starring Marsha Mason.) As plans were being developed in 1978 for containing chemical seepage from the Canal, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDH) began an inquiry regarding potential human health effects related to Canal exposure.