Model City, New York facts for kids

Model City is a small community, also called a hamlet, located in the town of Lewiston. It's in Niagara County, New York, in the United States.

It was first planned in the 1890s as a perfect city, a kind of utopia, by a man named William T. Love. He was a railroad lawyer who had tried similar big plans before. Love imagined Model City as "The most beautiful [park] in the world." He planned for homes for over a million people, a canal, and a power plant that used water to make electricity. Love promised that the city would have clean air, beautiful landscapes, and a great quality of life.

William T. Love's Big Dream

William T. Love was born in 1856. He had a grand vision for Model City. He wanted to build a place where everything was perfect. His advertising pamphlets promised a city free from pollution. He said the land would be wonderfully designed. Homes and the overall quality of life would be better than any other city. He even planned a special canal. This canal would help ships move between different parts of the Niagara River. It would also power a large hydroelectric plant.

Why the Dream Didn't Come True

Even though the state government approved his plans in 1893, Love's big dream never came true. A financial crisis hit in 1894. Because of this, the people who were going to invest money in his project pulled out. The building work stopped. The only people who visited Model City were reporters and people trying to collect money from Love. He claimed he went to England to find new investors. Instead, he practiced law in Cordova, Alaska, for some years. He then tried to start new "model cities" in other places, but these also failed.

Model City Today

By the mid-1990s, Model City was mostly a quiet country road. It had only a few families living there and a local bar. It's interesting because Love's original idea was about being good for the environment. However, Model City later became home to a very large landfill. This landfill is owned by a company called Waste Management.

The Love Canal Connection

The famous name Love Canal comes from William T. Love. His plan for "Love's Canal" was a key part of his Model City. He wanted it to be a shipping route connecting two levels of the Niagara River. He started digging the canal, but he only finished about 4,600 feet. This part of the canal is now within the city of Niagara Falls. He also built a few streets. But then, people he owed money to took his construction equipment and his remaining property in 1910.

This same canal, which Love had started, was later used for something very different. It became a dump for over 20,000 tons of chemical waste. After it was filled, a school and a neighborhood were built on top of it. In the 1970s, it was discovered that the chemicals were leaking. This led to a major environmental disaster.