Dunkirk

History

The Iroquoian languages-speaking Erie people occupied this area of the forested lakefront along the southern shore of Lake Erie well into the 1600s, when Europeans, mostly French, started trading around the Great Lakes. They were pushed out by the Seneca people, one of the Five Nations of the powerful Haudenosaunee Confederacy, based here and further east in New York. The European-American demarcation and settlement of Chadwick Bay began in 1826. and later the town was named after Dunkirk in France The Dunkirk Lighthouse at Point Gratiot was built soon after and still stands. Dunkirk served as a minor railroad hub and steamship port on Lake Erie into the early 1900s. Both freight and passenger ships traveled the lakes. A major employer in Dunkirk in the second half of the 19th century was Brooks Locomotive Works, founded in 1869 by Horatio G. Brooks. The Brooks plant built almost 4,000 steam locomotives, for which they won several awards at international exhibitions, and a few of their locomotives were hailed as the fastest and largest locomotives in the world. Brooks Locomotive Works was merged into American Locomotive Company in 1901. The homestead of Horatio G. Brooks became the Brooks Memorial Hospital following a donation by Brooks's daughter in 1898. The city thrived as a steel town for Roebling and others through the 1950s. In addition, it was a manufacturing leader with Plymouth Tube and Ralston Purina. Its coal-burning Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation plant provided power for the region. The plant was mothballed in 2016, negatively impacting Dunkirk's tax base. NRG Energy acquired the plant and proceeded with plans to convert it from coal-burning to run on natural gas. Since the 1970s, population has declined following a regional drop in manufacturing as…

Geography

Dunkirk lies on the southeastern shore of Lake Erie and is southwest of Buffalo. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and , or 1.10%, is water. |source 2 = National Weather Service }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  6,773
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,573
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  5,930
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,593
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,199
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,872
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,509
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  4,438

Largest nearby schools

• DUNKIRK SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
  High · DUNKIRK · 882 students · 10.6:1 ratio
• DUNKIRK INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL
  Elementary · DUNKIRK · 588 students · 12:1 ratio
• FREDONIA HIGH SCHOOL
  High · FREDONIA · 463 students · 9.6:1 ratio
• SILVER CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  Elementary · SILVER CREEK · 440 students · 7.9:1 ratio
• FREDONIA MIDDLE SCHOOL
  Middle · FREDONIA · 426 students · 10.4:1 ratio
• FREDONIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  Elementary · FREDONIA · 398 students · 9.5:1 ratio
• SILVER CREEK HIGH SCHOOL
  High · SILVER CREEK · 308 students · 10.3:1 ratio
• BROCTON MIDDLE HIGH SCHOOL
  High · BROCTON · 277 students · 8.9:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.8 — 2023-02-06
  1 km NE of West Seneca, New York
• M 2.6 — 2022-03-15
  5 km SSW of Warsaw, New York
• M 2.91 — 2009-06-05
  4 km SSE of Attica, New York
• M 2.71 — 2008-03-08
  5 km ENE of Clarence Center, New York
• M 2.6 — 2007-12-13
  7 km NW of Warsaw, New York
• M 2.78 — 2005-03-28
  16 km NW of Virgil, Canada