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From the Gowanda PennySaver News "Reflections" series compiled by Mary Pankow. issue date - August 3, 2003

c. 1953

"The Big Dig" - North Water Street at Gowanda's Village Square was the site of a huge excavation in the summer of 1953 as part of a sewer construction project. William Irwin & Son of Williamsville was the lead contractor. Dr. William Glazier, then a medical student at the University of Buffalo, was one of a handful of Gownda men who worked on this project. He recalled an attempt to tunnel under the Village Square to minimize the impact on traffic, but after encountering huge underground boulders, it became necessary to cut the roadway surface to complete the job.    Photo from the Robert Peggs Collection, Gowanda Area Historical Society - Contributed by Phil Palen, Gowanda village historian.