This neighborhood in Niagara Falls became a dumping ground for toxic waste in the 1920's when William T. Love abandoned his attempt to build a canal.
In the 1940's, Hooker Chemical began dumping industrial waste in the canal and covering it with dirt. The waste was exposed in the 1950's when the local school board bought the land for $1 and two years later construction on the dumping site began to expose the toxic waste to local residents who suffered from serious health problems including asthma, miscarriages and mental retardation, as a result of the toxins.
It was these problems that brought Love Canal into national headlines. A survey found that 56 percent of the children born in that area from 1974-1978 had birth defects.
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