Model City, New York

Model City is a

However, his plans were never realized, despite the approval of the state government in 1893. Amid the panic of 1894 his investors backed out and development stopped, with the only visitors to Model City being "curious reporters and bill collectors," trying to find an absent Love.^[5] He claimed to have left for England in 1897 seeking foreign investment.^[2] Instead, having absconded with an unknown amount of money, he practiced law in Cordova, Alaska, for several years, then attempted to start a new model city scheme in the Puget Sound area^[6] before settling on Lomax, Illinois, in 1911. By 1914 "New Lomax" went bust, with Love netting $250,000.^[7] In 1929 he tried once more, claiming to have 15,000 acres (6,100 ha) for "New City," Delaware,^[8] which similarly failed to materialize.

By the mid-1990s, Model City was "little more than a rural road with a few dozen families" and a bar.

Connection to Love Canal

The name Love Canal was taken from the name of William T. Love. His "Love's Canal", meant to connect the two levels of the Niagara River, was to anchor this booming Model City as a shipping lane. He abandoned the idea after digging only 4,600 feet of his canal, which was within the modern city of Niagara Falls. He had also constructed a few streets before creditors repossessed the construction equipment and the last of his property in 1910.

This same canal, after being used as a toxic waste dump holding more than 20,000 tons of chemical waste, had a school and a neighborhood built on top of it. It subsequently became a major environmental disaster that was exposed in the 1970s.

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