Tonawanda Coke Corp.

...an ISO 9001 Registered merchant producer of high-performance foundry coke. Tonawanda Coke Corporation and its employees are committed to providing our customers with a superior product backed by the highest standards of quality and service.

We cordially invite you to learn more about our company, people, products, and services. Please enjoy your visit.In 1917, the first coke ovens were put into service at the Tonawanda facility, located along the Niagara River about a mile north of Buffalo, New York. The original battery contained 60 ovens of Semet-Solvay design with horizontal heating flues. In 1926, a second battery, also containing 60 ovens of comparable design, was put into operation.

Primary customers for this plant were the Wickwire-Spencer Steel Companyand Tonawanda Iron. Approximately 30 million cubic feet of coke oven gas was also sold daily to Iroquois Gas Company. 

In 1961, #2 Battery (built in 1926) was taken out of service and dismantled. A new #2 battery was constructed in its place, consisting of 60 four-meter ovens of Wilputte gun-fired, hairpin, cross-regenerative design. This new battery was placed on-line in 1962 and is still in operation today. The original 1917 battery (#1 Battery) became inactive in 1972.

Allied Chemical Corporation put the plant up for sale in June 1977. However, in December of that year, a large tar storage tank collapsed, igniting a fire that nearly destroyed the entire facility.

In January 1978, J.D.Crane purchased the 188 acre site, and production operations resumed under the banner of Tonawanda Coke Corporation in February, 1978. The facility continues to operate as a merchant producer of high-quality foundry coke.