From the above linked site:
"Love Canal is a neighbourhood in Niagara Falls, New York. The nickname "Love Canal" came from the last name of William Love who in 1896 began digging a canal connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie (bypassing Niagara Falls) in order to serve as a water power conduit. It was never completed but the Hooker Chemical Company, located west of the canal, had the ingenious idea of turning the uncompleted canal into a dumping ground for the chemical by-products of its manufacturing process.
Once the canal was filled with waste, the land was covered over and sold to the Niagara Falls city school board for $1.00 and a school and subdivision of homes was built right on top of the waste.
The chemicals were detected leaking out of the site in 1977 and many health problems were also reported. Residents were evacuated after a lengthy fight with the New York State government. Today, it remains a ghost town. The main dump site is fenced in (with a school and many homes bulldozed over and buried in the ground with the waste). Over the rest of the area of crumbling, dilapidated homes hangs a gaunt, eerie silence, reminding visitors of the spectre that hazardous waste poses in our modern society."
In a nutshell, it was a toxic waste DISASTER of epic proportions.
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