Cheektowaga comes from the Erie-Seneca Indian word, Ji-ik-do-wah-gah, or “place of the crabapple tree.” The earliest Indian dwellers were Neutrals, who lost their lands to the Seneca tribe of the League of the Iroquois. For almost a century, this area remained hunting and fishing grounds of the Six Nations. Of the few Indian villages along the Niagara frontier, one was located in central Cheektowaga. Ga-sko-sa-da, or Falls Village, sprawled along the Indian trail that was on the north bank of the Cayuga Creek, The village’s long houses were built from Borden Road, near Broadway, along the creek bluff to Union Road.
