In 1890, Love Canal was created as a model planned community, but was only partially developed. In the 1920s, the canal became a dump site for municipal refuse for the city of Niagara Falls. During the 1940s, the canal was purchased by Hooker Chemical Company, now Occidental Chemical Corporation, which used the site to dump 21,800 short tons (roughly 19,800 t) of chemical byproducts from the manufacturing of dyes, perfumes, and solvents for rubber and synthetic resins.