Green Bay’s population was 31,017. Tonawanda, N.Y., located north of Buffalo, had a population of 10,068. However, its twin city, North Tonawanda, had a population of 15,482.
Thus, the two APFA franchises represented communities of comparable size.
The Green Bay Packers have since played 1,392 league games. The Tonawanda Kardex played one.
Last fall, during a trip to upstate New York, I spent two days at the North Tonawanda Public Library and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, trying to determine why the Packers survived and the Kardex didn’t.
Here’s what I found.
The newspapers of the two cities certainly had something to do with it.