The Sterling Engine Co., 1270 Niagara Street, was one of America’s foremost makers of engines for marine and industrial applications. Established in 1903, the engine manufacturer was part of a vast constellation of industries that once stretched along the New York Central Belt Line. Here, in a 1936 photograph, is one of the laborers who churned out thousands of gasoline and diesel engines in the course of the company’s existence. Sterling Engine was best known for its marine engines used by US and British forces in World War II. Coast Guard cutters equipped with Sterling engines rescued hundreds of survivors from stricken ships off the coast of Normandy in the initial wave of the invasion. The plant still stands along Niagara Street. Resurgence Brewing Co. and the Body of Trade and Commerce Gallery, among other tenants, now occupy the complex.