CheektowagaThrills.com . . . Cheektowaga, NY founded in 1808...Population as of 2000: 94,019. Cheektowaga comes from the Erie-Seneca Indian word, Ji-ik-do-wah-gah, meaning "place of the crabapple tree"... Cheektowaga was a thriving rural town... There were taverns and saw mills... Cloth was produced along with crops of potatoes and grain...At the early Erie County Fair cheese and livestock were won by farmers and their wives or sons... Cheektowaga has become one of the most progressive townships in New York State.