House built by Albert Augustus Porter – Buffalo Avenue. Now the site of the Holiday Inn.
Image of the Day – March 16, 2015
March 16, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Niagara Arts & Cultural Center Update – March 2015
March 5, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Looking to get involved in your local community? Come to Niagara Arts & Culture Center!
Help Preserve Regional Heritage and Protect a Historic Landmark Building While Promoting Community Arts & Culture!
March 12th @ 6pm: Thomas Chambers
American Antiquities are so Rare: Commemorating 1812 on the Niagara Frontier
Perhaps no other part of the United States saw more battles during the War of 1812 than the Niagara River borderland in western New York State. In later years its decaying fortifications and overgrown battlefields provided reminders of the struggle’s bloodshed and indecisive conclusion.
Tourists traveling to Niagara Falls visited nearby Fort Niagara, Queenston Heights or Lundy’s Lane, constructing the war’s memory in the process. As one visitor wrote during an 1821 trip to Niagara, “This beautiful country stimulates my patriotism.” Battlefields and monuments on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border became sites where Americans, and especially New Yorkers, came to understand why the War of 1812 mattered, and how they could remember its fallen heroes.
March 19th @ 6pm: Eric Bloomquist
“Creating Borders and Defining Country”
Discover the forgotten history of borderlands in the Niagara Region. Learn about the impact of the Holland Land Company,Pioneer settlement, Native Treaties and the creationof an American National Identity.
March 26th @ 6pm: Alan Jamieson
Haudenosaunee Diplomacy and the Two Row Wampum Treaty
The Two Row Wampum Treaty is considered by the Haudenosaunee to be the basis of all of their subsequent treaties with European and North American governments. Find out more about this agreement also known as the Tawagonshi Agreement of 1613 between representatives of the Five Nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) and representatives of the Dutch government in 1613 in what is now upstate New York.
Come Visit Niagara Arts & Culture Center at 1201 Pine Ave., Niagara Falls NY, 14301
Or Visit our website! http://www.thenacc.org
New York Power Authority Finds New Home for Old Stone Chimney
January 13, 2015 By 5 Comments
[NYPA Press Release]
A monument to the Niagara River portage will soon be relocated to a new, more prominent home by the New York Power Authority (NYPA).
The Old Stone Chimney, a surviving relic of the French and Indian War and the War of 1812, currently sits nearly hidden on NYPA property behind the former Porter Park on Buffalo Avenue in Niagara Falls, adjacent to the Robert Moses Parkway and its exit ramp to the city.
The chimney will be relocated to NYPA land across the parkway and closer to the Niagara River. This more accessible venue will allow the chimney to serve as a featured component in developing heritage tourism efforts. The relocation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
“NYPA is happy to support the growing public interest in local heritage tourism as symbolized by this architectural artifact and its relevance to the region’s rich history,” said Gil C. Quiniones, NYPA president and CEO. “Along with our Niagara Power Vista visitors center, we are pleased to help provide another reason for tourists to come to Niagara Falls.”
As part of the relocation effort, NYPA will install a new foundation and reassemble the Old Stone Chimney. To improve public access to the site, NYPA will also provide a small parking area.
“NYPA’s support provides the city with the best opportunity to showcase the chimney,” Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster said. “In addition, it is our intention to use NYPA Greenway funding to position the chimney site to serve as a gateway to Niagara Falls State Park, the Niagara River’s existing hiking and biking trails and to other tourism and recreation sites currently in development.”
The chimney was originally part of the French barracks just outside the Fort du Portage and was used for cooking and heating in the 1700s. When the British invaded, the French abandoned and burned down the fort, but the chimney survived. It then became part of the home of General Peter A. Porter in the 1840s.
Since the current and proposed locations for the chimney are within the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) boundary for the Niagara Power Project, the relocation project is subject to review under NYPA’s Historic Properties Management Plan agreed to with FERC during the Project’s relicensing. The New York State Historic Preservation Office will monitor the project, and a number of interested agencies and preservation groups are providing guidance, including the Niagara Falls Planning Department, the Historic Preservation Commission, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area Commission and the Niagara Portage Old Guard.
QUOTES BY OTHERS:
“I appreciate NYPA’s support for yet another effort to expand public access to Western New York waterways,” Congressman Brian Higgins said. “By continuing to improve infrastructure and give people more reasons and opportunity to get closer to the water’s edge we can continue the transformational changes taking place.”
“We have so much of our heritage in Niagara County to be proud of. The relocation of the chimney enhances the entranceways to the city and the state park while boosting the developing heritage trail,” Assemblyman John Ceretto said. “It creates another interesting stopping point for visitors exploring the history of our region and our country on their way to Fort Niagara and other attractions.”
Our region is full of compelling stories and I applaud the efforts underway to allow more tourists to experience a relic of the 1700’s and our area’s historical role in the development of our nation,” said Senator Robert Ortt.
Back in Time: Main Street and Cleveland Avenue (from the Orrin E. Dunlap Collection at the Niagara Falls Public Library)
June 7, 2014 By 4 Comments
[Text from the back of the photo on the left, typed and pasted to photo by Orrin E. Dunlap]
In 1855, when George H. Hackstaff moved from Niagara Falls to Niagara City, he established the Franklin Bookstore and Printing office on the northwest corner of Lewiston and Erie Avenues, now Main and Cleveland Avenue. There he printed the Niagara City Herald. In moving, Hackstaff moved his family, business and building from the Falls to Niagara City, and of the step he editorially said the following on Nov. 15, 1855:
“A Remove – Our friends at Niagara Falls who have and inkling to take up the same ‘line of march’ that we did, by the removal of their buildings and families to the great busy mart, we would recommend the conveyance of Mr. John Chubbick. We lived comfortably on board of our dwelling while the vehicle jogged us along just as easy as a thing of life, though not exactly at railroad speed, and a little outside of two-forty. If John had a little more go head in him, we opine he would have better success in business – still, John can’t prevent the roads being muddy, or the clouds sending down an unusual quantity of water. We hear John is busily engaged in removing the International Hotel to what point in the locality it is still to be situated, is all a mystery.”
The building shown in the picture is the Hackstaff building and site, known later in my boyhood as “Tommy” Hannan’s Corner. The Herald Office was moved to the Colt’s Block, 2nd Floor, early 1859.
One of the first owners of this corner was a Scotchman named James Russell, who died April 10, 1866.
In 1946, the brick building on this corner was remodeled. It was a costly job of months.
- Orrin E. Dunlap, from the Orrin E. Dunlap Collection at the Niagara Falls Public Library
Image of the Day – May 7, 2013 – Old Stone Chimney c.1890
May 6, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The Old Stone Chimney, along the bank of the Niagara River at Frenchmen’s Landing, the original upper terminus of the Portage. A few fruit trees still remained from Stedman’s orchard to the south. Photo ca. 1890. Peter Porter would be the Chimney’s first and most passionate preservation advocate. Courtesy of Revere The Old Stone Chimney
Image of the Day – April 29, 2013
April 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment
“Niagara Falls- Toronto Ferry Company” 1904 – Click link here for fineartamerica.com
Image of the Day – March 15, 2013
March 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Pine Plaza (Krull Parkway Townhouses in background) – visit www.iwitnessniagara.org
Image of the Day – March 8, 2013
March 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Very cool photo of United Office Building and area where Quality Inn/Legend’s is now.
(Thanks Matt Green!) Niagara Falls, New York – USA
Who was Robert Moses?
February 25, 2013 By 1 Comment
With all the recent hoopla surrounding different parts of the Robert Moses Parkway being removed within the City of Niagara Falls, one might wonder, “Who the hell was Robert Moses?”