Aug 4

Written by: Joe Longo
Saturday, August 04, 2007 

Hundreds of people have looked at a display at the Victoria Avenue Library of sixteen black and white photographs of buildings and other structures which no longer exist in Niagara Falls.

The display titled "Those Were The Days" will bring back memories of our community's past including the Eaton's Store, Stamford Park racetrack, the Clifton Hotel, the Union Bus Terminal, the Niagara Wire Weaving Plant located at the former Pyramid Place and the Lundy's Lane School.There is a photo of the demolition of the Canadian National Railway Station at the corner of Bridge St. and Victoria Avenue, the Bush Estate built by Samuel Zimmerman on Clifton Hill, Cyanamid, the J.A. Russnell Funeral Home on Huron St. and a former parking area in Queen Victoria Park.

See Barnett's Niagara Falls Museum in 1881, Barker Street School in 1919 , the Oneida Community Plate building and crowds at the Victoria Park Station awaiting a Niagara St. Catharines and Toronto Railway NSCT train.

A photo of the impressive Clifton Gate Memorial Arch which was located on River Road near the Rainbow Bridge brings the most comments by the public. It was erected in 1937 to recognize the 1837 Rebellion led by William Lyon MacKenzie and was designed to match the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Demolition was completed in 1968 to make way for more automobile traffic.

An article in the Review on March 8, 1984 stated that whatever useful pieces left after the demolition were in the hands of the Toronto Historical Board who received thirteen carved blocks in 1978 for the McKenzie House Museum in Toronto. Most of the heavy blocks were used in the construction of the Niagara gorge wall and at old Fort Erie.

Fifty two photographs of the arch can be viewed on the Historic Niagara Digital Collections on the library's website www.nfpl.library.on.ca/nfplindex/ by typing "memorial arch". Included is a dramatic photograph of its demolition published March 2, 1968 in the Review. The library's heritage clipping file includes many Review newspaper articles.

The Review has always been a major source of local history information. On the Review's website www.niagarafallsreview.ca, visitors will find a section called "Back in Time" with links to the library's Historic Niagara Digital Collections, Newspaper Index, Historic Images and Niagara Falls Heritage Portal. The Library has also added a link on our website to the Review.

Every day more than 6,000 visitors search the library's Historic Niagara Digital Collections.