Niagara Falls National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area encompassing the Niagara Falls region of the U.S. State of New York. The heritage area includes the communities of Niagara Falls, Youngstown and Lewiston. The designation provides a framework for the promotion and interpretation of the area's cultural and historic character, and the preservation of the natural and built environment. [1] The heritage area designation recognizes the area's importance to Native Americans, to early European explorers of America, the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the area's role in the Underground Railroad. The area also recognizes the contribution of the Niagara Falls region to the industrialization of the United States, as well as the development of Niagara Falls as a protected natural area. [2]
Significant landmarks within the heritage area include the Adams Power Plant Transformer House, the Niagara Reservation, and the Colonial Niagara Historic District, all National Historic Landmarks. The Adams Power Plant was the first large alternating current generating station in the world. The Niagara Reservation, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, was the first state park in the United States. The Colonial Niagara Historic District includes Fort Niagara, which has seen a military presence from 1678 to the present day. [2]
A newer attraction within the heritage area is the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center which is operated jointly by the heritage area and the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Commission. [3]
Niagara Falls National Heritage Area was authorized by the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 of August, 2008. It establishes a commission of state and local agencies, Congressional nominees, nominees of the cities of Niagara Falls, Youngstown and Lewiston, and representatives of the Seneca and Tuscarora nations. [4]
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, forming part of the border between Ontario, Canada, to the west, and New York, United States, to the east. The origin of the river's name is debated. Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger suggests it is derived from a branch of the local Neutral Confederacy, referred to as the Niagagarega people on several late-17th-century French maps. George R. Stewart posits that it comes from an Iroquois town named Ongniaahra, meaning "point of land cut in two."
Niagara County is in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 212,666. The county seat is Lockport. The county name is from the Iroquois word Onguiaahra; meaning the strait or thunder of waters. The county is part of the Western New York region of the state.
Porter is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 6,771 at the 2010 census. The town was named after Judge Augustus Porter.
Youngstown is a village in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 1,935 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Lewiston is a village in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 2,701 at the 2010 census. The village is named after Morgan Lewis, an early 19th-century governor of New York. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Lewiston is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named after Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York.
Fort Niagara, also known as Old Fort Niagara, is a fortification originally built by New France to protect its interests in North America, specifically control of access between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great Lakes. The fort is on the river's eastern bank at its mouth on Lake Ontario. Youngstown, New York, later developed nearby.
Queenston is a compact rural community and unincorporated place 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of Niagara Falls in the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered by Highway 405 to the south and the Niagara River to the east; its location at the eponymous Queenston Heights on the Niagara Escarpment led to the establishment of the Queenston Quarry in the area. Across the river and the Canada–US border is the village of Lewiston, New York. The Lewiston-Queenston Bridge links the two communities. This village is at the point where the Niagara River began eroding the Niagara Escarpment. During the ensuing 12,000 years the Falls cut an 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) long gorge in the Escarpment southward to its present-day position.
Niagara Falls State Park is located in the City of Niagara Falls in Niagara County, New York, United States. The park, recognized as the oldest state park in the United States, contains the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls, and a portion of the Horseshoe Falls.
The Great Falls of the Passaic River is a prominent waterfall, 77 feet (23 m) high, on the Passaic River in the city of Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey. The falls and surrounding area are protected as part of the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park, administered by the National Park Service. Congress authorized its establishment in 2009.
Buildings, sites, districts, and objects in New York listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
The Niagara Gorge Railroad was an interurban railway which ran at the bottom of the Niagara Gorge from Niagara Falls, New York to Lewiston, New York.
The Robert Moses Niagara Hydroelectric Power Station is a hydroelectric power station in Lewiston, New York, near Niagara Falls. Owned and operated by the New York Power Authority (NYPA), the plant diverts water from the Niagara River above Niagara Falls and returns the water into the lower portion of the river near Lake Ontario. It uses 13 generators at an installed capacity of 2,525 MW (3,386,000 hp) with an average annual net generation of 15,897,000 MWh between 2014 and 2023, and a capacity factor of 71.9%.
The International Railway Company (IRC) was a transportation company formed in a 1902 merger between several Buffalo-area interurban and street railways. The city railways that merged were the West Side Street Railway, the Crosstown Street Railway and the Buffalo Traction Company. The suburban railroads that merged included the Buffalo & Niagara Electric Street Railway, and its subsidiary the Buffalo, Lockport & Olcott Beach Railway; the Buffalo, Depew & Lancaster Railway; and the Niagara Falls Park & River Railway. Later the IRC acquired the Niagara Gorge Railroad (NGRR) as a subsidiary, which was sold in 1924 to the Niagara Falls Power Company. The NGRR also leased the Lewiston & Youngstown Frontier Railroad.
The Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretive Center is an intermodal transit complex in Niagara Falls, New York. It serves Amtrak trains and Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority buses, houses U.S. Customs and Border Protection offices servicing the Canada–United States border, and houses the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center.
Adams Power Plant Transformer House in Niagara Falls, New York is a National Historic Landmarked building constructed in 1895. It is the only remaining structure that was part of the historic Edward Dean Adams Power Plant, the first large-scale, alternating current electric generating plant in the world, built in 1895. The building's eponym was Edward Dean Adams, a businessman and entrepreneur in the electrical field.
Freedom Crossing Monument is located on the bank of the Niagara River in Lewiston, New York, and honors the courage of fugitive slaves who sought a new life of freedom in Canada, and to the local volunteers who protected and helped them on their journey across the Niagara River. It was dedicated on October 14, 2009.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Niagara Falls, New York.
The Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center is a museum in Niagara Falls, New York, based on the history and legacy of the Underground Railroad. Opened in 2018, it is located on the first floor of a historic former U.S. Customhouse built in 1863 at the Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretive Center.
The Lewiston & Youngstown Frontier Electric Railway connected the villages of Lewiston and Youngstown in Niagara County, New York.