Niagara Falls Ontario is located along the Niagara Falls waterfalls and the Niagara Gorge on the western bank of the Niagara River, which flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The Niagara River flows over Niagara Falls at this location and creates a natural spectacle that attracts millions of tourists each year. Niagara Falls is about 130 kilometers (81 miles) by road from Toronto, which is across Lake Ontario to the north.
Louis
Hennepin, a French priest and missionary, is believed to be the first European
to visit the area in the 1670s. Increased settlement in this area took place
during and after the American Revolutionary War, when the British Crown made
land grants to Loyalists to help them resettle in Upper Canada and provide some
compensation for their losses after the United States became independent.
Loyalist Robert Land received 200 acres and was one of the first people of
European descent to settle in the Niagara Region.
Tourism
started in the early nineteenth century. The falls became known as a natural
wonder, due in part to paintings by prominent American artists such as Albert
Bierstadt. Niagara Falls is the self-proclaimed “honeymoon capital of the
world.”
With
a plentiful and inexpensive source of hydroelectric power from the waterfalls,
many electro-chemical and electro-metallurgical industries located there in the
early to mid-20th century.
6145 Corwin Avenue – built in 1876 – Egerton Ryerson Morden built and lived in this house. He operated a successful nursery on ten acres of land that surrounded his home. He specialized in small fruit plants and ornamental trees. The house is an example of board and batten in the Italianate and Stickley styles. It has an irregular “L†shaped plan with a one-storey kitchen and bedroom addition to the rear. It has patterned wood shingles and ornamental roof brackets. The house was relocated from Dorchester Road to Corwin Avenue.6151 Culp Street – This house is an example of Cottage Gothic and was built in 1855. It has a central peaked Gothic gable and a jerkin head roof (a roof having a hipped end truncating a gable). The windows have simple wooden drip caps. The central door opening has a transom and sidelights.6023 Culp Street – John Allen Orchard who owned this house was a prominent member of the Drummondville and Stamford Communities. He came with his father from England in 1836. He purchased Lot 5 on Culp Street in 1856 and the house was built soon after. He served as Township Clerk and Clerk of the Division Court. His nephew Joseph Cadham lived there after his uncle’s death in 1896. Joseph’s daughter Margaret inherited the house and lived there the rest of her life. This house has many features of the Queen Anne Revival style. The house has both decorative and wood shingle finish and clapboard siding. The tower and verandah were probably added later in the 1890s.5982 Culp Street – Francis Sheriff and Thomas Bright started the Niagara Falls Wine Company (Brights Wines) in Toronto in 1874. They moved to Niagara Falls in 1890 to be closer to their major source of grapes. This house was built for Francis Sheriff in 1894 for a cost of $4000.00. It is in the Queen Anne Revival style with an asymmetrical form, deep porch, and an irregular roof line which includes gables, dormers and a turret. The house exterior is brick with decorative cedar shingles on the turret and in the gables. The three-part window in the front gable is an adaptation of the Palladian style; the central section has a round headed window. The large wraparound porch has Tuscan style columns that rest on a brick base topped with a square stone cap.6161 Main Street – “A Night to Remember†Bed & Breakfast – Mary E. Ferguson purchased this lot in 1899 and had this house built for rental purposes. It was built in the Queen Anne Revival style. It has an asymmetrical form with a complex roof. The bay window of the second floor extends to form a third-floor tower with a bell-shaped roof. The wraparound porch features columns and a pediment with intricate scroll work.6248 Main Street – St. Mary’s Nativity of the Holy Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church – It was built by the local congregation to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the Ukrainian people’s conversion to Christianity. The church follows traditional forms of Ukrainian architecture with a central dome over a four-armed cruciform pattern. There are no windows on the lower level as churches were also used as sanctuaries for the villagers when they were attacked by marauding Mongol tribes. St. Mary’s was built using huge white pine logs from northern Ontario.5810 Ferry Street – Stamford Township Hall was erected in 1874. It is now the Niagara Falls History Museum. The hall with its durable hammer dressed limestone construction in its eclectic Italianate styling includes a gabled hip roof with brackets and gingerbread trim, windows of different shape on the first and second storeys, and the main entrance archway with a keystone and voussoirs.5993 Barker Street – Henry Spence (1809-1894) was a successful mason and builder of the Drummondville area. Born in England, he emigrated to Canada with his family in 1817. He had acquired a significant amount of property over the years in what is now central Drummondville. He also owned a homestead farm on Township Lot 161 south of present-day Dunn Street from 1854-1885. The main part of the house has a square stone foundation; there is a rear wing with a gable roof. There is a semi-elliptical transom over the front door, a large three-part parlor window, and a bay window. The front porch with its square tapering support columns is likely an early 20th century addition.5775 Peer Street – John Misener Jr. was born in 1829. He was 26 when he purchased the land on Peer Street from his father. His father, Captain John Misener owned and operated a wagon-making business on the corner of Main Street and Peer Street. John Misener Jr. assumed the wagon-making business after his father’s death in 1855. The house, c. 1855, is in the Ontario Gothic style with a central gable in the roof. The gable window design with a pediment is an adaptation of Italianate form. The field stone wall of the verandah was a later addition. The upper portion of the verandah features elaborate woodwork with turned posts.
