Queen Victoria Park
Encyclopedia
Queen Victoria Park is the main parkland located in Niagara Falls, Ontario
, Canada
opposite the American
and Canadian Horseshoe
Falls. Established by a Provincial Park Act in 1885 and opened in 1888, the park is operated by the Niagara Parks Commission
and is considered the centerpiece of the Niagara Falls
recreational tourist area.
The park is known for its outstanding flower displays of daffodils and roses
in-season, with many of the plantings done in a carpet-bedding
design. Queen Victoria Park is also the focal point for the annual winter Festival of Lights.
bed. Father Louis Hennepin
is purported to be the first visitor to explore the area in depth in 1678. Active settlements in the area did not begin until the dawn of the 19th century with the establishment of a small hut which served as an inn. William Forsyth, a Buffalo
immigrant, settled in the area in 1818 and by 1822, had established the first stairway down to the lower Niagara River below the falls, in addition to the first substantial building in the area, the Pavilion Hotel. By the late 1820s, the parcel was sold to Thomas Clark and Samuel Street, who began the construction of several buildings near the area now called Table Rock
on the south end of the future park property. They were joined in competition by Thomas Barnett
who, in 1827, built a museum just south of Table Rock, on the present site of the Table Rock Center
. The north end of the property, now occupied by Oakes Garden Theater, housed the Clifton House, built in 1833 and catering to the well-to-do traveller.
Samuel Zimmerman
, who built his fortune on helping construct the second Welland Canal
and the Great Western Railway
, then appropriated 52 acres (210,436.7 m²) of land opposite the American Falls with plans to design an elaborate estate. The estate did not come to pass; upon Zimmerman's tragic death in 1856, only two gatehouses and a fountain had been built.
By the late 1850's, Saul Davis came to Canada after having operated the Prospect House in Niagara Falls, New York
. He immediately erected a similar museum next to Barnett's, called Table Rock House. Barnett and Davis soon became bitter rivals, as each fiercely attempted to outdo the other with competing stairways down to the lower level of the Horseshoe Falls. Customers desiring to go to one museum would be intercepted by members of the other museum and forced to pay (often by way of threats of physical violence by Davis' employees) for services and products they did not want to buy. This area became known as The Front, a notorious tourist trap.
By 1859, Barnett built a substantial building on the site of the present-day Victoria Park Restaurant and began adding to his museum collection there, yet his war with Davis at the Falls would last into the 1870s, when Barnett's riverfront museum went into receivership.
The first suggestion of a park at this site came in 1873 as an idea offered by Edmund Burke Wood
, a member of Canadian Parliament, in an effort to quell the criminal element in the area. This idea was refused, however, by the new Premier, Oliver Mowat
, even when given a federal offer to split the cost of establishing such a park. By 1880, Mowat began considering the possibility of using a private corporation to take on the idea. Several proposals were floated in the ensuing years, all either struck down by Mowat or failing to get legislative backing. Mowat did not want the government to pay for land acquisition and development.
A three-member committee was established in 1885, headed by Polish immigrant Sir Casimir Gzowski
, who proposed a government-run park encompassing 118 acre (0.47752948 km²), to be free to the public. A follow-up report in 1887 warning of "general regret and disappointment" convinced Mowat to push through the Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park Act in March, 1887. Unsightly outbuildings were razed, grounds were cleaned up, and Queen Victoria Park was officially opened to the public on May 24, 1888; the birthday of Queen Victoria.
attraction), and began making aesthetic improvements to the park over the next several years. The Commission opened its first greenhouse in 1896 as part of an effort to beautify the park; it had been virtually barren of mature trees when first established. Thomas Barnett's museum was demolished in 1903 and the present-day Victoria Park Restaurant, known then as the Refectory
, was opened in 1904. The Commission granted franchises to three more hydroelectric power plants to raise additional revenue between 1904 and 1918: the Electrical Development Company of Toronto, the Ontario Powerhouse, and the Rankine power station
.
The original Clifton Hotel
north of the park was lost to fire in 1898. Its replacement likewise was destroyed by fire in December, 1932. Harry Oakes
, a mining millionaire who had already established roots in Niagara Falls, bought the property and presented it to the Niagara Parks Commission (the name shortened from 1921). Oakes Garden Theater was built on the site and opened in September, 1937, as part of a plan to beautify the entrance into Canada at the Upper Steel Arch Bridge. Four months later, the bridge was toppled by a severe ice jam in January 1938, and the present-day Rainbow Bridge
was built further downriver, opening in 1941. The Arch Bridge area would eventually become the Rainbow Gardens.
The Queenston/Chippewa Railway abandoned its lease in 1932, presenting the Commission with further financial peril. Compensation to the railway went to arbitration and lasted nearly five years, ending with a million-dollar compensation order paid for by the Commission. This judgment, along with the approach of World War II, restricted the Commission's ability to make improvements to the Park until the late 1940s.
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Niagara Falls is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The municipality was incorporated on June 12, 1903...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
opposite the American
American Falls
The American Falls is one of three waterfalls that together are known as Niagara Falls on the Niagara River along the Canada-U.S. border. Unlike the much larger Horseshoe Falls, of which two-thirds of the falls is located in Ontario, Canada and one-third in New York State, United States, the...
and Canadian Horseshoe
Horseshoe Falls
The Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian Falls, is part of Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River. Approximately 90% of the Niagara River, after diversions for hydropower generation, flows over Horseshoe Falls. The remaining 10% flows over the American Falls...
Falls. Established by a Provincial Park Act in 1885 and opened in 1888, the park is operated by the Niagara Parks Commission
Niagara Parks Commission
The Niagara Parks Commission, or Niagara Parks for short, is an agency of government of Ontario which maintains the Ontario shoreline of the Niagara River.- History :...
and is considered the centerpiece of the Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
recreational tourist area.
The park is known for its outstanding flower displays of daffodils and roses
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
in-season, with many of the plantings done in a carpet-bedding
Bedding (horticulture)
Bedding, in horticulture, refers to the temporary planting of fast-growing plants into flower beds to create colourful, temporary, seasonal displays, during spring, summer or winter. Plants used for bedding are generally annuals, biennials or tender perennials; succulents are gaining in popularity...
design. Queen Victoria Park is also the focal point for the annual winter Festival of Lights.
Early History (up to 1888)
The area comprising Queen Victoria Park was originally part of the upper Niagara RiverNiagara River
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
bed. Father Louis Hennepin
Louis Hennepin
Father Louis Hennepin, O.F.M. baptized Antoine, was a Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Recollect order and an explorer of the interior of North America....
is purported to be the first visitor to explore the area in depth in 1678. Active settlements in the area did not begin until the dawn of the 19th century with the establishment of a small hut which served as an inn. William Forsyth, a Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
immigrant, settled in the area in 1818 and by 1822, had established the first stairway down to the lower Niagara River below the falls, in addition to the first substantial building in the area, the Pavilion Hotel. By the late 1820s, the parcel was sold to Thomas Clark and Samuel Street, who began the construction of several buildings near the area now called Table Rock
Table Rock
Table Rock may refer to one of these locations in the United States:* Table Rock , a hill near Boise, Idaho* Table Rock, Missouri* Table Rock * Table Rock , a mountain in North Carolina...
on the south end of the future park property. They were joined in competition by Thomas Barnett
Thomas Barnett
Thomas P.M. Barnett is an American military geostrategist and Chief Analyst at Wikistrat.-Education and career:Barnett was born in Chilton, Wisconsin, and grew up in Boscobel, Wisconsin. A distant cousin, Major General George Barnett , was Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps during World War I...
who, in 1827, built a museum just south of Table Rock, on the present site of the Table Rock Center
Table Rock Center
The Table Rock Welcome Centre is a retail and observation complex located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada at the brink of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, several hundred feet south of the former rock formation which bears its name...
. The north end of the property, now occupied by Oakes Garden Theater, housed the Clifton House, built in 1833 and catering to the well-to-do traveller.
Samuel Zimmerman
Samuel Zimmerman
Samuel Zimmerman was a Canadian railway promoter and entrepreneur instrumental in the construction of the Great Western Railway of Upper Canada.-Early life:...
, who built his fortune on helping construct the second Welland Canal
Welland Canal
The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Canada that extends from Port Weller, Ontario, on Lake Ontario, to Port Colborne, Ontario, on Lake Erie. As a part of the St...
and the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
, then appropriated 52 acres (210,436.7 m²) of land opposite the American Falls with plans to design an elaborate estate. The estate did not come to pass; upon Zimmerman's tragic death in 1856, only two gatehouses and a fountain had been built.
By the late 1850's, Saul Davis came to Canada after having operated the Prospect House in Niagara Falls, New York
Niagara Falls, New York
Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 50,193, down from the 55,593 recorded in the 2000 census. It is across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario , both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they...
. He immediately erected a similar museum next to Barnett's, called Table Rock House. Barnett and Davis soon became bitter rivals, as each fiercely attempted to outdo the other with competing stairways down to the lower level of the Horseshoe Falls. Customers desiring to go to one museum would be intercepted by members of the other museum and forced to pay (often by way of threats of physical violence by Davis' employees) for services and products they did not want to buy. This area became known as The Front, a notorious tourist trap.
By 1859, Barnett built a substantial building on the site of the present-day Victoria Park Restaurant and began adding to his museum collection there, yet his war with Davis at the Falls would last into the 1870s, when Barnett's riverfront museum went into receivership.
The first suggestion of a park at this site came in 1873 as an idea offered by Edmund Burke Wood
Edmund Burke Wood
Edmund Burke Wood was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Brant South, and served as the first provincial treasurer of Ontario from 1867 to 1871 under Premier John Sandfield Macdonald...
, a member of Canadian Parliament, in an effort to quell the criminal element in the area. This idea was refused, however, by the new Premier, Oliver Mowat
Oliver Mowat
Sir Oliver Mowat, was a Canadian politician, and the third Premier of Ontario from 1872 to 1896, making him the longest serving premier of that province and the 3rd longest in all of Canadian history...
, even when given a federal offer to split the cost of establishing such a park. By 1880, Mowat began considering the possibility of using a private corporation to take on the idea. Several proposals were floated in the ensuing years, all either struck down by Mowat or failing to get legislative backing. Mowat did not want the government to pay for land acquisition and development.
A three-member committee was established in 1885, headed by Polish immigrant Sir Casimir Gzowski
Casimir Gzowski
Sir Kazimierz Stanislaus Gzowski, KCMG , was an engineer who served as acting Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1896 to 1897....
, who proposed a government-run park encompassing 118 acre (0.47752948 km²), to be free to the public. A follow-up report in 1887 warning of "general regret and disappointment" convinced Mowat to push through the Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park Act in March, 1887. Unsightly outbuildings were razed, grounds were cleaned up, and Queen Victoria Park was officially opened to the public on May 24, 1888; the birthday of Queen Victoria.
History (1888-1945)
Admittance to the new park was free, a charge was only levied if visitors requested tour guides to accompany them. By 1890, however, it was found that incoming revenue was 90% below what the Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park Commission was budgeting for. Not wanting to ask the Provincial Government for bonds, the Commission granted a license to the Niagara Falls and Park River Railway to run a rail route from Chippewa to Queenston. The line was in service by 1893 and was run by electricity; its power plant constructed south of the Horseshoe Falls being the first hydroelectric power plant erected on the Canadian side. Nearly half a million passengers rode the railway in 1894, which brought more of them to the new park and provided the Commission with a surplus by 1895. The Commission then took over the Behind The Sheet attraction at Table Rock (the forerunner to the Journey Behind the FallsJourney Behind the Falls
Journey Behind the Falls is an attraction in Niagara Falls, Ontario located in the Table Rock Center beside the Canadian Horseshoe Falls...
attraction), and began making aesthetic improvements to the park over the next several years. The Commission opened its first greenhouse in 1896 as part of an effort to beautify the park; it had been virtually barren of mature trees when first established. Thomas Barnett's museum was demolished in 1903 and the present-day Victoria Park Restaurant, known then as the Refectory
Refectory
A refectory is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries...
, was opened in 1904. The Commission granted franchises to three more hydroelectric power plants to raise additional revenue between 1904 and 1918: the Electrical Development Company of Toronto, the Ontario Powerhouse, and the Rankine power station
Rankine power station
The Rankine Generating Station is a former hydro-electric generating station along the Canadian side of the Niagara River slightly downstream from the older Toronto Power Generating Station...
.
The original Clifton Hotel
Clifton Hotel (Canada)
The Clifton Hotel was the site of the 1914 Niagara Falls peace conference.-History:The original Clifton Hotel was lost to fire in 1898. Its replacement was destroyed by fire on December 31, 1932. Harry Oakes, a mining millionaire bought the property and presented it to the Niagara Parks Commission...
north of the park was lost to fire in 1898. Its replacement likewise was destroyed by fire in December, 1932. Harry Oakes
Harry Oakes
Sir Harry Oakes, 1st Baronet was an American-born British Canadian gold-mine owner, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. He earned his fortune in Canada and moved to the Bahamas in the 1930s for tax purposes. He was murdered in 1943 under notorious circumstances in the Bahamas...
, a mining millionaire who had already established roots in Niagara Falls, bought the property and presented it to the Niagara Parks Commission (the name shortened from 1921). Oakes Garden Theater was built on the site and opened in September, 1937, as part of a plan to beautify the entrance into Canada at the Upper Steel Arch Bridge. Four months later, the bridge was toppled by a severe ice jam in January 1938, and the present-day Rainbow Bridge
Rainbow Bridge
Rainbow Bridge may refer to:Bridges :* Rainbow Bridge National Monument, a natural rock formation located in Utah, USA* Rainbow Bridge , in Kansas* Rainbow Bridge , on the United States – Canada border...
was built further downriver, opening in 1941. The Arch Bridge area would eventually become the Rainbow Gardens.
The Queenston/Chippewa Railway abandoned its lease in 1932, presenting the Commission with further financial peril. Compensation to the railway went to arbitration and lasted nearly five years, ending with a million-dollar compensation order paid for by the Commission. This judgment, along with the approach of World War II, restricted the Commission's ability to make improvements to the Park until the late 1940s.