Love Canal was not just a national, but a global story. At one level, it was a catastrophe. On the other hand, it gives us the opportunity to claim that the modern environmental movement, as we understand it globally, was really born here at Niagara Falls. Mayor Paul Dyster, Niagara Falls, New York Back in … Continue reading Love Canal
Category: Environment
Thomas Cole and Ed Ruscha: Two Prophecies of American Decay
An earlier post on this blog - The Hudson River School- explains the importance of Thomas Cole as the leading light of the Hudson River School and outlines his critical stance towards what he regarded as the wanton destruction of the American landscape by greedy speculators. Two related exhibitions currently on display at London’s National … Continue reading Thomas Cole and Ed Ruscha: Two Prophecies of American Decay
Hidden in Havana
In Niagara: Two Centuries of Changing Attitudes, 1697-1901 (the catalogue that accompanied the Corcoran Gallery 1985 exhibition surveying historical artistic responses to Niagara Falls), art historian Jeremy Elwell Adamson tells us that Regis painted four wintertime Niagaras. He explains that the most famous of these, and one of the most popular paintings of the Falls … Continue reading Hidden in Havana
Voices of Niagara: Bryan Printup, GIS Manager, Tuscarora Nation Environment Programme, Niagara County
The Tuscarora Indian Nation has a reservation of approximately 24km2 on the outskirts of Niagara Falls, New York. Originally from the area that is now North Carolina, the Tuscarora Indians decided to emigrate north at the beginning of the 18th century due to colonial conflict. Because of ancestral connections, they were accepted as the Sixth … Continue reading Voices of Niagara: Bryan Printup, GIS Manager, Tuscarora Nation Environment Programme, Niagara County
Human Accumulations: Documenting Niagara Falls
For Human Accumulations Alan Gignoux and Jenny Christensson are documenting the Niagara Falls of today – the waterfalls and the two cities of Niagara Falls in New York and Canada - in photographs and words in the form of interviews. Once, at the heart of an ancient forest, there was a beautiful waterfall, whose … Continue reading Human Accumulations: Documenting Niagara Falls
Voices of Niagara: Jim Hill, Niagara Parks Commission, Ontario
My name is Jim Hill, I’m the Senior Manager of Heritage, for the Niagara Parks Commission. Our park has been around since 1885 and we’re an agency of the Province of Ontario. Our mandate is to preserve the nature and heritage along the Niagara corridor on the Canadian side of the river. When we were … Continue reading Voices of Niagara: Jim Hill, Niagara Parks Commission, Ontario
Voices of Niagara: Paul Dyster, Mayor of Niagara Falls, New York
In a city that was once an industrial power, that’s lost half of its population over the course of the last 50 or 60 years, economic development is always going to be a great challenge. There’s a certain irony in that since this was one of the first areas in North America to industrialise at … Continue reading Voices of Niagara: Paul Dyster, Mayor of Niagara Falls, New York
Failed Utopias and Dystopian Futures
Gillette's was not the only Utopian plan for the Falls - also in the 1890's William T. Love attempted to raise money to construct Model City, an urban development scheme designed around a canal and a hydroelectric plant, with housing for more than 1 million people. Love's plans collapsed after his investors backed out as … Continue reading Failed Utopias and Dystopian Futures
Voices of Niagara: Jim Diodati, Mayor of Niagara Falls, Ontario
"One of the biggest factors driving the success of the tourism industry in Niagara Falls, Ontario, was the emergence of gaming – casinos. In 1996 we had our first temporary casino open up and then in 2006 we had our permanent Falls View Casino, which was a billion dollar bill. And when that happened it … Continue reading Voices of Niagara: Jim Diodati, Mayor of Niagara Falls, Ontario
Voices of Niagara: Constance Hamilton, Sass Hair Salon
"My name is Constance G. Hamilton and I own and operate the beauty salon. I do hair, make up, ear piercing. My father came here from Alabama because there was work. At the time, there was no work in Alabama, unless you worked on a farm or something; he was having a new family, myself … Continue reading Voices of Niagara: Constance Hamilton, Sass Hair Salon
Human Accumulations 