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: Nature
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
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: 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
Voices of Niagara: Angela Berti, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
The Niagara Falls State Park is in the city of Niagara Falls, New York, on the American-Canadian border. It lines the Niagara River near the Falls on the American side and incorporates the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls and a portion of the Horseshoe Falls, as well as Goat Island. The State Park is … Continue reading Voices of Niagara: Angela Berti, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Voices of Niagara: Charles Harris, Project Green Space
"My name is Charles Harris, I am a Youth Center Assistant at The Connection Center, an after school programme run by Planned Parenthood. Being a Youth Center Assistant I work in the kitchen, I fund different type of activities and I’m the Director of Project Green Space. Project Green Space is basically what you see … Continue reading Voices of Niagara: Charles Harris, Project Green Space
Human Accumulations 