Culture of Rochester

Rochester is home to a number of cultural institutions including the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, the Memorial Art Gallery, the Rochester Museum and Science Center, the Strong Museum, the A|V Room, the Strasenburg Planetarium, and numerous arts organizations. Rochester’s Geva Theatre Center is the city’s largest professional theatre.

The city’s Victorian era Mt. Hope Cemetery includes the final resting place of several famous Americans, including Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and George Baldwin Selden (inventor of the automobile). Rochester is also known for its extensive park system, including the Highland Botanical Park, Cobb’s Hill Park, Durand-Eastman Park, Genesee Valley Park, Maplewood Park, Edgerton Park, Seneca Park and Ontario Beach Park.

The city also has 13 full-time recreation centers, 19 swimming programs, 3 artificial ice rinks, 66 softball/baseball fields, 47 tennis courts, 5 football fields, 7 soccer fields, and 43 outdoor basketball courts. Echoing its famous history as the Flower City, Rochester still has a yearly Lilac Festival for ten days in May, when nearly 400 named varieties of lilacs bloom, and 100,000 visitors arrive from as far away as Europe and Japan.

South of Rochester is the scenic Letchworth State Park with its spectacular canyon and waterfalls. Also to the south and southeast is the glacially-formed Finger Lakes Region, with its numerous lakes and summer cottages.

Rochester has developed a number of festivals that celebrate the many aspects of Rochester life. These include the Rochester International Jazz Festival, now (2005) in its fourth year, and the simultaneous “CounterFit Fest,” originally conceived as an “anti-jazz fest” to counter the RIJF’s musical strictures, and which has hosted many of the groups responsible for the famous “Rochester Sound”; the Corn Hill Festival (arts, crafts, and food in this historic Third Ward neighborhood); the High Falls Film Festival (held at the George Eastman House’s Dryden Theatre and the Little Theatre downtown); the Image Out/Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (also held at the Little Theatre); the Clothesline Art Festival (artists from the region display their works on the grounds of the Memorial Art Gallery); the Park Avenue Merchants Festival; the Lilac Festival at Highland Park (world famous for its lilac bushes); the Rochester Music Festival; and the Cold Rush Winter Celebration (celebrating the wide variety of winter sports in the Rochester area). There is something for everyone in these festivals.

Also of interest is the local vernacular. Soft drinks are called “pop” (at least among the older generations), while hotdogs are called “red hots” or “white hots”. The town of Chili is not pronounced like the food, but “chi(as in latte)-lie”; the neighborhood of Charlotte is not pronounced like the North Carolina city but rather with the accent on the second syllable.

A “Rochester accent” is often described as including the pronunciation of the city itself as “Rhaaaaach’str”. In decreasing usage is the Can of Worms, referring to the previously dangerous intersection of Interstate 490 and expressway NY-590 on the eastern edge of the Rochester city limits, bordering the suburb of Brighton. In the 1980s, a multimillion dollar project created a system of overpasses and ramps that reduced the danger but resulted in the loss of certain exits.

Education in Rochester

Education is a primary industry in Rochester. The city and its suburbs are home to a number of colleges and universities, including the University of Rochester, the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, Rochester Institute of Technology, Saint John Fisher College, Roberts Wesleyan College, Nazareth College, Monroe Community College, and the Eastman School of Music. Together with Alfred University, SUNY Brockport, and SUNY Geneseo, each within an hour of Rochester, these institutions comprise the Rochester Area Colleges consortium.

These schools are known for many great reasons, such as RIT’s NTID, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, having an outstanding program for the education of deaf people and a top ranked ASL, American Sign Language, program. MCC is known as one of the best community college systems in the nation, and has a very high ranked soccer team. MCC is home to The Mercer Gallery where students and artists from all over the country exhibit work on a regular basis, located on MCC’s Brighton Campus.

The University of Rochester has some of the best undergraduate programs in the country when it comes to the arts, sciences, and engineering, and the med school has top flight research programs and one of the best primary care currciulums in the nation. The Business school is also at the top of its class in many categories. Not only is the University of Rochester a key institution in the Rochester, as well as American landscape, but it is also the largest employer in the area.

The University of Rochester’s Laboratory For Laser Energetics (LLE) is home to the highest energy laser in the world, the OMEGA laser. OMEGA is capable of emitting light at a power 100 times the electrical power output of the country in less than one billionth of a second. The LLE is currently constructing the OMEGA EP laser, which will be 50 times more powerful than OMEGA and will be the most powerful laser in the world, able to manifest power densities high enough to examine hawking radiation-like phenomena in the laboratory.

The U of R’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics is especially important now, because it serves at the US’s main laser fusion program while the Department of Energy is building the National Ignition Facility. “The Laboratory for Laser Energetics has played a leading, national role in efforts to develop nuclear fusion as a reliable energy source and in the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship program,” says University President Joel Seligman.

The University of Rochester is also home to its Eastman School of Music, which, according to U.S. News and World Report, is ranked the number one music school in America.

Economy of Rochester

Rochester is home to a number of international businesses, including Eastman Kodak, Bausch and Lomb, Rochester Midland Corporation and Paychex, all of which make Rochester their world headquarters. Xerox, while no longer headquartered in Rochester, has its principal offices and manufacturing facilities in the Rochester area. Because of the high prevalence of imaging and optical science among the industry and the universities, Rochester is known as the world capital of imaging.

The Institute of Optics of the University of Rochester is ranked number one in the country, and the Rochester Institute of Technology has one of the best imaging science departments in the country. In 2005, the University of Rochester became the largest employer in the Rochester area, surpassing Kodak.

Rochester is also home to regional businesses such as Frontier Telephone of Rochester, Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., Roberts Communications, Inc., The Sutherland Group, PAETEC Communications and major fashion label Hickey-Freeman. The Gannett newspaper company and Western Union were both founded in the Rochester area by Frank Gannett and Hiram Sibley respectively.

Nick Tahou Hots, creator of the world-famous garbage plate, also calls Rochester home. One food that Rochester is proud to call its own is the famous “white hot,” made by the local Zweigle’s company which can be found at any of the 4 locations of a local franchise called Schaller’s.

The area takes the most pride in the Wegmans Grocery store chain, which now has locations throughout the Northeast and Northern Virginia, and was most recently rated the #2 best company in America to work for by Forbes Magazine, having fallen from #1 in 2005. Other local franchises include: Bill Gray’s (a summertime hamburger/hotdog joint that lays claim to having “The World’s Greatest Cheeseburger”), and Abbott’s Frozen Custard.

Major area shopping centers

Eastview Mall (Victor, New York)
The Mall at Greece Ridge Center (Greece, New York)
Medley Centre (formerly known as Irondequoit Mall) (Irondequoit, New York)
Rochester Public Market
Village Gate Square
The Marketplace (Henrietta, New York)
Midtown Plaza
Pittsford Plaza (Pittsford, New York)

Top 5 employers

As of 2005, the top employers in the city are:
University of Rochester/Strong Health 17,000
Eastman Kodak 16,235
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
Xerox
ViaHealth

Demographics of Rochester

As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 219,773 people, 88,999 households, and 47,169 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,368.3/km² (6,132.9/mi²). There were 99,789 housing units at an average density of 1,075.3/km² (2,784.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 48.30% White, 38.55% African American, 0.47% Native American, 2.25% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 6.58% from other races, and 3.81% from two or more races. 12.75% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 88,999 households out of which 30.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 25.1% were married couples living together, 23.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.0% were non-families. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the city the population was spread out with 28.1% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 18.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $27,123, and the median income for a family was $31,257. Males had a median income of $30,521, versus $25,139 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,588. 25.9% of the population and 23.4% of families were below the poverty line. 37.5% of those under the age of 18 and 15.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Geography and climate of Rochester

Rochester is located at 43°9′56?N, 77°36′41?W (43.165496, -77.611504)GR1. Rochester is east of Buffalo and west of Syracuse. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 96.1 km² (37.1 mi²). 92.8 km² (35.8 mi²) of it is land and 3.3 km² (1.3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 3.42% water.

Rochester’s geography comes from the glaciers during the Cenozoic era. The retreating glaciers created the Genesee Valley and left rolling hills (drumlin fields) around it, including (from west to east) Mt. Hope, the rolling hills of Highland Park, Pinnacle Hill and Cobb’s Hill. These glaciers also left behind Lake Ontario (one of the five fresh-water Great Lakes), the Genesee River with its waterfalls and gorges, Irondequoit, Sodus and Braddock’s Bays, numerous local streams and ponds, the Ridge, and the nearby Finger Lakes.

Lake Ontario is sufficiently deep off-shore of Rochester that Rochester could have year-round access to a reservoir of cold water, which could be used for deep lake water cooling.

According to the City of Rochester, the city presently has 537 miles (864 km) of public streets, 585 miles (941 km) of water mains, 44 vehicular and 8 pedestrian bridges, 11 public libraries, 2 police stations (1 for the east side, 1 west (formerly 7)), and 16 fire stations. The principal source of the city’s water is Hemlock Lake, which, with its watershed, is wholly owned by the city. Other water sources are Canadice Lake and Lake Ontario. The 30 year annual average snowfall is 95.0 inches (2.4 m). The mean July temperature is 71.3 ºF (21.8 ºC), and the mean February temperature is 23.6 ºF (-4.7 ºC).

Rochester has 4 distinct seasons, the most infamous being its very cold and snowy winter. Autumn features brilliant foliage colors, and summer sees high humidity but temperatures that rarely exceed 90 degrees.

History of Rochester, New York

On November 8, 1803, a one-hundred acre (ca. 40 ha) tract of land was purchased by Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, Major Charles Carroll, and Colonel William Fitzhugh, all of Hagerstown, Maryland. The site was chosen because of three cataracts on the Genesee River, offering great potential for water power. With a population of fifteen, the three founders surveyed the land and laid out streets and tracts. In 1817, the Brown brothers (of Brown’s Race) and other landowners joined their lands with the Hundred Acre Tract to form the Village of Rochesterville.

By 1821, Rochesterville was named as the seat of Monroe County. By 1823, Rochesterville consisted of 1012 acres and 2,500 residents, and the Village of Rochesterville became known as Rochester. Also in 1823, the Erie Canal aqueduct over the Genesee River was completed, and the Erie Canal east to the Hudson River was opened. By 1830, Rochester’s population was 9,200, and in 1834, it was re-chartered as a city.

Rochester became known first as “The Young Lion of the West”, and then as the “Flour City”. By 1838, Rochester was the largest flour-producing city in the world, and by 1840, it was the 19th largest city in America, with a population of 20,191. With the population having doubled in only ten years, Rochester became known as America’s first “boomtown.”

The population reached 62, 386 in 1870, 162,608 in 1900, and 295,750 in 1920.
After a great deal of machinations by various speculators, on April 1, 1788, the entire Massachusetts pre-emptive right over all western New York Lands - comprising some 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km²) - was sold to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, both of Massachusetts. The sales price was $1,000,000, payable in three equal annual installments of certain Massachusetts securities then worth about 20 cents on the dollar. The right sold applied to all land west of a line running from the mouth of Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario, due south through Seneca Lake, to the 82nd milestone on the Pennsylvania border near Big Flats (the “Pre-emption Line”), and all the way to the Niagara River and Lake Erie (the “Phelps and Gorham Purchase”). In order to obtain title to such land, Phelps and Gorham would have to extinguish all Indian titles.

Phelps and Gorham wasted no time in securing a portion of their purchase. On July 8, 1788, by the Treaty of Buffalo Creek, they extinguished Indian title to all land from the Pre-emption Line west to the Genesee River, as well as to a tract of land west of the Genesee running south from Lake Ontario approximately 24 miles (39 km) and extending west from the river approximately 12 miles (19 km), with this western boundary paralleling the course of the Genesee (”The Mill Yard Tract”). For this extinction of title, Phelps and Gorham paid the Indians $5,000, plus a $500 annuity. The area to which title was extinguished comprised some 2,250,000 acres (9,100 km²), or about one-third of the total.

(The pre-emptive rights to remaining lands of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase west of the Genesee River, comprising some 3,750,000 acres (15,000 km²), eventually reverted back to Massachusetts due to a failure to extinguish Indian titles as well as a default in the 1790 payment. Massachusetts then re-sold those rights to Robert Morris in 1791 for $333,333,33. In 1792 and 1793, Morris then sold most of the lands west of the Genesee to the Holland Land Company, but he did not extinguish Indian title to the land until the Treaty of Big Tree (Geneseo) in September, 1797. Morris reserved for himself about 500,000 acres (2,000 km²) in a 12 mile (19 km) wide strip along the east side of the Holland Purchase, from the Pennsylvania border to Lake Ontario, known as The Morris Reserve.

At the north end of the Morris Reserve, an 87,000 acre (350 km²) triangular shaped tract (”The Triangle Tract”) was sold by Morris to Herman Leroy, William Bayard and John McEvers, while a 100,000 tract due west of the Triangle Tract was sold to the state of Connecticut. Other Phelps and Gorham lands east of the Genesee River that had not already been sold were also acquired by Robert Morris in 1791, who re-sold them to the The Pulteney Association, which was a syndicate of British investors.)

Shortly after concluding the Treaty of Buffalo Creek, Phelps and Gorham gave a 100 acre (0.4 km²) lot within the Mill Yard Tract at the Upper Falls of the Genesee to Ebenezer “Indian” Allen, on condition he build a grist mill and sawmill there by summer 1789 (the “100 Acre Tract”). In exchange for the 100 Acre Tract, Allen built the agreed-upon mills at the west end of the Upper Falls of the Genesee. But the location was so deep in the wilderness that there were only 14 men in the area to assist in the mill’s construction. The area was a dense forest and swamp, and infested with rattlesnakes and mosquitoes that spread ‘Swamp Fever’ or what we now call malaria.

With no settlers, and no demand for mills, Indian Allen sold the 100 Acre Tract and mills in March, 1792 to Benjamin Barton, Sr. of New Jersey for $1,250. Barton almost immediately sold the property to Samuel Ogden, as Agent for Robert Morris. Ogden, in turn, sold the property in 1794 to Charles Williamson as Agent for The Pulteney Association. On November 8, 1803, The Pulteney Association sold the 100 Acre Tract for $1,750, on a five-year land contract, to Col. Nathaniel Rochester(1752-1831), Maj. Charles Carroll, and Col. William Fitzhugh, all of Hagerstown, Maryland.

Rochesterville and The Flour City

Although Col. Rochester and his two partners purchased the 100 Acre Tract, they allowed the millsite to lie undeveloped until 1811, when they finally completed paying for their purchase and received the deed. The population of the area was 15. They then had the tract surveyed and laid out with streets and lots. (The first lot was sold to a Henry Skinner, at what is now the northwest corner of State and Main.) In 1817, other land owners, mainly the Brown Brothers (of Brown’s Race and Brown’s Square), joined their lands north to the 100 Acre Tract, to form the Village of Rochesterville, with a population of 700.

In 1821, Monroe County was erected out of Ontario and Genesee counties, and Rochesterville was named the county seat. A two story brick courthouse in the Greek Revival style was built at a cost of $7,600. In 1823, property of Elisha Johnson on the east side of the Genesee across from the 100 Acre Tract was annexed, bringing Rochesterville to 1012 acres (4.1 km²) and the population to about 2,500. That year, “-ville” was dropped from the city’s name. This was also the year that the first 800 foot (244 m) Erie Canal Aqueduct was finished over the Genesee, just south of the Main Street Bridge. It was built over 16 months by 30 convicts from Auburn State Prison. In 1822, the Rochester Female Charitable Society was founded. Members paid twenty-five cents per year to belong to the Society and also contributed provisions, clothing, and bedding which they collected from the community.

Visitors distributed the goods and money to the poor of each district. By 1872, seventy-three districts had been established, each with a woman visitor. That organization was be instrumental in founding the Rochester Orphan Asylum (now Hillside Children’s Center), the Rochester City Hospital (now Rochester General Hospital), the first school, the workhouse, the Home for the Friendless (now The Friendly Home), the Industrial School, and The Visiting Nurse Service.

Once the Erie Canal east to the Hudson River opened in 1823, the economy and population growth took off. By 1830, the population reached 9,200, and the city became the original boomtown first known as “The Young Lion of the West.” It quickly, however, became known as the Flour City, based on the numerous flour mills which were located along waterfalls on the Genesee in what is now the Brown’s Race area of downtown Rochester.

The first ten days the canal was open east to the Hudson, 40,000 barrels (3,600 t) of Rochester flour were shipped to Albany and New York City. Local millers soon were grinding 25,000 bushels of wheat to flour daily. In 1829, the Rochester Athenaeum was founded as a reading society. The Athenaeum charged members a five-dollar annual fee to hear lectures by some of America’s best-known orators - including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Horace Greeley and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Athenaeum was one of the forerunners of the Rochester Institute of Technology.

By 1834, some 20 flour mills were producing 500,000 barrels (44,000 t) annually, the population reached 13,500 and the city area expanded to 4000 acres (16 km²). Rochester was then re-chartered as a city, and Jonathan Child, son-in-law of Col. Rochester, was elected Mayor. In 1837, the Rochester Orpham Asylum was founded by the Rochester Female Charitable Society and was located first on South Sophia Street (now South Plymouth Avenue) and then on Hubbell Park. The Charitable Society also founded Rochester City Hospital on Buffalo Street (now West Main Street), where the old Buffalo Street Cemetery was located. Construction on the hospital began in 1845 but it was not occupied until 1863. By 1838 Rochester was the largest flour-producing city in the world.

The Flower City

In 1830, William A. Reynolds started his first seed business at the corner of Sophia and Buffalo Streets (now Plymouth Avenue South and Main Street West). This was the start of what would become the Ellwanger and Barry Nursery Co., which eventually was relocated to Mt. Hope Avenue, across from Mount Hope Cemetery. James Vick and Joseph Harris also start their own nursery businesses.

The population in 1830 was only 9,207, but it still ranked as the 25th largest city in the United States. In 1840, the population and rank were 20,191 and 19th, respectively. In 1842, the original aqueduct over the Genesee River was replaced with a better one slightly south of the first one. This latter aqueduct now supports Broad Street.

By 1850, the population reached 36,003, making Rochester the 21st largest city in the United States. Westward expansion had moved the focus of farming to the Great Plains and Rochester’s importance as the center for flour milling had declined. Several seed companies in Rochester had grown to become the largest in the world, with Ellwanger and Barry Nursery Co. the largest. Rochester’s nickname was changed from the Flour City to the Flower City. In 1850, the University of Rochester was founded in the U. S. Hotel on Buffalo St, and affiliated with the Baptist Church. Two four-year courses were offered. In 1851, due to Rochester and Monroe County’s tremendous growth, a new three-story county courthouse in the Greek Revival style was constructed. It was built from brick manufactured at Cobb’s Hill by Gideon Cobb, and cost $76,000.

In 1857, Susan B. Anthony and William Lloyd Garrison spoke at an abolition meeting. In 1847 Frederick Douglass, a former slave who became an abolitionist leader, commenced publishing a newspaper “The North Star” in Rochester.

In the years leading up to the Civil War, numerous locations in the Rochester area were used as safe-houses to shelter fugitive slaves before they were placed on board boats (often on the Genesee River) for transport to Canada. The route was part of the famous Underground Railroad. The most common route used the ‘lines’ that led from Henrietta through Monroe County and into Rochester. Some of the better known ’stations’ included: the Henry Quinby farm by Mendon Ponds Park, which today is by the Fieldstone Smokehouse; the David H. Richardson farm on East Henrietta Road near Castle Road; the Warrant farm in Brighton, 1956 West Henrietta Road; the old Frederick Douglass home near Highland Park; a cluster of houses along Exchange Street where numerous Quakers lived, and now where the War Memorial Arena sits, and the home of Harvey Humphrey on Genesee Street. Other ’stations’ were located in the areas surrounding Rochester, including Brighton, Pittsford, Mendon and Webster. A station in North Chili, just west of Rochester, run by abolitionist Methodists was an important site in the formation of the Free Methodist Church, which was formed in 1860. The denomination’s first college, Roberts Wesleyan College, was built on the site.

The period 1860 to 1900 saw Rochester grow from a city of 48,000 to a city of 162,800, with a 1900 rank of 24th largest in population, down from 18th in 1860. During this period the city expanded dramatically in area on both sides of the Genesee River, as well as annexing parts of the towns of Brighton, Gates, Greece and Irondequoit. Also founded during this period were Bausch and Lomb by John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb, Eastman Kodak by George Eastman, Western Union Telegraph by Hiram Sibley and Don Alonzo Watson, Gleason Works by William Gleason, and R. T. French and Co. by Robert French. Other important industries that developed during this period were clothing manufacturing, shoe manufacturing, brewing and machine tools. In 1875, Rochester’s first city hall opened at Fitzhugh and the Erie Canal (now Broad Street). It was built at a cost of over $335,000 on the site of the First Presbyterian Church, which had burned to the ground in 1869. The church sold the lot to the city for $25,000. This city hall housed city government until 1978.

In 1882, the tolls on the Erie Canal ended, with New York State enjoying a profit of $51,000,000 over the 57 years. In September 1885, a group of Rochester businessmen founded the Mechanics Institute to establish “free evening schools in the city for instruction in drawing and such other branches of studies as are most important for industrial pursuits of great advantage to our people.” Henry Lomb of Bausch and Lomb was the Mechanics Institute’s first president.

During this period many of Rochester’s great public parks were laid out, with Ellwanger and Barry and others donating land in 1871 for Maplewood Park and in 1889 for Highland Park. In 1895, George Eastman and James P. B. Duffy donated an additional 120 acres (0.5 km²) for Highland Park. On Independence Day, 1894, community leaders, responding to the continued tremendous growth in Rochester and Monroe County, laid the cornerstone for the third County Courthouse (now the County Office Building). Two years and $881,000 later, the four-story granite and marble courthouse in the Italian Renaissance style was complete. In 1897, the first master’s degrees were awarded by the University of Rochester and in 1900, due largely to the efforts of Susan B. Anthony, women were admitted.

In 1891, the Mechanics Institute merged with the Rochester Athenaeum to form the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute (RAMI). Comprehensive instruction in mechanical subjects was RAMI’s hallmark. The Institute’s builders responded to both industrial and societal trends in Rochester, and each year the Institute graduated increasing numbers of expertly trained professionals who found work in industry both in Rochester and elsewhere.
(more…)

Rochester , also known as both The Flour City and The Flower City, is a city in Monroe County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, Rochester had a population of 219,773. As of 2004, the population given by the U.S. Census Bureau was 212,481, making this the third largest city in New York State. Rochester is also the county seat for Monroe County.

The City of Rochester is at the center of a larger Metropolitan Area which encompasses and extends past Monroe County and includes Genesee County, Livingston County, Ontario County, Orleans County, and Wayne County. This larger conurbation, or Metropolitan Area, has a population of 1,037,831 people as of the 2000 Census. Principal suburbs of the city include Brighton, Chili, Irondequoit, Henrietta, East Rochester, Fairport, Penfield, Pittsford, Webster, Rush and Greece.
The current Mayor of Rochester is Robert Duffy.

Facts and Figures of Niagara Falls

The Falls are situated on the Niagara River (which forms the border between Canada’s Ontario Province and America’s New York State) and are about half way down its course from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.

The falls are divided, by Goat Island, into the larger, and concave, Canadian Horseshoe Falls (640m across and 54m high) and the smaller, roughly straight, American Rainbow Falls (330m across and 56m high). The water at the base of the Horseshoe Falls is very deep (~50m) and the Niagara rapids in the gorge are only slightly shallower (~30m).

Originally, about 6 million litres of water poured over the falls every second but now half of this is diverted to hydro-electric power stations (the world’s first hydro-electric power station was built at Niagara and now 70% of Canada’s electricity is hydro).

This decrease in flow has dramatically reduced the erosion of the falls from about 3-5 feet per year to about 1 foot every 3-10 years. They also now have the ability to temporarily stop the falls completely - which they did once to stop a daredevil who was (illegally) attempting to go over the falls in a barrel!

Seeing the Niagara Falls

Peak numbers of visitors occur in the summertime, when Niagara Falls are both a daytime and evening attraction. From the Canadian side, floodlights illuminate both sides of the Falls for several hours after dark (until midnight).

From the American side, the American Falls can be viewed from walkways along Prospect Park, which also features an observation tower. Nearby, the Cave of the Winds trail leads hikers down some three hundred steps to a point beneath Bridal Veil Falls. The Niagara Scenic Trolley offers guided trips along the American Falls.

On the Canadian side, Queen Victoria Park features manicured gardens, platforms offering spectacular views of both the American and Horseshoe Falls, and underground walkways leading into observation rooms which yield the illusion of being within the falling waters. The observation deck of the nearby Skylon Tower offers the highest overhead view of the Falls, and in the opposite direction gives views as far as distant Toronto.6 With the Konica Minolta Tower, it is one of two towers in Canada with a view of the Falls. Along the Niagara River, the Niagara River Recreational Trail runs the 56 km (35 miles) from Fort Erie to Fort George, and includes many historical sites from the War of 1812.

The Maid of the Mist cruises, named for an ancient Ongiara Indian mythical character, have carried passengers into the whirlpools beneath the Falls since 1846. The Spanish Aerocar, built in 1916 from a design by Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres y Quevedo, is a cable car which takes passengers over the whirlpool on the Canadian side, below the Falls.

Impact on industry and commerce in Niagara Falls

The enormous energy of the Falls was long recognized as a potential source of power. The first known effort to harness the waters was in 1759, when Daniel Joncairs built a small canal above the Falls to power his sawmill. Augustus and Peter Porter purchased this area and all of American Falls in 1805 from the New York state government, and enlarged the original canal to provide hydraulic power for their gristmill and tannery. In 1853, the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Mining Company was chartered, which eventually constructed the canals which would be used to generate electricity. In 1881, under the leadership of Jacob Schoellkopf, enough power was produced to send direct current to illuminate both the Falls themselves and nearby Niagara Falls village.

When Nikola Tesla, for whom a memorial was later built at Niagara Falls, invented the three-phase system of alternating current power transmission, distant transfer of electricity became possible. In 1883, the Niagara Falls Power Company, a descendant of Schoellkopf’s firm, hired George Westinghouse to design a system to generate alternating current. By 1896, with financing from moguls like J.P. Morgan, John Jacob Astor IV, and the Vanderbilts, they had constructed giant underground conduits leading to turbines generating upwards of 100,000 horsepower (75 MW), and were sending power as far as Buffalo, twenty miles (32 km) away. Private companies on the Canadian side also began to harness the energy of the Falls, employing both domestic and American firms in their efforts. The Government of Ontario eventually brought power transmission operations under public control in 1906, distributing Niagara’s energy to various parts of that province. Currently between 50% and 75% of the Niagara River’s flow is diverted via four huge tunnels that arise far upstream from the waterfalls. The water then passes through hydroelectric turbines that supply power to nearby areas of the United States and Canada before returning to the river well past the Falls.

The most powerful hydroelectric stations on the Niagara River are Sir Adam Beck 1 and 2 on the Canadian side, and the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant and the Lewiston Pump Generating Plant on the American side. All together, Niagara’s generating stations can produce about 4.4 GW of power.

In August 2005, Ontario Power Generation, which is now responsible for the Sir Adam Beck stations, announced plans to build a new 10.4 km tunnel to tap water from farther up the Niagara river than is possible with the existing arrangement. The project is expected to be completed in 2009, and will increase Sir Adam Beck’s yearly output by about 1.6 TW·h.
(more…)