SUSPENSION BRIDGE VILLAGE

SUSPENSION BRIDGE VILLAGE- 1854-1892 On March 17, 1892, the villages of Suspension Bridge and Niagara Falls incorporated with Clarksville to form the city of Niagara Falls, NY. Forty seven years prior to that the Worlds first working Railroad Suspension Bridge was built across the Niagara Gorge, spurring great commerce in what would become the village of Suspension Bridge.

Maid of the Mist Down in the gorge in front of the falls the steamers Maid of the Mist ply and allow visitors most magnificent views of the great cataract. The navigation of these waters started further down the river in 1846, or thereabouts, when the first Maid of the Mist was constructed in an eddy several hundred feet above the site of the present bridges. Previous to this teamer construction a roadway had been built from the foot of what is known as Ontario Avenue at an easy grade to a point on the lower river below Division Street, and there the original Maid of the Mist landing was located. This roadway was wide enough for carriages to pass, and it was a picturesque walk or ride, but the dock had for years been going to decay, so that when the Gorge Road was built the excavated material thrown down upon the old landing concealed it from sight. In 1854 a new Maid of the Mist was built in Buffalo and launched in the lower river July 14 of that year. The story is told that in 1861 the boat was likely to be seized. However this may be, it is known that on June 6, 1861, Joel R. Robinson ran the boat through the rapids to Queenston, Ont., successfully. James McIntyre and James H Jones were aboard the boat and also made the trip, involuntarily, it is said. This feat won for Robinson great fame, and it has gone on record as the opening of navigation in the whirlpool rapids. Orrin E. Dunlap

Beginnings--A Kite and a Basket By the mid-1800s, both sides of the Niagara River had become both a major tourist attraction and a center of great industrial commerce. The need for a permanent bridge between the two nations had become increasingly apparent. On November 9, 1847, a Pennsylvania born, European educated engineer named Charles Ellet Jr. was awarded a contract to build the first bridge across the Niagara River. The immediate dilemma facing the personable Ellet was how to get the first cable across the 800 foot wide, 200-foot deep chasm. Some proposals included a rocket, firing a cannon ball, and the use of a steamer, until local Ironworker named Theodore G. Hulett suggested a Kite Flying Contest. American Homan Walsh, after considerable effort, won the contest and the reported $10 dollar prize around January 30, 1848. After the first cable was suspended across the Niagara Gorge, builder Charles Ellet needed a way to get tools and supplies between the two sides. Theodore G. Hulett, friend of Ellet, and a local ironworker, who went on to become Suspension Bridge supervisor and a local judge, suggested a Metal Basketand proceeded to build one. The first trip across the gorge (by Charles Ellet himself) proved to be a harrowing one, however, when the basket hung up for a time halfway across the 200 foot deep Niagara Gorge. Huletts basket is currently on display at the Erie County Historical Society in Buffalo, NY.

Foot and Carriage Bridge The first Suspension Bridge across the Niagara River was a temporary structure built for foot and carriage traffic only. It was of wooden construction and was scarcely 8 feet wide. Shortly after its completion Engineer Charles Ellet left the project over a financial dispute with the bridge companies. After a three year hiatus, the companies hired John Augustus Roebling, an accomplished bridge builder (who went on to build the world famous Brooklyn Bridge in 1883), to complete the project.

Worlds First Working Railroad Suspension Bridge Completed in 1855, the bridge brought great commerce, with as many as six railroad lines, livestock yards and tourism. The once named Niagara City was shortly thereafter named Suspension Bridge Village.

Suspension Bridge Village The Worlds first Working Railroad Suspension Bridge officially opened on March 18, 1855. The opening of the bridge soon sparked an era of great commerce between the two nations of the United States and Canada. As many a six railroads provided the area with passenger and freight service, which brought tourism, freight and stock yards to the area know as the Village of Suspension Bridge.

Cantilever Bridge Cornelius Vanderbilts Michigan Central Railway Cantilever Bridge was built in less than eight months. Construction which, commenced on April 15, 1883, was completed on December 1st of the same year. The bridge was not officially tested, however until the morning of December 20, 1883, at 12:08 p.m. when a crowd estimated at more than 10,000 lined up to watch twenty locomotives pulling loaded gravel cars simultaneously cross the bridge.

Lower Arch Bridge This picture shows the test of the lower steel arch railway bridge on July 29, 1897. It was the first steel arch erected across the Niagara gorge. At the time of the test, two heavy trains came out on the bridge from the Canadian end. Each train consisted of eight heavy locomotives and nine coal cars, on top of which cars steel rails were piled to give added weight. In addition, a heavy load was placed on the lower deck. To the left, between the two bridges is Woodfords Mill.

Suspension Bridge Station The Suspension Bridge Station was located at Depot Avenue and 10th Street. It was built in 1887. The loading platform was 300 feet long and the station once handled as many as 47 trains with as many as 2,000 passengers a day. In the 1920s as many as ten railroads utilized the station, including the Erie, Grand Trunk, New York Central, and Michigan Railroads. The station was demolished in 1964.

Erie Railroad Station The first Erie depot at Suspension Bridge stood on the east side of the tracks between Ontario and North Avenues. It was built in 1870-1871. The stone house on the right is the old Colt House, facing Ontario Avenue. Later on, a better depot, also of wood, was built at Tenth Street near North Avenue.

Monteagle Hotel The Monteagle, which was located on what is now Lewiston Road near Main Street, was once rated as one of the best hotels in the world; it boasted 100 rooms with billiard halls and elegant parlors. The guests were treated to natural mineral springs and beautiful gardens (enchantedly lit with wood gas lanterns), which extended from the Hotel to the Niagara Gorge a few hundred feet away.

Witmers Mill Witmers mill, a stone building, was located on the cliff top, and the giant open-blade wooden wheel was 200 feet below, right at the water's edge, the power being transmitted by a shaft, but later by a chain, according to historian Orrin E. Dunlap. Dunlap recounted that C. H. Witmer died on Sept. 17, 1859, while he was making some minor repairs in the wheelhouse with his son, Jacob. Witmer apparently fell into the river and was swept away by the current. His body was found in the river at Lewiston on Oct. 21, 1859. He was 53 years old.

DeVeaux College DeVeaux College, now known as DeVeaux Woods State Park, was situated on the northern border of Suspension Bridge Village. The College was endowed by the estate of Samuel DeVeaux with a sum of $74,652, and it opened in 1857. The school was established as a benevolent institution to accept and support orphan boys and otherwise destitute boys and to train them in industry by teaching trades and professions. The school eventually became underfunded and closed in the mid-1970s. The photograph shows the school as it was in the early 1970s. The large building in the center (Van Rensselaer Hall) and the gym in the foreground are now gone. The Schoellkopf Hall Dormitory (center Left), the barn and powerhouse in the top of the picture are in various states of disrepair.

Buttery Elevators There were three elevator locations between the Suspension Bridge and the Whirlpool Rapids, the most famous of which were the Buttery Elevators. From its humble beginnings in 1861 until it was destroyed in a controlled burn in 1901, the buttery elevators connected the world with the world famous Whirlpool rapids and the Great Gorge Railroad.

Dare Devils of the Whirlpool There were as many as nine tightrope walkers to cross the Niagara River at Suspension Bridge: The Great Blondin, William Leonard Hunt (also known as Signor Farini), Harry Leslie, Andrew Jenkins, Maria Spelterina, Steven Peer, Samuel Dixon, Clifford Calverley, and James Hardy all crossed the Niagara Gorge at of near the famous bridge. There were also those that swam (or attempted to swim) the Class 6 rapids. Probably the most famous being the flamboyant Captain Webb, conquer of the English Channel, who perished in his ill fated attempt navigate the ferocious rapids.

The Fourth Ward and the North End Although, the Village of Suspension Bridge technically ended on March 17th, 1892, its history carried on as the City of Niagara Falls, NYs north end. Many of the buildings of Suspension Bridge still stand in the form of churches, apartments, private homes, and business establishments. Acknowledgements and Contributors Niagara Falls Public Library Photographs and Historical Reference Orin E. Dunlap Orin E. Dunlap Collection Niagara County Historical Society Photographs and Historical Reference Lewis Buttery, founder of B-R-I-N-K (Buttery Research initiative Niagara Knowledge) -- Buttery Elevators and DeVeaux Photographs Joel Paradise Historical Research Excerpts from The Life and Times of Suspension Bridge Village by, Daniel Davis Page Down for interactive Map >>>>>>>>>>>>