The Niagara Falls Museum began as the brainchild of Thomas Barnett, an Englishman who immigrated to Canada in the 1820s. A collector of oddities and curiosities, Barnett opened his first Niagara Falls Museum in 1827 in a converted brewery in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Most of the collection contained exhibits of local natural history specimens and Native American artifacts. Ten years later, the collection was significantly larger and a new home had to be built. A stone building was constructed near the Table Rock House and served as the museum’s home for the next 21 years. During that time, Barnett’s son Sydney made at least three trips to Egypt to purchase mummies and other artifacts. In 1859, with the collection growing and becoming more diverse, Barnett endeavored to built yet another, bigger, museum. The third museum was built on what was called “The Front,” the present site of the Queen Victoria Park Restaurant. For this structure, Barnett patterned the floor plan and exhibits after the plans for British museums. It included greenhouses, ponds, a zoo and a full scale Native American exhibit. The former museum building became “The Museum Hotel.”

In 1873 Sydney Barnett introduced “Wild West” shows featuring “Wild Bill” Hickock and local Tuscarora Indians. These shows were not popular and were soon discontinued. Five years later, the elderly Barnett sold the museum to Saul Davis, who continued to improve upon the former owner’s success. In 1887 the Niagara Falls Parks Commission announced plans to turn “The Front” into the new Queen Victoria Park. Once again the museum would have to move. Despite a diligent search around Niagara Falls, Ontario, no suitable location could be found for a new museum. Davis then moved the collection over the river to Niagara Falls, NY. An impressive structure with turrets and a cupola was built on Riverway, a street that no longer exists. Exhibits and objects from the 1901 Pan American Exposition found their way in to the museum’s collection. For the next seventy years, the museum’s collection increased and it became known for its Egyptian artifacts. It remained one of the major attractions in Niagara Falls, NY into the 1950s.

With the advent of the construction of a new power plant, the proposed route of the Robert Moses Parkway and urban renewal, the Niagara Falls Museum was doomed again. This time the owners, the Sherman family, decided to move back to Canada. The museum was housed in the former Spriella Corset Factory next to the Rainbow Bridge until 1999. When new construction forced the closing, the collection was put in storage and the museum is currently looking for a new home.

Ann Marie Linnabery
Erie Canal Discover Center
24 Church St.
Lockport NY 14094
716.439.0431
CanalDiscovery@aol.com
www.NiagaraHistory.org