The new Cataract Stairs and Overlook is now open at Niagara Falls. The new stairs and viewing platform gets visitors up close and personal with the falls’ powerful cascade bring visitors as close as 35 feet from the American Falls. [Read more…] about Niagara Falls New Cataract Stairs and Overlook Opens
Niagara County
With ‘Operation Rotten Apple’ Upstate Police Round-Ups Surge
Federal authorities arrested 2,197 people across New York last month during what they have derisively named “Operation Rotten Apple,” the highest monthly immigration arrest total since the Trump administration’s round-ups began in New York State. [Read more…] about With ‘Operation Rotten Apple’ Upstate Police Round-Ups Surge
The Great Blondin: Frenchman Jean François Gravelet
The tightrope is the simplest of spectacles. It relies on a human aerialist strolling along the abyss. In Roman times it was called funambulism, walking on rope.
Amid the golden age of daredevils during the nineteenth century, said to be the greatest of all “rope dancers” was the Frenchman Jean François Gravelet, born in 1824. [Read more…] about The Great Blondin: Frenchman Jean François Gravelet
Some 1896 Lighter Side of Political History Anecdotes
In an era long ago, Republicans had a majority in the New York State Assembly. But Democrats were better at baseball. [Read more…] about Some 1896 Lighter Side of Political History Anecdotes
Niagara’s Manhattan Project Legacy Haunting Homeowners
Elevated radiation levels have been detected in the yards of over 120 homes in Niagara County, NY. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has been conducting the first radiological survey of the area since 1984 and at least four families have fled their homes.
Governor Kathy Hochul has called on the EPA to step up testing and accelerate distribution of resources to those affected [Read more…] about Niagara’s Manhattan Project Legacy Haunting Homeowners
19 NY Places Recommended for State and National Registers
The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced recommendations by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation to add 19 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The nominations include a nineteenth-century church in Jefferson County that developed and promoted Universalism in Upstate New York, a pre-Revolutionary War house owned by seven generations of the Hulse family on Long Island’s North Shore, and additional documentation for New York City’s Hotel Chelsea recognizing its significance as a center of LGBTQ cultural and creative life. [Read more…] about 19 NY Places Recommended for State and National Registers
Seth Concklin: A Daring, Dedicated New York Abolitionist
Many New Yorkers before the Civil War contributed to the abolition of slavery, and the dangerous work of helping enslaved African-Americans flee their captors. Take Calvin Fairbank, a New York Methodist pastor born 1816, who spent 17 years in prison for his missions to help enslaved people escape.
Seth Concklin, a New Yorker whose name and sacrifice were more familiar in the 19th century, died tragically in 1851 while trying to help a mother and her three children escape from slavery. [Read more…] about Seth Concklin: A Daring, Dedicated New York Abolitionist
NY Music History: Wurlitzers, Martin Guitars & Saxon Immigration
The Lombardy city of Cremona is the birthplace of the violin. The name of Antonio Stradivari became a metaphor for perfection, and his presence sparked a cult of Cremonese violins.
Born in 1644, he continued a lengthy line of local luthiers who since the sixteenth century had produced fine instruments. [Read more…] about NY Music History: Wurlitzers, Martin Guitars & Saxon Immigration
New York Historic Pools Designed by Wesley Bintz
Wesley Bintz was a Civil Engineer who received his training at the University of Michigan, earning a BCE in 1916 and MS in 1918. He moved on to municipal work in Flint, Michigan with two pools made of reinforced concrete, and funded by municipal bonds, which he designed as their City Engineer and completed in 1920.
Bintz subsequently accepted an Engineering position with the City of Lansing, Michigan whose citizens also desired an ovoid swimming pool, and saw their aspiration fulfilled with another a Bintz designed 80 x 120 foot pool constructed during 1922-23. Other communities saw the need for such facilities, which caused Bintz to patent his design, and specialize in his own swimming pool enterprise. Many Blintz pools were built in New York State. [Read more…] about New York Historic Pools Designed by Wesley Bintz
State Parks Outlines New Investments Hoped for 2026
In support of the goals outlined in Governor Kathy Hochul’s State of the State and executive budget, New York State Parks has announced support for several initiatives they say are designed to create jobs, enhance state park experiences, improve access to outdoor recreation and preserve state history. [Read more…] about State Parks Outlines New Investments Hoped for 2026
White Supremacist George Wallace & New York State
On January 14, 1963, after being overwhelmingly elected by white Alabama voters, George Wallace (1919-1998), the infamous segregationist and white supremacist, delivered his inaugural address and called for “Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!” Throughout his speech he condemned integration and criticized federal intervention in state affairs.
Running for office almost a decade after Brown v. Board of Education, Wallace’s 1962 campaign used the slogan “Stand up for Alabama,” and he vowed to fight integration at the University of Alabama. [Read more…] about White Supremacist George Wallace & New York State
Fort Ontario Military History, 1812-1945
After the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), remaining friction between Britain and the United States escalated into another war in North America 30 years later.
Both countries were determined to assert control over Lake Ontario, bringing Fort Ontario to the front lines of the War of 1812 (1812-1815). Britain saw Oswego as an integral connection to New York shipyards that could support future naval battles and supply additional American ships. [Read more…] about Fort Ontario Military History, 1812-1945
Pontiac’s Uprising: The American Indian War for Independence
In April 1763, the American Indian War for Independence (1763-1766) — also called Pontiac’s Rebellion or Pontiac’s Uprising for the Ottawa Nation leader who organized a coalition against European colonial powers — started with the siege of Fort Detroit.
In July 1764, an English colonial force that included 500 Native fighters departed from Oswego for operations against Pontiac’s forces to the west. Attacks by Native forces spread east and south as a result of continued European colonists’ trespassing and settlement on Native lands. [Read more…] about Pontiac’s Uprising: The American Indian War for Independence
The Burning of Buffalo during the War of 1812
On December 10, 1813, two New Yorkers raged at each other in the entryway of Joseph McCarthy’s store on Queen Street in the Upper Canada village of Newark, known today as Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
Soldiers held back a crowd as the ranking officer in charge of the American troops occupying nearby Fort George, Brigadier-General George McClure (1771-1851) cursed a Buffalo physician and militia captain, the forty-four-year-old Dr. Cyrenius Chapin (1769-1838). Both were part of the New York State militia assigned by the United States regular army to occupy Canada’s Fort George. [Read more…] about The Burning of Buffalo during the War of 1812
Blacks Bears Rescued from Trap; Deer Rescued from Well
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) recently rescued two young black bears from leg-hold traps in the Catskills and and a whitetail buck from an abandon well in Niagara County. [Read more…] about Blacks Bears Rescued from Trap; Deer Rescued from Well
The Erie Canal’s Impacts on Indigenous People
New York’s canal building boom and the urban explosion that it triggered dramatically accelerated the dispossession and disruption of traditional life ways of the region’s Native American inhabitants that had been initiated by the introduction of European trade, diseases, colonial wars, the American Revolution, and encroaching settlement by non-natives. [Read more…] about The Erie Canal’s Impacts on Indigenous People
New Yorkers Exiled to Tasmania for the 1837-38 Canadian Patriot Rebellion
On September 30, 1970, in a simple ceremony, a monument was unveiled at Sandy Bay Beach Reserve in Hobart, Tasmania, by the Honorable Douglas Harkness, the former Canadian defense minister. It was in honor to the ninety-two Patriot exiles, transported to what was then called Van Diemen’s Land who had been captured in the 1837-38 Patriot War insurrection in Upper Canada against British domination.
Listed as Canadian rebels, a majority were in fact from the state of New York. Although imprisoned US citizens captured in the various conflicts with England – from the American Revolution to the War of 1812– was not a novelty, it was to be the first time that American prisoners were shipped to a penal colony in Australia due to a confrontation with the Empire. [Read more…] about New Yorkers Exiled to Tasmania for the 1837-38 Canadian Patriot Rebellion
Some Unique National Historical Register Listings in New York
The New York State Board for Historic Preservation was established in 1972 and expanded by the New York State Historic Preservation Act of 1980. It works with the State Historic Preservation Office to review nominations to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
In honor of the milestone 200th meeting of the Board for Historic Preservation (on September 10, 2025), below are some of New York’s most interesting resources in the National Register, either as individual sites or as parts of historic districts. [Read more…] about Some Unique National Historical Register Listings in New York
Drought Watch Issued for 20 New York Counties
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has issued a Drought Watch for 20 New York counties because of a shortage of rainfall and declining levels of stream-flow and ground water. [Read more…] about Drought Watch Issued for 20 New York Counties
‘The Turtle’ Native American Center Named To America’s Most Endangered Historic Places List
Now in its 38th year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s annual list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places has proven to be a highly effective tool for shining a light on the threats facing our nation’s greatest treasures. The latest list includes The Turtle Native American Center for the Living Arts in Niagara Falls, NY. [Read more…] about ‘The Turtle’ Native American Center Named To America’s Most Endangered Historic Places List