Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Niagara Falls Then and Now: The Mowat Gate at Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, Then and Now: the Mowat Gate at Victoria Park
[click photos to enlarge!] Above: The Mowat Gate (in honour of Sir Oliver Mowat) at Victoria Park in Niagara Falls (at Clifton Hill and Falls Ave.), photo taken Apr. 29, 2008 by R. Bobak.

Above: Old postcard view of the stone Mowat Gate,which was built in 1907; this shot shows the Gate at its original location, a bit east (at River Rd.) of where it is today (at Falls Ave.).
The Gate was dismantled in 1936 and rebuilt at its current location at Falls Ave.
The original wooden Mowat Gate was of a rustic cedar design, constructed in 1888, and it marked the principal northern entrance to Queen Victoria Park, Oddly enough, it had been located where the stone Mowat Gate was moved to in 1936.
The mist plume from the Horseshoe Falls is seen in both views. Also, the tracks of the Great Gorge Belt Line streetcar can be seen running along the edge of the gorge. A pole supporting the streetcar route's overhead electric wires is in the center. The postcard, from author's collection, has no date on it, but the postage rate on the back reads "One cent for the United States and Island Possessions, Cuba, Canada, and Mexico. Two cents for Foreign."
Below: It wasn't until 1922 that the stone gate was was inscribed.

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