Then: Bridge Street Hotels

Niagara Falls has always attracted visitors, and visitors need a place to stay. The Bridge Street Hotels in Niagara Falls provided some of the first commercial hotel establishments in the city.

The "Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge" was the first bridge ever to span the Niagara River. The street was named for it, and the hotels benefitted from it. The bridge opened in 1848, and could convey pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages across the thundering river gorge.

Soon afterwards, the Great Western Railway line was extended from the city of Hamilton to Elginn, which caused a considerable increase in visitor activity. Without a railway connection across the river, train passengers had to be dropped off at the Elginn station, then take a carriage across the bridge and board another train on the other side.

Since many of the visitors needed overnight accommodation, a number of hotels sprang up near the station. These included the Elginn House, a two-storey frame structure at the corner of Bridge Street and River Road.

The Rosli was another nearby hotel, built in 1855 near the corner of Bridge Street and Cataract Avenue. It was billed as "the coziest and most homelike hotel in Niagara Falls".

Another large brick building on the corner of Clifton (now Zimmerman Avenue) and Bridge Street initially housed a bank and post office. Opportunity beckoned, and the Savoy Hotel was established there in 1899.

The Windsor House, "convenient to all railways", was located between Zimmerman Avenue and Cataract Street. It had electric lights, telephone, and baths.

The Suspension Bridge Hotel, later known as the Arlington, served "first rate liquors" and had "good stabling" available.

Now: Bridge Street

Today, there are a number of empty lots where the old hotels used to reside. Most of the popular tourist hotels are now located around Clifton Hill, Falls View, and Murray Hill. But if you look at the vintage photos of the area and use your imagination, the echoes of steam whistles and the cheerful murmur of busy hotel lounges still haunt the sidewalks of Lower Bridge Street.

Niagara Falls Public Library. 2017. Niagara Falls - Then & Now: A Photographic Journey Through The Years. [Bridge Street Hotels/ Bridge Street].

Niagara Falls Then and Now
A collaborative project
Niagara Falls Museums - Niagara Falls Public Library - Dept. of Geography and Tourism Studies,Brock University.
Original newspaper series by Sherman Zavitz, Official Historian for the City of Niagara Falls from 1994 - 2019.

© 2020 All rights reserved
Copyright for all content remains with original creators.