Navy Island

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NAVY ISLAND

Then: Navy Island

Navy Island, 1968.

Canada's Navy Island, in the upper Niagara River, has had a colourful history. It's been a canoe building site for First Nations people; a French, then British shipyard; a tourist destination, and briefly "The Republic of Canada", an independent government proclaimed by noted political firebrand William Lyon Mackenzie following the Upper Canada rebellion in 1837.

In 1945, Navy Island was put forth as a possible location host to the headquarters for the newly created United Nations, after the end of World War II. An international committee of prominent Americans and Canadians wrote a proposal to the United Nations discussing the benefits of the location; it was on the international border between two countries that had been at peace for 130 years and could be easily accessed from both, it was "convenient to road, rail and air transport", it was in a scenic, well-known location and was separated from the grime and noisy activity of cities. The proposal booklet had architect's drawings, maps and many photos of the beautiful surroundings, which can be found below.

Unfortunately for the Niagara committee, John D. Rockefeller Jr. offered six blocks of land in Manhattan as a gift, and New York City was quickly chosen as the UN's new home.

Now: Navy Island

Today, the uninhabited island is managed by parks Ontario as a national Historic Site of Canada.

Navy Island through the years...

Feature: What If the UN Selected Navy Island as Its Headquarters?

Courtesy Spectrum News 1, Buffalo, New York

Sources

Haight, Alex. 2019. What If the UN Selected Navy Island as Its Headquarters? Spectrum News 1 (Buffalo, NY). https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/news/2019/04/16/what-if-the-un-selected-navy-island-as-its-headquarters-

Niagara Falls Public Library. 2017. Niagara Falls - Then & Now: A Photographic Journey Through The Years. [Navy Island].

Parks Canada. 1998.Directory of Federal Heritage Designations: Designations of National Historic Significance - Navy Island National Historic Site of Canada. https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=429

Viewpoint of Navy Island: 8883 Niagara Pkwy, Niagara Falls, ON L2E 6S6, Canada

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.

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