After decades of neglect Niagara Falls State Park, the iconic international tourist attraction and historic honeymoon destination, is looking better than ever thanks to a multi-million-dollar revitalization campaign now almost complete.
Niagara Falls makes up part of the border between the state of New York, United States and province of Ontario, Canada. The world-famous attraction is known for the three massive waterfalls fed by the Niagara River, a spectacle that draws in travelers from all over the world.
For decades, the Canadian side has enjoyed the bulk of investments in tourism infrastructure while the US side suffered from depopulation, industrial decline, and general neglect. Now, the New York State government is working to help the community by investing more in Niagara Falls State Park, to match the spectacle of its Canadian cousin on the other side of the river.
Niagara Falls State Park was hardly recognizable as a major international tourist draw at the time Public Parks visited years ago, but officials have been working to change this impression.
This week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and other state elected leaders gathered at the park to launch the newly built Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Welcome Center. At a price tag of $46 million, the new visitor center “will provide modern amenities to the millions of visitors arriving at the park each year and provide information on all that the Niagara Falls area has to offer to visitors,” the governor’s office said in a release.
In her speech christening the new welcome center, Governor Hochul promised further efforts to reinvest in one of the state’s top destinations as a means to help lift the economy of the struggling Upstate New York region.
“Today, we unveil our commitment to elevate this state jewel even further as we roll out the welcome mat to welcome the world to our state’s natural gem,” Hochul said.
Powered in part by rooftop solar panels, the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Welcome Center (named for a former own of the Buffalo Bills and the foundation named after him) features new ticketing areas, places to purchase food and drinks, information booths, and spaces for administrative functions. The building’s glass walls were designed in a way to maintain views of the falls, the governor’s office said.
What was launched this week is only phase one of this latest project.
The state park’s administrators said they have plans to add an interpretive museum to the site, which is slated to feature “an immersive experience and exhibits highlighting a diversity of topics including natural, industrial and indigenous American history.” Niagara Falls State Park didn’t give a timeframe for when the museum would be completed, saying only that it would open at some undetermined later date.
New York’s spending to enhance Niagara Falls State Park goes well beyond the $46 million the state allocated for the new welcome center and the money earmarked for the forthcoming museum.
The state government says some $150 million has already been spent to revitalize Niagara Falls State Park beginning in 2011.
The cash has been spent on improving viewing areas, adding or enhancing trails and walkways, new lighting, new benches, and better landscaping. The Cave of the Winds Pavilion was added in 2017. And in what has arguably been the biggest change to date, the Robert Moses Parkway thoroughfare that led noisy city traffic speeding past the park was entirely removed.
Tearing out the busy street and directing traffic elsewhere has had the effect of “connecting the city to its waterfront for the first time in a generation and is the largest expansion of Niagara Falls State Park since the creation of the park,” the governor’s office said.
Now, the new welcome center has been added to replace the smaller, aging facility.
“With the opening of the new welcome center and the continued dedication of resources and redevelopment of Niagara Falls State Park and the surrounding areas, we can ensure Niagara Falls remains a wonderful place to visit for Western New York residents and international travelers,” state senator Rob Ortt said during the ceremony to inaugurate the new visitor center.
More investment is in store for Niagara Falls State Park.
$8.5 million is slated to be spent refurbishing the auditorium in the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center. And $2.5 million will be spent to enhance a nearby historic cemetery that dates back to the Civil War. The governor’s office said the cemetery hosts the grave of the first person to successfully travel over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
Opened in 1885, Niagara Falls State Park is America’s oldest state park, established about 13 years after Yellowstone became the world’s first national park.
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