Niagara Railroad Negatives
name: label: Creator
content: Niagara Railroad
label: Collector
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry
topic: label: Topic
content: Stations -- New York
label: Topic
content: Trains -- New York
label: Topic
content: Railroads -- New York
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
creator: label: Creator
content: Niagara Railroad
setName: label: See more items in
content: Niagara Railroad Negatives
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: The Niagara Railroad Company has two beginnings as the result of being merged from two companies, one American, the other Canadian. The American company was the Niagara Falls and Whirlpool Company and aimed for a track that spanned from Prospect Point to Whirlpool. Before construction could begin, however, the company went bankrupt. It was reorganized by American Businessmen Captain George M. Brinker and George A. Ricker as the Niagara Falls and Lewiston Railroad, which opened its railway in April of 1895 after 75 days of construction. Thanks to the view it gave to tourists, the track was an immediate success and within a year warranted the construction of a second track. The Canadian company was commissioned by Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park, which was then in need of a larger source of income. The company was named the Niagara Falls Park & River Railroad Company and was to span from Queenston to Chippawa. The track opened in May of 1893 and transported 354,000 people in its first season. As with its American counterpart, the company added a second track within a year of opening.

The Niagara Falls and Lewiston Railroad was sold to General Francis V. Green and Herbert P. Bissell in 1899 and renamed the Niagara Gorge Railroad Company. Three years later, the Niagara Falls Park and River Railroad was sold to its American counterpart and the result was the International Railway Company. Although it was prosperous for a number of decades, the company went into decline due to a series of accidents that forced parts of the railway to be abandoned and the rise of the automobile which rendered the railway obsolete. 

Sources

Great Gorge Route and the Niagara Falls Park and River Railway at: http://www.niagarafrontier.com/greatgorge.html (last accessed December 3, 2019)

Amtrak, The Great American Stations at: https://www.greatamericanstations.com/stations/niagara-falls-ny-nfl/ (last accessed December 3, 2019)
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Cubic foot (3 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1896-1898
custodhist: label: Ownership and Custodial History
content: Transferred to the Archives Center by the Division of Work and Industry in 2007.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1081
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection arranged into one series.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by John Benko, intern, 2019; supervised by Alison Oswald, archivist, 2019.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Glass plate negatives (silver gelatin) documenting the Niagara Railroad and its architectural structures.