Residents of the tiny hamlet of Clarksville, situated between Niagara Falls and Suspension Bridge, decided to end their isolated existence and join the growing community around the falls.
In the latter part of the 1880s, there was a growing trend to merge the settlements around the falls, even though much of that area was still forested or cleared farmland. Residents of Clarksville did not want to be left out.
On Feb. 26, 1887, a petition signed by 39 prominent residents of Clarksville was presented to Assemblyman Peter A. Porter, son of Gen. Peter B. Porter, seeking union with Niagara Falls. The first name on the petition was that of J.F. Trott, a son-in-law of Cataract House owner Parkhurst Whitney.
The petition stated, "We the undersigned, inhabitants of the hamlet called Clarksville and all the land lying between the north line of Clarksville and the south line of the Village of Suspension Bridge, and bounded on the east by Portage Road and on the west by the Niagara River, the said territory hereby designated being and lying in the Town of Niagara, State of New York, do hereby respectfully petition your honorable body that the above territory and inhabitants may be incorporated with and made part of the Village of Niagara Falls, state of New York, Town of Niagara."
The state legislature passed the bill on April 19, 1887, and Clarksville became a part of the Village of Niagara Falls. Charles B. Gaskill was president of the village when the application was begun, but Hiram E. Griffith was president when the measure became law.
A few years later, residents of Suspension Bridge, just north of Clarksville, did not want to be left out and so petitioned to become a part of the expanding community to the south. The merger was completed, and on March 17, 1892, the Village of Niagara Falls, Hamlet of Clarksville and Village of Suspension Bridge became the City of Niagara Falls.
While petty jealousies between the communities had existed in the past, it seems there was nothing but harmony at the time of the mergers. Historian Orrin E. Dunlap noted the Niagara Falls Gazette "made no editorial comment, simply announcing passage of the bill."
When the application was begun, the Gaskill administration was Republican and, by the time the merger passed, the Democratic administration of Griffith had taken over. But neither Republicans nor Democrats had any objections to the merger.
Part of Parkhurst Whitney's farm was in Clarksville, and that is why his son-in-law J.F. Trott signed the petition seeking merger. Whitney retired to that farm, leaving operation of the Cataract House to his sons-in-law.
In writing about retirement in 1846, Whitney said, "During the above period (when he was running the hotel) I changed my circumstances from making my own fire, being hostler, tending bar, waiting on tables, my wife doing the cooking, all together, four or five servants, to the employment of one hundred servants and giving up the establishment to the children and returning to my old calling of farming."
Henry Wells Clark, the man for whom the hamlet was named, started in the papermaking business around the falls. He also was in politics, serving several terms as town supervisor, and entered the railroad business, becoming the principal agent at Niagara Falls for many years.
Regarding his papermaking skills, a traveling writer, one Joseph Wentworth Ingraham, of Boston, Mass., included a tract about Clark in his book about the falls. He wrote, "I have myself tried their letter and writing paper and pronounce it good. Of their printing paper the reader may judge for himself as this tract is a specimen of it, though they may sometimes manufacture that which is of much better quality."
He added, "I would have this little tract printed on better paper if it could have been procured in this vicinity, but it may add some interest to the book in the eyes of visitors to be informed that the paper on which it is printed was manufactured at the Falls and the waters of Niagara, therefore, are intimately blended with its every fibre. It may be added, too, that the printing has been executed within view of the spray arising from the Falls. That also may be some recommendation." The book was dated July 1, 1834.
Clark had his homestead at the beginning of Clarksville at the northeast corner of Main Street and Elmwood Avenue. The property was deeded to Augustus Porter by the Holland Land Company in 1814, and by Porter to Asa Pierce in 1829. Pierce built the house and sold it to Clark in 1836.
Clark later took residence on First Street and deeded the homestead to his son, Thomas E. Clark, who never occupied the house but rented it to a tenant farmer. A fire destroyed the house on Aug. 25, 1883, ostensibly set by youngsters playing around a bonfire. A couple of large haystacks nearby added to the intensity of the blaze.
In the earlier days of the hamlet, there was a low spot in the street just north of Elmwood Avenue. In wet periods, a small creek ran through there down to the gorge. So that carriages could pass, a corduroy road (logs placed side by side) was built in that section.
An 1827 map shows that the name of the road from Main Street in the Village of Niagara Falls through Clarksville to Suspension Bridge was Road to Lewiston. Later, Niagara Falls named its section Ontario Street, and Suspension Bridge called it Lewiston Avenue. When the villages merged, it became Main Street.
In the earlier days, there was a planked sidewalk through a portion of Clarksville. The planks, in an economy move, were not laid side by side but were separated by turf. This sidewalk was the subject of a letter to the editor by one Miss Walker on Feb. 23, 1859.
She wrote, "Mr. Editor, As the subject of annexation again seems to be rife both in private and public life, it has occurred to me that while discussing the merits of annexing Cuba and Canada, we might advantageously confine our efforts nearer home and by a trifling exertion do an act of real benefit and convenience to a large class of our citizens."
She wanted the plank sidewalk extended, saying that the unplanked distance was about 2,000 feet and residents along that section favored such action. She wrote, "By carrying out the excellent plan already begun, of laying plank with sod between, the expense of the interval will be trifling." She exhorted the editor to "bring your formidable influence to bear on the public spirit in your readers and adopt some prompt and practicable plan to affect this desirable object."
Henry W. Clark died at his First Street residence on Nov. 11, 1873, leaving his Main Street homestead to his son, Thomas E. Clark.
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