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DAREDEVILS AND DISASTER DOMINATE EARLY DAYS OF OLD NIAGARA FALLS

By Bob Kostoff

Niagara Falls businessman William Tugby, when he was 72 years old in 1914, could rattle off stories of Blondin, a huge hotel fire and locations of old Falls buildings.

Tugby operated the Tugby Bazaar, a general-type store on Falls Street at Prospect Street. A local reporter interviewed him on March 21, 1914.

"Now, as to Blondin," he said, "the place where his rope was stretched across the gorge for his first trip in 1859 was opposite the site of the Niagara Falls Brewery. The spot was a popular resort known as White's Pleasure Grounds."

Tugby also told of a life-threatening scare that Blondin had on one of his later tightrope trips across the gorge. "At that time," he said, "there was a celebrated pistol shot in this city by the name of Captain Travers, who had a gallery opposite the International Hotel."

Tugby added, "Travers went on the Maid of the Mist and with a pistol fired a ball through a hat which Blondin, on the rope far above, held out at arm's length. They wanted him to do it again, but Blondin refused because the bullet had gone through the hat within an inch of his hand."

The huge hotel fire that Tugby recalled involved the old Falls Hotel located on Falls Street and drew hundreds of spectators in the mid-19th century. Tugby said, "There's not many left now who can remember the fire that destroyed the old Falls Hotel. That was in 1859."

He continued, "The hotel was on the north side of Falls street and extended from Main down to where Mr. Owens' present Clifton Hotel stands. The Falls Hotel fire was one of the biggest we ever had here in the early days. It was a two story frame building which would accommodate about a hundred guests."

The fire also destroyed some businesses located there. Tugby added, "Samuel T. Mason's father kept a fancy goods store on the ground floor. There were other stores there. The building was burned down and the spectacle was watched by inhabitants gathered from miles around."

Regarding the changing face of the city, Tugby chronicled locations of several prominent buildings. "There was an old Methodist Church," he recalled, "at Falls and Second streets where the Miller-Strong store now stands. It was moved away in 1861.

"The church was a frame structure about 30 to 40 feet and seated perhaps 125 people. Elder Cannon used to preach there. He was related to the Cannon family which is now prominent here."

He said a big barn owned by J.T. Fulton, who kept a large number of trotting horses there, formerly occupied the site of the old International Theater.

One of the early post offices, he recalled, "back in 1859 was located in the Grant Block on Cherry street. Postmaster Murdock then presided over the mail we received and sent. It was a little room."

He added that the village at that time had about 2,200 residents. "The Village of Suspension Bridge," he said, "was two miles north and had about 1,500 population. In between the two at a point about opposite where the Main street armory now stands was a settlement known as Clarksville where about 175 people lived."

He said the beginning of the police department came when Robert Calladine served as chief from 1859 to 1861. And, he added, the village had a good fire department located in a building at Bridge Street and Riverway. The fire chief was John Clark.

In those days, water had to be hand-pumped to fight fires. Four firemen would man rails on each side of the pumper, Tugby recalled, and pump up and down to get the water flowing. He added, "They did good service. They threw streams about one-third as strong as the streams which the present day engines develop."

Tugby migrated from England to Niagara Falls in 1859 to join his brother in operating the general store. He met and married Eva Roach, and they had three daughters and one son.


Bob Kostoff has been reporting on the Niagara Frontier for four decades. He is a recognized authority on local history and is the author of several books. E-mail him at RKost1@aol.com.

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com January 3 2007