City and county governments often find themselves at odds, even into modern times, but one clash over the width of Falls Street, as shown in old county records, came in the latter part of the 19th century.
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The problem presented itself in the form of a petition to the Board of Supervisors from Janet L. Townsend and 38 others in 1875 asking that a portion of Falls Street nearest the gorge be improved to only 66 feet wide instead of the 99 feet of right-of-way shown in official maps. Townsend owned land on both sides of Falls Street for a 210-foot-long strip approaching the gorge. Of course, a 99-foot wide street would impinge on her property. She pointed out that widening the street would destroy "many beautiful trees."
The controversy developed when a scion of the pioneer Porter family, A.H. Porter, sent a letter to the board opposing to the petition. He said that Falls Street was laid out as early as 1825 to be 99 feet wide down to the river and it was opened to that width between Main and Canal streets.
Canal Street, along the route of the hydraulic canal, was also laid out 99 feet wide to accommodate the canal. Porter also got other residents to write letters saying the street should be 99 feet wide.
The Niagara Falls Village Board sided with the Porter faction and passed a resolution supporting the 99-foot width.
The resolution also said the Board of Supervisors did not have the power to change the width of Falls Street, which was within jurisdiction of the Village Board.Ê
The village map, drawn by Jesse P. Haines, a Lockport surveyor, in 1836 showed the 99-foot right-of-way along Falls Street to accommodate railroad tracks.
The tracks were laid in 1836, but the space was later abandoned by the railroad company. Nearby Erie Avenue (which became Rainbow Boulevard) was also laid out 99 feet wide for railroad tracks.
Townsend and her petitioners pointed out that no other streets in the village were wider than 66 feet and Falls Street should be the same.
The Board of Supervisors, of course, referred the matter to committee.
The controversy came to an abrupt halt when the committee recommended and the full board approved that the width of Falls Street be left at 99 feet.
Another old record showed the difficulty the nation in general and Niagara County in particular had in attracting volunteers to fight in the Civil War. The first blush of patriotism was strong when the war began and there was no lack of volunteers.
But as the war dragged on and the number of dead and maimed soldiers began rising steadily (somewhat similarly to the current war in Iraq), the number of volunteers dwindled. Rather than recommending a draft (which was eventually required), a local committee wanted to increase the enlistment bonus up to $1,140, to be paid by the state.
An official notice of a meeting held in Lockport on July 12, 1862, said, "A large public meeting comprising a large portion of our most active and patriotic citizens convened this evening to deliberate on the question of raising volunteers in response to the recent call of the President of the United States.
"The meeting was duly organized and addressed with much earnestness by Judge Levi Bowen, Judge Hiram Gardner, Judge Alfred Holmes, Judge George D. Lamont, William Keep and others.
"The speakers agreed that the quota of men should, if possible, be raised as volunteers rather than by a resort to drafting -- that the full number could only be secured by increased compensation in the way of a bounty and that the only reliable and uniform mode of raising the necessary funds is by means of an appropriation by the Legislature."
A committee consisting of Benjamin H. Fletcher, G.D. Lamont and T.T. Flagler was appointed to go to Albany seeking a special session of the legislature to approve the bonus increase. The bonus plan did not work and a draft was instituted, causing severe riots in New York City and civil unrest (but no riots) in Niagara County.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Sept. 28 2004 |