The Lower Landing

For early travelers coming up the Niagara River on their way from Lake Ontario to the other Great Lakes, the Lower Landing marked the beginning of the Niagara Portage, the shortest and most accessible route around Niagara Falls and the swirling waters of the Niagara Gorge. Created by Native peoples long before the arrival of Europeans, the Portage was adopted by French, British, and American traders, soldiers, merchants, and travelers from the 17th century until the opening of the Erie and Welland Canals in the 1820s. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, control of the Portage was considered vital to early European trade and exploration, leading to many conflicts among the French, the British, and Native peoples, particularly the Seneca, the westernmost nation of the Iroquois League. The struggle for control of the Portage led to the construction of many blockhouses and forts, including Fort Niagara seven miles to the north. During the British period, limestone quarried from the site provided building blocks for several structures at Fort Niagara, and in later years the site supplied stone for buildings in Lewiston and nearby areas. As commerce developed on the British and Canadian shore of the river after the American Revolution, the Lower Landing and the old Portage gradually fell into disuse as a transportation corridor. During the 1850s the area may have served as an active path to freedom for African Americans escaping slavery. By the early 1890s, the Great Gorge Railroad and its successors were bringing tourists from Niagara Falls to Lewiston. After the railroads declined, the site continued to support local industry such as the Porter Fiber Bottle works. During Prohibition in the 1920s, the area is said to have been an entry point for rum-runners bringing illegal liquor into the U.S. In the 1950s, the New York State Power Authority acquired the property for use as a dump for spoils from construction of the New York State Power Project. Efforts by numerous individuals saved a portion of the area and led to its designation as Lewiston State Park, and through additional efforts by Senator Earl W. Bridges and Governor Nelson Rockefeller, the park was dedicated to the arts with the creation of Artpark in 1974.

Lewiston, New York · United States