Schoellkopf Power Station

The Schoellkopf Power Station was built on land owned by Jacob F. Schoellkopf above the Niagara Gorge near the American Falls, 1,600 feet downriver from Rainbow Bridge. Understanding the growing need for electricity and the role of harnessing the Falls, Schoellkopf purchased the land for the hydraulic canal on May 1, 1877 for $71,000. After Schoellkopf Sr.'s death in 1903, his sons took over the operation of the power business. In 1918, Schoellkopf's Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company merged with the Niagara Falls Power Company, which was owned by Edward Dean Adams. The Plant was considered by some to be the greatest hydroelectric plant at the time. Much of the site is, as of 2014, occupied by the Maid of the Mist tour boat company as a maintenance area and off-season boat storage yard. The power station remains form a part of a fully accessible tourist attraction associated with Niagara Falls State Park and is connected with its Niagara Gorge hiking trail system.

The second plant was built immediately in front of Schoellkopf's original plant, and in June 1956, water began seeping into the plant from the wall behind it, causing cracks in the rear wall. At 5PM on June 7, the station collapsed into the Niagara River, destroying two thirds of the plant (Powerhouses 3B and 3C) with six generators that produced more than 300,000 horsepower. 400,000 kilowatts of power were lost from the grid and damaged was estimated at $100m. The remains of the Plant either toppled into the gorge or were razed soon after. Station 3A remained in operation at reduced volume until 1961. The collapse led to the passage of the 1957 Niagara Redevelopment Act.

"Powerhouse A" ceased operation and was demolished in 1962 as part of Robert Moses's work to beautify the American side of the Falls. The energy lost by the 1956 collapse was replaced by the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant, which was commissioned in 1961. The only permanently extant part of the Schoellkopf site is the stone wall (known as Power Station No. 3), which was built during beautification efforts in 1908-10. That wall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in February 2013. However, depending on the seasonal flow of the River, it's sometimes possible to see the twisted steel girders and even a generator turbine that fell into the River.