Lower Landing Archeological District is a historic

archeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

located at Lewiston in

Niagara County, New York Niagara County is in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 212,666. The county seat is Lockport. The county name is from the Iroquois word ''Onguiaahra''; meaning ''the strait'' or ''thunder of waters''. Niag ...

. The district comprises the area that served as the western end of the portage for goods around Niagara Falls. It is located on east bank of the Niagara River.

History

Frenchman

Louis-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire Louis-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire (1670June 29, 1739), also known as Sononchiez by the Iroquois, was a French army officer and interpreter for New France who worked with the Iroquois tribes during the French and Indian Wars in the early 18th centu ...

's trading post which was constructed in 1719,

Fort Niagara Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built by New France to protect its interests in North America, specifically control of access between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great Lakes. The fort is on the river's e ...

, was the first permanent structure built by a white man in Lewiston. Joncaire had received permission from the

Seneca Indians The Seneca () ( see, Onödowáʼga:, "Great Hill People") are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west ...

and the trading post was located on the site of today's Artpark parking lot (which is located immediately east of the main theater). While the post is no longer standing the ruins were studied in the 1950s and it indicated that the structure had been destroyed by fire in 1741. The exact location of the trading Post is where Artpark's "painted parking lot" is today. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1974.

References

Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Archaeological sites in New York (state) Geography of Niagara County, New York Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Niagara County, New York {{NiagaraCountyNY-NRHP-stub