The Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretive Center is an
intermodal transit complex in
Niagara Falls, New York
Niagara Falls is a City (New York), city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 48,671. It is adjacent to the Niagara River, across from the city of Niagara ...
. It serves
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
trains and
Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority buses, houses
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilit ...
offices servicing the
Canada–United States border
The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Can ...
, and houses the
Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center.
It is the western terminus of Amtrak's
Empire Corridor
The Empire Corridor is a passenger rail corridor in New York State running between Penn Station in New York City and . Major cities on the route include Poughkeepsie, Albany, Schenectady, Amsterdam, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo ...
and serves two ''
Empire Service
The ''Empire Service'' is an Inter-city rail service operated by Amtrak within the state of New York in the United States. The brand name originated with the New York Central Railroad in 1967. Trains on the line provide frequent daily service ...
'' trains in each direction (terminating westbound) and one ''
Maple Leaf'' in each direction daily. The station also provides a connection to
NFTA route 50 and the Discover Niagara Shuttle buses.
The facility consists of a complex built around the historic U.S. Customhouse, originally designed to service the U.S. side of the
Niagara River
The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...
border crossings from Canada. Completed in July 2016, the facility replaced Amtrak's
former Niagara Falls station for passenger rail service on December 6, 2016.
From March 2020 to June 2022, ''Maple Leaf'' service west of the station was suspended indefinitely as part of a closure of the border to non-essential travel in response to the
coronavirus pandemic, which made this station the western terminal of the route for that period.
U.S. Customhouse
To handle the large amount of goods exchanged over the border, the Lewiston customs house—the primary customs for the Niagara region—was relocated from
Lewiston, NY to the
Niagara Suspension Bridge in 1863. The customhouse served inspectors for the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge,
Niagara Cantilever Bridge,
Whirlpool Rapids Bridge
The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, commonly known as the Whirlpool Bridge or the Lower Steel Arch Bridge (before 1937), is a spandrel braced, riveted, two-hinged arch bridge that crosses the international border between Canada and the United States, con ...
, and
Michigan Central Railway Bridge at various points in its history. With Niagara Falls receiving the second highest amounts of American imports at one point, the customhouse was once a very busy post for its inspectors. In 1911 the building was partially destroyed by fire but later rebuilt. Remaining in a US Customs capacity until the 1960s, it was sold to several different commercial owners before it was originally abandoned in 1998.
[ ''Note:'' This includes
an]
''Accompanying three photographs''
/ref>
Added to 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 v ...
in 1973, the building is now owned by the city of Niagara Falls who purchased it in 2003. State and local governments later incorporated the customhouse into plans to build a new multi-million dollar train station and intermodal transportation center called the Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretative Center. The customhouse was restored over a 5-year period and built into the station.
The second floor of the customhouse is occupied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilit ...
which uses it as a processing facility for passengers coming from Canada on the ''Maple Leaf''. The first floor contains a museum on the Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...
called the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center in honor of the former original bridge close by that took slaves from the United States into Canada in the 19th century. The museum opened May 2018 and includes such exhibits as "One More River to Cross" featuring the history of the Underground Railroad in Niagara Falls, the role played by the location and geography of Niagara Falls, and the actions of residents particularly African-American residents. Other exhibits include a recreation of the Cataract House
The Cataract House was a hotel in the neighborhood of Buffalo Avenue in Niagara Falls, New York. The hotel was established in 1825 but destroyed by fire in 1945. It was a major stop on the Underground Railroad and it was the largest hotel in Niag ...
, a Niagara Falls hotel that employed an entirely African-American wait staff, who helped numbers of former slaves to freedom in Canada and a recreation of the International Suspension Bridge
The Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge stood from 1855 to 1897 across the Niagara River and was the world's first working railway suspension bridge. It spanned and stood downstream of Niagara Falls, where it connected Niagara Falls, Ontario to N ...
, built in 1848, and rebuilt in 1855 to incorporate rail traffic, where Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 slaves, including family and friends, us ...
and other former slaves crossed into Canada. The museum is sanctioned by the National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
as part of the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area.
Train station
After 30 years of effort to move Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
's Niagara Falls station to the Customhouse location, the Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretive Center complex was constructed in a three-phase rebuilding project estimated to have cost $44 million. Construction on the project began in August 2010 and in October 2010, the US Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
released $16.5 million in funds from the TIGER
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
program for work on the final phase of the International Station project.
A construction contract was agreed upon between the City of Niagara Falls and a local construction firm in April 2014 after delay over price overruns. Work began in May 2014. City officials said the construction would take 18 months to two years to complete. The project was completed in three phases including the stabilization of the existing customhouse building and upgrades to the nearby bridge. The station was completed in July 2016 and the completion was celebrated with a sneak peek of the station to the public during an event called "Niagara Falls Amtrak Community Day" on July 30, 2016.
After a delay in a contract agreement between the city and Amtrak, a 20-year lease was signed on November 9, 2016. Amtrak moved into the station on December 6, after the last train departed from the former Willard Avenue facility that morning.
It is hoped that the new station and its closer location to the downtown area of the city will help spur public and private sector growth in the city. The station was the first of four stations to be replaced along the Empire Corridor in New York in a five-year period. In addition to Niagara Falls, Rochester, Schenectady
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
, and Buffalo–Exchange Street were all replaced between 2016 and 2020.
Niagara Falls officials have expressed interest in GO Transit
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...
expanding rail service over the border to the station and the station is designed to accommodate preclearance facility, hosting Canadian border staff. Metrolinx
Metrolinx is a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario that manages and integrates road and public transport in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), which comprises much of Ontario's Golden Horseshoe region. Headquartered at Union Sta ...
which runs GO Transit however has stated that there are specific restrictions when a train leaves Ontario, or any province in Canada, that require a different set of inspection criteria and standards in order to legally enter the United States which would make a stop at the station difficult. GO Transit currently stops at the Niagara Falls, Ontario station as it is part of the service's Lakeshore West line.
Station layout
Like the customhouse, the train station has two floors. The first floor at ground level contains the main concourse
A concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space.
The term is not limited to places where there are literally pathways or roadways or t ...
, an entrance to the museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
in the customhouse and spaces for shops accessed from the outside. Ticketing, a waiting room
A waiting room or waiting hall is a building, or more commonly a part of a building or a room, where people sit or stand until the event or appointment for which they are waiting begins.
There are two types of waiting room. One has individuals ...
, and boarding of the trains is on the second floor which is accessed by stairs and elevator. The lawn in front of the customhouse can be turned into a theater and interpretive area. Trains call at a single high-level side platform
A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...
serving one track which is on an embankment.
Customs processing for the ''Maple Leaf''
There are no pre-clearance facilities here or on the Canadian side. For passengers coming from Canada, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilit ...
officers handle passengers with processing through the station. For passengers going to Canada, Canada Border Services Agency
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and cu ...
officers process those passengers on board the train at the Niagara Falls railway station in Niagara Falls, Ontario
Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...
, just over the Whirlpool Bridge.
See also
* U.S. Customhouse (disambiguation) – A list of other historic customhouses
Notes
References
External links
*
Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center
from the Niagara Gazette
The ''Niagara Gazette'', also referred to as ''The Gazette'', is a morning daily newspaper published in Niagara Falls, New York, United States, which covers several parts of Niagara County, including the Town of Niagara, and the City of Niagara Fa ...
an
finished photos
from ''The Buffalo News
''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It recently sold its headquarters to Uniland Development Corp. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by W ...
''
*
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York, state=collapsed
Historic American Buildings Survey in New York (state)
Government buildings completed in 1863
Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
Buildings and structures in Niagara Falls, New York
Custom houses in the United States
Transportation in Niagara Falls, New York
Amtrak stations in New York (state)
Railway stations in the United States opened in 2016
Railway stations in Niagara County, New York
National Register of Historic Places in Niagara County, New York
1863 establishments in New York (state)
Custom houses on the National Register of Historic Places