A painting by John Herbert Caddy of the falls.

Well-dressed couples enjoying the view of the Falls in the middle of the 19th Century.

The Horseshoe Falls as seen in the 1870s. For the time it is a fairly impressive exposure showing clouds and fine differences in lighting across a large landscape, not something you often see until photographs from the 1910s and 1920s.

A view over the falls towards Niagara Falls, NY, during a dramatic wintertime ice buildup.

A dramatic painting showing the Battle of Queenston Heights, one of the most pivotal battles of the War of 1812, which saw a decisive American defeat on the Niagara Frontier, and the death of the British commander Major General Sir Isaac Brock. The modern-day perspective photo was taken with a drone.
In this image you can see American boats (confusingly, the American troops in them are wearing red, the traditional British colours) making the crossing. Some are taking heavy fire and foundering. American troops are pouring up the heights, seeking to capture the Redan, a British artillery position with a commanding view of the river.
The British (once again, confusingly, in blue) are seen defending the heights and the hamlet of Queenston at right. The Americans were able to capture the heights, but many of their poorly trained and led troops refused to cross the river, and the success was not reinforced. General Brock boldly led an assault to retake the heights, marching point blank into American fire, and was killed. His British regulars and Canadian militia, supported by Chief John Norton and 80 Mohawk warriors, were fired by fury over the death of their beloved leader, stormed the heights and threw the Americans back across the river.

A view of the Niagara River from Queenston Heights. This painting was created just a few short years after the battle, and gives a vivid idea of the decisive the British artillery positions at the Redan (a short distance down the slope from where the painter was sitting) would have played in a battle fought over a crossing here.
The village of Queenston can be seen at bottom right, which was the scene of the heaviest fighting and where Major General Brock fell. The small house butting out into the river at right is roughly where the American troops would have embarked for the river crossing. Clearly, crossing the river in a strong current under accurate fire from artillery at these heights would have been a challenging prospect in the best of times.

The British attack from the north to retake the cemetery on the heights at the Battle of Lundy's Lane.

Laura Secord's Monument at Lundy Lane Cemetery.
She was a hero to Canada during the War of 1812, walking 30 miles out of American-held territory to warn the British of the impending American offensive, leading to an American defeat. She remained largely unrecognized for this feat throughout her long life.

A postcard showing the Brock Monument overlooking Queenston Heights. At right is the Queenston Heights Restaurant, which still exists today.

Two women and a man pose for a Daguerrotype portrait in front of the frozen falls. It's interesting to note their Victorian era winter attire.

A young man and woman sit for a photo in front of the falls. Their stiff poses and awkward expressions—with the man glowering impatiently at the photographer and the woman evidently pursing her lips—may be the result of the exceedingly long exposures required for photographs taken at this early date in the history of photography.

A Mr. & Mrs. Davidson pose for a photo in front of their falls in their buggy, along with their driver and his horse.

A buggy parked in front of the Niagara Falls Armoury shortly after its completion.

A sketch drawing showing the exit to the famous Niagara Whirlpool.

In this photo the Schoellkopf Power Station, named for the man who owned the and on which it was built, can be seen behind the Rainbow Bridge on the American side of the falls.

This imposing Beaux-arts style building located just above the falls was a hydroelectric power station. This station represented an important development in the development of hydropower on the Niagara River and continued operation until 1974. Today it is a National Historic Site.

A Toronto Transit Commission bus struggles to negotiate the wintry roads as it shows tourists views of the falls on Valentine's Day, 1927.

Originally built by one Harmanus Crysler in 1831, the Clifton Hotel was one of the most prominent hotels in early Niagara Falls. During the US Civil War, it was the site of diplomatic meetings between North and South. The first hotel was destroyed by fire in 1898. The building you see here replaced the original, and was completed in 1905.

This was the fate of the second Clifton Hotel, one of the most prominent hotels in early Niagara Falls. A fire on New Years Eve, 1932, almost exactly a century after the first Clifton Hotel was built. After the 1932 fire the Clifton was never rebuilt. Instead the property became home to the Oakes Garden Theatre.

The freezing of the falls causing a huge buildup of ice.

This is the Honeymoon Bridge before it collapsed in 1938.

The Honeymoon Bridge was built in 1897 and connected the American and Canadian shores at Niagara Falls. Huge ice floes colliding with the abutments nearly destroyed the bridge in 1899, shortly after it was constructed. The bridge was heavily reinforced, and these supports helped the bridge hold for 40 years, until the day this photo was taken.
On January 27, 1938 a huge wind storm on Lake Erie pushed a gigantic amount of ice over the falls. It collided with the bridge and caused a huge buildup, slowly pushing the bridge over. Thousands of onlookers had gathered to watch the bridge collapse, when it finally did so at 4:20 pm. It took a few months for all the bridge's remnants to be removed, and some time more for a replacement to be built.