Thomas Barnett (Niagara Falls)

Thomas Barnett was a museum proprietor, collector and innkeeper who, for 50 years (1827-1877) managed museums and other tourist attractions in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Establishment and resulting competition

Barnett is credited for having built the first substantial building in the area now known as Queen Victoria Park, erecting his first museum in 1827 near the base of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. This was followed by construction of a second, more elaborate museum in the early 1840s further downriver, where it was said he had over "5,000 specimens on display", per an undated report: [Seibel, George A.: "Ontario's Niagara Parks", p.12. Niagara Parks Commission (1995)]

From 1844 until he liquidated his properties in 1877, Barnett faced stiff competition from Buffalo native Saul Davis. Davis built the Prospect House next to Barnett's second museum in 1844; then in 1853 Davis built another structure, "Table Rock House", next to Barnett's original museum. What followed was a fierce, competitive battle for the next 24 years as visitors were harassed, competing stairways to the river's edge were destroyed by fire, explosives or vandalism, and a June 1870 homicide victimizing one of Barnett's employees.

The downfall and aftermath

Barnett was vehemently reprimanded for his son Sidney's role in the homicide (assault charge), and shortly thereafter began to have financial problems. In a desperate effort to attract the attention of tourists and gain financial windfall, he would stage two events; the second of which ended up a total fiasco.

James Butler Wild Bill Hickock was to be the focus of a "Great Buffalo Hunt" promoted by Barnett in August 1872. Despite advance publicity and hopes for fifty thousand in attendance, the event was disastrous: the majority of the animals to be hunted had already died, and only three thousand patrons looked on. As a result, Barnett realized a loss of $20,000 [Berton, Pierre: "Niagara: A History Of The Falls", pp. 171-172. McClelland & Stewart, Inc. (1992)] ("approximately $700,000 in 2007 U.S. dollars")

In 1877, all of Barnett's riverfront properties went on auction to satisfy his debtors. Barnett left the area soon after. Ironically, his arch-nemesis Saul Davis was the purchaser of the properties, and owned them until the Niagara Parks Commission was established in 1887. [Berton, Pierre: "Niagara: A History Of The Falls", p. 172. McClelland & Stewart, Inc. (1992)]

Eventually, the majority of Barnett's unique collections were displayed at the Niagara Falls Museum, billed as "North America's Oldest Museum" (north of the present-day Rainbow Bridge), and were located there until the late 1990s.

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