Minolta Tower
Coordinates: 43°04′44″N 79°04′56″W / 43.078947°N 79.082084°W
The Tower Hotel, opened in 1962, is located in the Fallsview district of Niagara Falls, Ontario and was the first of the modern observation towers built near the brink of the Falls. It features an indoor observation deck, restaurant, wedding chapel, and hotel. From street level, the tower is 99 metres (325 feet) tall, however it is situated 160 metres (525 feet) above the falls. The tower assumed its present name in 2010 as a result of its most recent renovation, however as Minolta was the longest-tenured sponsor of the building it is frequently still known as the Minolta Tower among tourists and locals.
For more than 100 years, there had been various, but much smaller, towers built throughout the area with most of them being wooden structures. The two most famous were probably the wood construction tower that was located at the top of Drummond Hill on Lundy's Lane behind the historic Drummond Inn, and Street's Pagoda on Cedar Island.
Construction began in 1961, and was reportedly the first using of the slipform construction method in North America. One minor fire occurred on the roof on September 2, 1961, due to spillage of hot-mix concrete igniting a tarp and causing several propane tanks to explode. Damage was minimal, estimated at "a few thousand dollars", and nine people suffered minor injuries battling the blaze.
The tower opened for business on July 1, 1962.
When the tower and surrounding area was first designed prior to groundbreaking on March 15, 1961, it was to be the centrepiece of a proposed hotel/convention centre. Due to finances, the accompanying hotel buildings were not built, and it would be over forty years before hotels began to rise adjacent to the tower.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the surrounding land was occupied by an aquarium to the north, and the Waltzing Waters attraction to the south. The Waltzing Waters site was moved across the street in 1995 to allow for site planning of the current Marriott hotel. The Waltzing Waters, a light and water show synchronized to music, disappeared altogether by 2000. The aquarium was dismantled in 1996 to allow for further site expansion.
...
Wikipedia