Niagara Falls High School

On January 24, 1922, Niagara Falls High School was reduced to a pile of smoldering ash and four brick walls after being completely “gutted by a fast-moving fire.” School was out for the day, but frantic teachers still had to corral dozens of students to safety. A few firefighters were overcome by smoke and cold while trying to put out the blaze.

In 1923, a new school was built at the same Pine Avenue site in Niagara Falls, NY. When the cornerstone was laid “several historical items that had survived the fire” were placed inside it. Back then, important documents, newspaper clippings, and other memorabilia were often put inside a metal receptacle “and then placed inside [a] hollowed-out area in the cornerstone just before it was put in place” on a new building.

The 168,000-square-foot school occupied an entire city block. One of the architects was Charles F. Obenhack, “the first academically trained architect in Niagara Falls.” The three-story structure was made of concrete, steel, cut stone, and masonry façade. The Neoclassical style of architecture inspired the “six two-story engaged columns on the central porch,” and “the balustrade main staircase [leading] to the front doors and upper porch.” 



The school was in a neighborhood with a lot of Italian immigrants. One immigrant, Father Augustine Billerio, was the pastor at St. Joseph’s Church nearby. After the catastrophic fire, he opened the doors of his adjacent school to the displaced students. 

Italian Americans continued to send their children to the high school after it was rebuilt. It was once called “the city’s ‘melting pot’” because of all the students from different immigrant backgrounds.

The school closed in 2000 after it merged with another local high school and relocated. The building was slated for demolition until a community grassroots effort saved it. It is now home to the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center. 

The NACC is “the largest multi-arts center in up-state New York” with more than 75 artists and arts groups on site. It was started “by a small group of deeply committed volunteers.” According to one NACC representative:

“Five generations graduated from the old Niagara Falls High School and the history of the building mirrors the history of the city. There are many people who take pride and ownership in the building; it was ‘their high school,’ it is in ‘their neighborhood,’ and the many early volunteers know that they ‘helped save the building.’”

In 2002, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The NACC hosts the Niagara Falls High School Alumni Center and its large collection of memorabilia. One has to wonder if they know about all of the treasures forever entombed inside the cornerstone.

Hope L. Russell, Ph.D.