THE OLD CASTLE AT FORT NIAGARA AS IT LOOKS TODAY 
 
 A NIAGARA FRONTIER MUSEUM. 
 
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 Reprinted from" Buffalo Sunday Express," November 5, 1916 
 
 I 
 
 The following letter, suggesting that ; agara, make it an ideal location for 
 the famous old castle at Fort Niagara such a purpose, 
 be restored internally to a semblance j 
 
 of what it was in the long ago, and be 
 
 turned into a national museum of the 
 Niagara frontier, as a peace centennial 
 memorial, will be read with a great 
 deal of interest. It will receive approv- 
 al, not only along the frontier itself, 
 but generally. 
 
 Editor Buffalo Express: — The recent 
 placing of a tablet on the Old Castle 
 at Fort Niagara by the Daughters of 
 the War of 1812 brought vividly to our 
 minds the transcendent historical im- 
 The castle has played an important ' portance of that famous old structure. 
 
 part in history. While Quebec was the 
 Canadian seat of government, the com- 
 mandant of Fort Niagara, whose office 
 was in the castle, was the executive to 
 whom was necessarily entrusted the 
 control of, and most all of the deal- 
 ings with, the savages of the west and 
 as far east as Albany. To those sav- 
 ages (during the eighteenth century, the 
 sole owners and inhabitants of interior 
 North America) that castle was the real 
 embodiment, successively, of the power 
 and government of France and Britain. 
 Mr. Porter's suggestion, if carried out 
 will result, not only in a national mu- 
 seum, but one necessarily largely of the 
 nature of a real international museum. 
 \\dded to its central location, the 
 \aried and remarkable historic associa- ] 
 \ons which so thickly -■•---'■-- -■' '■ 
 
 It is the oldest perfect building in 
 the interior of the Lrnlted States, and 
 is in itself (because it was the actual 
 seat of government, under both French 
 and British rule over all the Indian 
 Tribes in the Great West during the 
 most of the eighteenth century) al- 
 most an epitome of the story of 
 North America from 1725 to 1796, and 
 (under United States ownership) until 
 after the war of 1812. Those facts 
 make it (perhaps, equal in importance 
 to, certainly only second to. the citadel 
 at Quebec) the most important historic 
 structure in North America, and be- 
 yond question the most interesting 
 such structure in the United States. 
 Its overshadowing military impor-- 
 cluster about i tance during most of the eighteenth 
 
 \ and also the fact that it is so close century, and because it is the largest 
 \ the much visited cataract of Ni- J and most famous of the very few fron- 
 
 ^ 
 
tr 
 
 
 tier structures lall of them inside of 
 Fort Niagara) wtiicti have looked down 
 in approval on a whole century of 
 peace between us and our Canadian 
 cousins, lead me to make the dual 
 suggestion that the federal govern- 
 ment (which owns it) should be urged 
 to have it turned into a national his- 
 torical museum of the Niagara Fron- 
 tier, which at the same time would 
 be a unique and most appropriate me- 
 morial to that century of peace. Ex- 
 ternally it should be preserved exactly 
 as it has been all during that 100 years 
 and as it is today. Internally, at least 
 on the first floor, it should be restored 
 as nearly as may be to the condition 
 in which it was back in 1759-1774; 
 when, from its great room on the lake 
 side of the first floor, Indian North 
 America (and that was nearly the 
 whole of it) was ruled by Sir William 
 Johnson, not merely during the brief 
 periods when he sat there in state, but 
 absolutely under his direction and or- 
 ders during all that period. That 
 great room, from which during the 
 last three quarters of the eighteenth 
 century the policies of both France 
 and England towards their savage al- 
 lies were enforced, should be restored 
 to its original shape and size. Today 
 it is divided into two small rooms, with 
 a lath-and-plaster closet between them. 
 
 Then my suggestion would be that 
 one of the four front rooms on the 
 first floor on the land side should be 
 devoted, through relics, pictures, etc., 
 to the respective histories of the In- 
 dians, the French, the British and the 
 United States. 
 
 On the first floor, on the lake side, 
 the two eastern rooms could be con- 
 nected by a doorway and therein 
 could be collected the relics, pictures, 
 etc., of the Niagara frontier (both 
 sides), of events which were integral 
 parts of its history, although not so 
 directly connected with the wondrous 
 story of the castle itself. 
 
 One more room would remain; that 
 could properly and almost essentially 
 b3 made into a library, wherein could 
 be collected the voluminous literature 
 of the entire frontier during all the 
 troublous days of the castle's lon- 
 gevity. The last remaining space on 
 that floor is the windowless "dun- 
 geon," one of those now rare but 
 gruesome chambers where both 
 France and Britain used to incarcer- 
 ate offenders, many of whom were ex- 
 iled from, across the seas to this spot, 
 there to drag out a miserable exist- 
 
 ence until death relieved them of 
 their agonies. 
 
 Such a museum, in such a building, 
 at such a spot and in such a central 
 location would be both unique and of 
 enormous historical value. The castle 
 stands exactly on the border. I ven- 
 ture to hope that our friends across 
 the line would take a live interest in 
 such a museum, for so much of the 
 history of early Canada was made 
 within the walls of that castle. 
 
 And while the martial history of 
 the Indians and of those three great 
 nations would primarily predominate 
 in its collections, it would also neces- 
 sarily, in antithesis, be our own na- 
 tion's contribution of a memorial to 
 the 100 years of peace between the 
 two great English-speaking nations of 
 the earth. And a most fitting me- 
 morial it would be to that century of 
 peace. 
 
 My letter is already too long. In 
 the near future I plan to write and 
 publish a history of that castle — fairly, 
 fully illustrated. I attach hereto a 
 crude plan of the arrangement of the 
 rooms as I have outlined them in the 
 
 ■J, a- '^-^ 
 
 f7X6 
 
 THE CASTLE AT FORT 
 
 1, porch; 2, entrance hall; 3, the Great Rf 
 8-9. Niagara Frontiers roo 
 
foregoing. My intention is at the com- 
 ing session of congress to present my 
 suggestion to our New York senators 
 and representatives and ask thieir ap- 
 proval and afRrmative aid towards 
 having the national government au- 
 thorize it. And I shall do so, not 
 merely because I am a student of and 
 a lover of the history of the old Niag- 
 ara frontier, but also because I am a 
 member of the Niagara Falls peace 
 centennial memorial committee. 
 
 PETER A. PORTER. 
 Buffalo, Nov. 3d. 
 
 REAL PEACE MEMORIAL. 
 
 A letter from Peter A. Porter, 
 published elsewhere in The Express, 
 relative to a national museum of the 
 Niagara frontier, will be read with 
 much interest. He suggests that the 
 old Castle at Fort Niagara, itself an 
 historical monument, be transformed 
 into a museum of frontier history. 
 The proposition will receive general 
 approval. The change could be ac- 
 
 o^ ^r- lO 
 
 d f 
 
 8 
 
 -H- 
 
 t 
 
 l" a National Frontier Museum. 
 
 n; 6, British room; 7, United States room; 
 OrawiQg by Peter A. Porter. 
 
 complished at so little expense and 
 the building is so well adapted to 
 such a use that it is hard to believe 
 that it will encounter any serious op- 
 position. 
 
 It was in this Castle that the gov- 
 ernment of all this region had its 
 center in the days when France ruled 
 the Great Lakes and afterward when 
 the British were in control. It is the 
 oldest perfect building — so Mr. Porter 
 says — in interior America, and it pos- 
 sesses, what most old buildings do 
 not, historical interest of great im- 
 portance. If a site were to be chosen 
 for such a museum as Mr. Porter 
 proposes for this frontier, the Castle 
 would naturally be that site. There 
 can be no doubt that the people of 
 the Niagara frontier will welcome the 
 suggestion, therefor. They will ex- 
 pect that the people of the state and 
 congress — to which the suggestion is 
 to be carried — will also favor it. The 
 approval of Canada can also be ex- 
 pected, for the Castle played a great 
 part in Canadian history. 
 
 It is easy to imagine what an inter- 
 esting and much-visited institution 
 this museum vvould be. In the first 
 place it would not be in some inac- 
 cessible spot remote from travel, but 
 it would be one more addition to the 
 attractions of the Niagara river re- 
 gion and would be visited by throngs 
 of strangers. Then, it would provide 
 a place for collecting relics, books 
 and documents relating to frontier 
 history; each succeeding year would 
 add to its value. Again, the Castle is 
 big enough to allow of proper classi- 
 fication of such material; Mr. Porter 
 suggests that a room be devoted to 
 each of the peoples who have strug- 
 gled upon this frontier. Finally, the 
 property already belongs to the gov- 
 ernment, and its surroundings are 
 such as make sure that the museum 
 always would be inviting to the 
 visitor. 
 
 But the best feature of Mr. Por- 
 ter's idea is his suggestion that this 
 museum be created as a memorial of 
 the 100 years of peace. Unfortunate- 
 ly, there appears no hope at present 
 that any of the other memorials, like 
 the peace bridge, already proposed 
 will be erected. But this national 
 
museum of the Niagara frontier 
 would be a memorial in itself of the 
 100 years of peace between the two 
 great English-speaking nations. And 
 from the very history of the Castle 
 itself there could be no finer memo- 
 
 rial. It happens to stand on the 
 American edge of the border, but 
 that fact does not injure its availa- 
 bility, since the old building is a 
 monument to every race that fought, 
 and made peace, along this frontier. 
 
 LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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