Maple Leaf Village

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Maple Leaf Village is a former amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Opened in May of 1979 it was operated by Conklin Shows (operators of the midway at the Toronto Canadian National Exhibition). Falling on hard economic times in the early 1990s, it was restructured and replaced with Casino Niagara, a government run casino.

[edit] History

In the early 1900s, the land was host to Frontier Amusement Park, which boasted one of Canada's first all-steel roller coasters. By 1910, the amusement park was abandoned and dismantled.

By the 1940s, the Onieda Community Plate Corporation Ltd. constructed their local corporate offices here. Known today for their manufacture of fine silverware, it was decided in the 1960s to construct an observation tower to afford visitors a view of the Niagara cataracts from the north side (the Seagram Tower [now the Konica Minolta Tower] had been constructed in 1962 and afforded a view from the south side). Billed as the area's first open-steel observation tower, it was opened for business by the 1964 tourist season.

When Onieda relocated their offices in the late 1970s, the three-story complex known as Maple Leaf Village was constructed around the tower. It boasted a multi-screen movie theatre, numerous attractions (through the years: That's Incredible! museum and the Elvis Presley Museum were here), countless souvenir stores and apparel stores, Lillie Langtry's tavern and club and, in later years, the first locale for the Canadian comedy cabaret, Yuk-Yuk's. On the west side of the property was a complete carnival midway, complete with "North America's Largest" Ferris wheel which, along with the tower (now called the Kodak Tower) dominating the northern tourist skyline. As part of the Clifton Hill tourist area, the facility was well-received and attracted numerous crowds for years.

Eventually, however, the novelty began to wear thin as shops folded, and main tenants relocated to other locations with more suitable infrastructure. Admission costs to the Kodak Tower were eliminated for a few years, until unsafe conditions closed the tower altogether in the early 1990s. By 1993, the amusement park had closed down, and by 1995, only a dozen shops remained in operation throughout the sprawling three-story structure. Redevelopment of the property was necessary, as many more shops were preferring on-street access in the burgeoning north tourist area. By this time, the Ferris wheel had finally been dismantled after a few years of no use, and was shipped to Australia for use there.

By 1996, the Niagara area's first Casino opened its doors here, and is still in operation today. The tower received a new look to reflect its more upscale surroundings, although currently no public access to it is permitted.

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