Thomas Barnett was a museum proprietor, collector and innkeeper who managed museums and other tourist attractions in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
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Barnett is credited for having built the first substantial building in the area now known as Queen Victoria Park. He also erected his first museum in 1827 near the base of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. This was followed by the construction of a second, more elaborate museum in the early 1840s further downriver. It was at this museum that he had over "5,000 specimens on display", per an undated report:[1]
| “ | There are bipeds, and quadrupeds, birds, fishes, insects, reptiles, shells and minerals and Indian curiousities, all regulated to delight the eye and improve the understanding and mend the heart. | ” |
Barnett faced stiff competition from Buffalo native, Saul Davis for over 30 years from 1844 to 1877. 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. A competitive battle continued between the architectural rivals for the next 24 years. Visitors were harassed, while competing stairways to the river's edge were destroyed by fire, explosives and vandalism. In June 1870 there was a homicide victimizing one of Barnett's employees.
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 staged two events, which ended in 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 during the show had already died, while only three thousand patrons were in attendance. As a result, Barnett realized a loss of $20,000.[2](approximately $700,000 in 2007 U.S. dollars)
In 1877, all of Barnett's riverfront properties were auctioned off 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.[3]
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.