When Did Niagara Falls Get Lights?

The illustrious history of Niagara Falls spans more than a century and a half.

They first bathed the Falls in light at 10 pm on September 14, 1860, when they installed 200 lights in honor of the visit of the Prince of Wales to commemorate the distress signals of navigation.

They introduced electricity in 1879, and they constructed the lighting tower still in use today in 1899.

The radiant beams come from a group of 18 spotlights, each 30 inches in diameter, mounted on a raised stone bunker across the street.

For five decades, 80-year-old Peter Gordon has been overseeing the illuminated spectacle, taking turns with “78-year-old Dick Mann, who has been doing the same job for almost 30 years. Both are from Ontario and continue to light up Niagara Falls.

In 1907, the General Electric Co. of Schenectady integrated gelatin films into a 36-light system near the bottom of the gorge, adding color to the spectacle.

Since 1925, the Niagara Falls Illumination Board, a bi-national organization, has provided nighttime illumination, with only a few exceptions.

During the Second World War, the lights were turned off, and this board has financed and operated the illumination of the falls ever since.

On June 20, 1958, the General Electric Company of Canada installed 20 new carbon arc lights at a total cost of $153,000.

Ten of these lights were directed at the Horseshoe Falls, five illuminated the American Falls, while the remaining lights were directed at Goat Island or the Upper Rapids. Each of these new lights emitted 4.12 candelas and produced an astounding 82.4 million candelas in total.

In 1974, they introduced 20 xenon gas headlights with a diameter of 76 cm and a light output of 245 candela.

In 1997, the company initiated a comprehensive modernization to replace the old lighting lamps with a new system of 21 lamps that provides 60-70% more light. The first ten lamps, which consumed only 4,000 watts each, were installed as part of this project.

While winter may not be the season for boating into the roaring spray of Niagara Falls, it does offer a unique spectacle: the nighttime illumination of the falls in an ever-changing palette of colors, including red, white, blue, purple, orange, amber and green.

In spring and summer, the colored lights illuminate the falls for only three hours, but in winter, when daylight is scarce, brilliant curtains of color fall over the falls, creating a mesmerizing spectacle that lasts up to seven hours each night.

In 2016, almost two decades after the last comprehensive modernization of the waterfalls’ lighting system, the outdated xenon lights were replaced with modern, energy-efficient LED lighting technology.

These modern lights not only provide more than double the previous illuminance, but also offer programmable lighting and a wider color spectrum. They also effectively fill gaps to create a more uniform and consistent lighting effect.

Below is the Calendar Year Illumination Schedule:

In addition, the illumination of Niagara Falls often bathes it in special colors to commemorate important dates and support various registered charities.

These unique color illuminations are generously provided by the Niagara Falls Illumination Board.