Photograph by Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain. Via
Wikimedia Commons.
Adams Power Plant Transformer House
A National Historic Landmark. Built in 1895 (Beaux-Arts). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. 12 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1894.
From the record
“Adams Power Plant Transformer House in Niagara Falls, New York is a National Historic Landmark constructed in 1895. It is the only remaining structure that was part of the historic Edward Dean Adams Power Plant, the first large-scale, alternating current electric generating plant in the world, built in 1895.”
Wikipedia article Adams Power Plant Transformer House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 99 National Register listings published here for Niagara County · listed in 1975 · category: Building · built in 1895, Beaux-Arts, by McKim, Mead & White · a National Historic Landmark.
National Register reference number.75001212- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1894 to 1995
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
18941995
Fires near this property
698 since 2000
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 698 fires within 5 miles of Adams Power Plant Transformer House
between 2000 and 2020, burning about 322 acres in total. 82 started naturally. 85 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
355
Arson/incendiarism
85
Natural
82
Smoking
55
Equipment and vehicle use
45
Debris and open burning
40
Railroad operations and maintenance
19
Misuse of fire by a minor
9
Power generation/transmission/distribution
5
Recreation and ceremony
2
Other causes
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
6 workings within 5 miles of Adams Power Plant Transformer House: 4 unknowns, 2 producers.
2 still produce. What was taken out: Graphite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Zirconium, Chromium. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Niagara Falls, the town this property stands in, in 20 storm reports between 1995 and 2007: 8 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 lightning.
The reports record 4 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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