Flock, I’m not sure if anyone else runs into this, but there seems to be a bit of confusion surrounding a Nikola Tesla museum in Niagara Falls.

The confusion stems from whether or not there is a Tesla museum in Niagara Falls. Believe it or not, there’s always a handful of confused tourists looking for “That Tesla museum on Buffalo Avenue”.

Of course, they’re referring to the Adams Transformer House: the last remnant of the Adams plant Nikola Tesla used to send AC power to Buffalo, and win the War of the Currents.

A few years back, there was a massive push to convert the Transformer House into a Nikola Tesla Museum. The organization behind this push, Tesla at Niagara, created massive buzz around the idea. Their website even boasts the museum becoming a reality…in 2015.

The website has not been updated since, but Tesla at Niagara’s Facebook page is still alive and well.

So, what happened?

As is standard with most projects, funding became a major factor. The wonderful Dan Davis (who is behind so many great Niagara Falls, USA history pages and movements) posted a fundraiser in March that explained the situation.

In short, Tesla at Niagara realized the financial burden of restoring and maintaining the Adams Transformer House, plus the cost of running a museum, was not within the realm of possibility for their organization. Instead, the group is now pushing for the State and local governments to assist in creating the museum.

In the meantime, the museum is on hold. So, where do we send people looking for the Tesla Museum?

For the few I run into, I send them to a few locations. The Cave of the Winds World Changed Here Pavilion does a great job at showing the creation of the State Park, and has a great section on Tesla. There’s obviously the Tesla statue in the State Park itself, which is a great photo op. If they’re interested in the region’s history, I might send them to a quick stop by Schoellkopf to see the ruins of the power plant. Last, but certainly not least, I send them over to the Power Vista. They have an entire Tesla vs. Edison display, plus tons of historical bits on power production in Niagara.

So, while we wait for an *official* Tesla museum, that’ll have to do.

-Sheepie ❤