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Toronto Power Generating Station

Niagara Falls, Italy

Toronto Power Generating Station

The Toronto Power Generating Station is a former generating station located along the Niagara River in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, slightly upstream from the newer Rankine Generating Station. Completed in 1906 in the Beaux-Arts-style, the station was designed by architect E. J. Lennox and was bu

ilt by the Electrical Development Company of Ontario (owned by William Mackenzie, Frederic Thomas Nicholls, and Henry Mill Pellatt) under supervision of Hugh L. Cooper to supply hydro-electric power to nearby Toronto, Ontario. The plant is built on top of a deep wheel pit, with turbines at the bottom of the pit, turning generators at the top by means of long vertical shafts. The water from the turbines runs out through a brick-lined tailrace which eventually comes out at the base of the falls. In its prime, it had a generating capacity of 137,500 horsepower (102,500 kW). The plant ceased operations on February 15, 1974, as Ontario Hydro looked to make better use of the available water downriver at the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Stations in Queenston. In addition, the plant produced electricity at a frequency of 25 Hertz, now largely unused. The vacant plant was designated a National...

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