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A Niagara Landmark - The Crowne Plaza Hotel Part 3

The arrival of a 20th Century-Fox film crew at Niagara Falls to shoot, on location, the movie Niagara. Its star was Marilyn Monroe, who, along with her co-stars Joseph Cotton and Jean Peters, stayed at the Brock Plaza Hotel. Needless to say, their presence at the hotel, and in the area, created a great deal of interest. Incidentally, if you stay in Room 801, you are in what was Marilyn's room. 1948 A major addition to the Brock Plaza Hotel was completed. Two floors were constructed on top of the building.

They contained additional guest rooms, a new Rainbow Salon, an expanded Rainbow Dining Room and a new kitchen. A bit of television history was made on Sunday, September 12, 1948, when WHEN-TV (now WIVB) from Buffalo made a live telecast from Niagara Falls, Ontario. This program showed the American and Canadian Falls as well as the immediate area. It was the first time the Falls of Niagara had been shown on television. It was also the first international telecast ever made in the Americas.

The cameras were mounted on an eleventh floor balcony of the Brock Plaza Hotel. Officials from both sides of the border were invited to view the landmark show on screens set up in the hotel's Blue Room. England's Princess Elizabeth, soon to become Queen Elizabeth II, and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, visit the Brock Plaza in 1951. In 1952, the Brock Plaza also saw the installation of the first commercial television in a Canadian hotel. In 1958, England's Princess Margaret, following in her sister's, Queen Elizabeth II's footsteps, becomes the next in a long list of royalty to visit the Brock Plaza.

The Brock Plaza undergoes a $500,000 expansion in 1959, including the addition of the Crystal Ballroom with its ornate chandeliers, wall murals, and oriental carpets. The King and Queen of Nepal dine in the Rainbow Room restaurant overlooking the Falls in 1960. They are joined by the General Manager of the Brock Plaza, Mr. Albert A. Bonnet. The Brock Plaza Hotel welcomes its sister hotel in 1966 , the Sheraton Foxhead Inn, which is constructed next door. The 14 storey hotel was enlarged and completely refurbished in the year 2000, becoming Niagara's largest resort property - the Sheraton on the Falls. In 1967 Construction begins on the Sheraton Motor Inn, later renovated and renamed the Skyline Inn, directly behind the Brock Plaza. The Brock Plaza's owners build a Maple Leaf Village Amusement Park and Mall next to the hotel in 1976, the original site of the Oneida Silver Company.

The popular tourism destination includes a falls viewing tower, large ferris wheel and unique stores and shopping. In 1981 Niagara's spectacular winter landscape lights up for the first time. The Winter Festival of Lights, which would become a glowing annual tradition, celebrates its first year. The Hard Rock Cafe - with an outstanding rock memorabilia collection - opens next to the Brock Plaza on Falls Avenue. It becomes Niagara's hot spot for dining and celebrity viewing. Diners enjoy the multi-million dollar memorabilia from the collections of Elton John, George Harrison and Elvis Presley.