Casino Tower, Steel observation tower in Niagara Falls, Canada
Casino Tower is a steel observation structure in Niagara Falls topped with white paneling and illuminated LED lettering on its metal frame. Two glass elevators carry visitors up to viewing decks that offer perspectives of the cascading water and surrounding landscape.
The Oneida Community Developments Company built the tower in six months in 1964, completing it in June as the Oneida Tower, designed by Alan R. Moody and erected by Frankel Steel of Toronto. In 1974 it became the Niagara Tower and Plaza Limited, and in 1985 it was renamed Kodak Tower as the centrepiece of Maple Leaf Village. It is now the Casino Tower.
The name Oneida comes from the Oneida Community, a utopian group founded in 1848 in Oneida, New York, which began selling iron spoons in 1877 and set up the Oneida Silversmith Factory on Clifton Hill in 1926. The tower later served as the centrepiece of Maple Leaf Village, whose mall closed on 1 February 1995; Casino Niagara opened in the building on 9 December 1996.
The tower has no public access: it now serves as a large sign for Casino Niagara, which opened in the building on 9 December 1996. Visitors can see the open steel frame and the illuminated lettering from Falls Avenue and Clifton Hill, and the casino's sports bar is inside. The 500-step emergency stairway is not open to the public.
The steel frame construction advanced at six feet per day during the 1964 tourist season, setting records for rapid tower development.
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