80 years since Winston Churchill’s mid-war visit to Niagara Falls
Published August 14, 2023 at 10:40 am
This past weekend marked the 80th anniversary of a visit to Niagara Falls by perhaps the most predominant British statesman ever, Sir Winston Churchill, the steady and at times stern Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
On August 12, 1943, amidst the Second World War, Churchill and his daughter Mary visited Niagara Falls, where they were greeted by then-Mayor George Ingalls and other dignitaries and officials.
According to present Mayor Jim Diodati, “Churchill’s visit to Niagara Falls was not initially on his itinerary, but the Prime Minister had expressed a desire to see the natural wonder.”
The father and daughter took in the Falls for a solid half hour before travelling to Queenston (Niagara-on-the-Lake) along the Niagara Parkway to dine at the Queenston Heights Restaurant.
The purpose of Churchill’s North American trip was to attend the Quebec Conference to discuss plans for the forthcoming Allied invasions of Italy and France with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The conference was hosted by Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.
According to Diodati, the drive on the Parkway alongside the Niagara Gorge was described by Churchill as “the prettiest Sunday drive in the world.”
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his daughter, Mary, pose at what is now Table Rock at
the precipice of Niagara Falls.