As early as 1829 Thomas Barnett was operating a museum. The first museum, built in 1827, near Table Rock, was originally constructed as a private residence. With the burgeoning tourist trade Mr. Barnett then turned his home into a hotel, named Table Rock House.

Early tourists visiting Niagara Falls would be provided transportation to the various points of interest by an aggressive group of carriage drivers known as hackmen. Hotel proprietors would pay commission to these hackmen, for every tourist that they dropped off at the hotel lobby. This system led to many abuses, and by the mid 1800’s the area was overrun with a menagerie of curiosity and souvenir shops, most with the intention of gouging the unsuspecting tourist.

Thomas Barnett was prepared to do things right. He was well respected as being an honest man. He was a genuine collector and by the mid 1860’s he had in his possession 150 native Canadian birds, 490 foreign birds, 175 mammals, 38 fish, 42 reptiles, 8,000 entomological specimens, and a wide assortment of coins, fossils, statues and antiquities from around the world. Barnett made a point of displaying the unusual and absurd. Visitors to his museum would find a stuffed two-headed calf or a stuffed dog with no hind legs that was fitted with a two-wheeled device to make him mobile.

In 1859-1860 Mr. Barnett built a new museum, The Niagara Falls Museum, to hold his growing collection of oddities. This new museum was built of stone and boasted “The most magnificent view of the falls and surrounding scenery. The museum contains upwards of one hundred thousand rare and beautiful specimens of birds, animals, minerals, fish, and Egyptian antiquities, Indian curiosities and living animals.” Signatures of famous visitors to the museum include King Edward VII, as Prince of Wales, General U.S. Grant, P.T. Barnum and Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Barnett also operated a gorge excursion that saw tourists pay a small fee to embark down a flight of stairs to the Niagara River.