The Turtle Building in Niagara Falls has been touted by many members of the local Native American community as an important cultural landmark.
But the significance of the building -- and the surrounding area -- goes beyond the confines of a concrete structure.
Native historian Rick Hill, Six Nations Tuscarora, said the Falls serve as important spiritual landmarks for nature.
“There's ancient stories about the power and the spirit of Niagara Falls and the thunder beings, who used to live behind the falls, they're the ones that would bring the spring rains. But they're also in a universal battle with these huge serpents that live in in the waterways," he said. "They're constantly trying to chase those serpents away, because those serpents are trying to destroy our lives … When you go to the falls and look at it with that kind of lens, you realize what a powerful thing nature is.”
Elements of the natural world are a common theme in Haudenosaunee teachings and oral history.
Like – the turtle.
“The turtle, probably because it's, it's still here from, from the days of the dinosaur, represents that long antiquity of life here on the earth, but also there's a sense of renewal attached to that," Hill said. "When you think about that, then the turtle or the Earth on its back represents ever growing life, constantly regenerating.”
Shaun Wilson, president of Native American Community Services board, said in terms of The Turtle Building, its own origins increase its importance.
“It's important to point out that it was an indigenous architect, Denis Sun Rhodes, that designed The Turtle, or that was the architect behind it," he said. "And if you look at all the architects in the United States, you know, less than half a percent are indigenous, so we really don't have many buildings, you know, designed by indigenous architects in the United States. So, the fact that you have (an) indigenous architect that designed The Turtle, that in itself is something that the community should be rallying behind.”
Hill helped with The Turtle when it was being built decades ago, so seeing it vacant for so many years is difficult, he said.
“It was a great hope that by using the turtle as a symbol, we could create this an international showcase for indigenous art and culture, and performance. And it took off that way. Unfortunately, its life was short-lived," Hill said. "It was so sad that it couldn't continue and achieve what it did. However, while it was there, it was really spectacular. It really did what it intended to do. Brought people together. They saw a whole new way of looking at indigenous life and art.”
One of the biggest factors in reopening The Turtle will be determining how to avoid roadblocks that doomed it the first time, Wilson said.
Pursuing a second go-round means securing a consistent revenue stream, he said.
“How do you keep it open? What's your revenue source? And we've had a few roadblocks there, so we've reached out to Niagara Falls for the blueprints for this building. And you know, it appears that they left the building at one point in time and just never came back," Wilson said. "Things like that are critical, because you're going to need to know the blueprints so that you can establish the number of attendees that you can have in there … Once you can establish all of that, then you can work up your models on revenue of how many events are you going to have?' ”
James Baptiste, a local architect who is part of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Nation, said he has recently been able to acquire a digital copy of The Turtle's building plans, which are housed at the University of Minnesota.
One of the last remaining hopes to preserve the building is getting it declared a state landmark.
While local landmark designation was voted down earlier this year, The Turtle does meet the criteria for state landmark application.
“There's more efforts continuing to get it on to like a state registry, national registries, and so on," Wilson said. "But it, ultimately, is going to come down to the ownership of that building, so the owner would have to complete steps to preserve that building.”
Niagara Falls Redevelopment, who owns the building, previously has declined requests for comment, instead pointing to a copy of its letter to Niagara Falls City Council from February.
NFR claims in the letter that it would be open to negotiations, but did not feel that a financially viable option was presented from the indigenous population.
