Francis J. Petrie was for many years the City Historian of Niagara Falls, as well as the author of a regular newspaper column in the Niagara Falls Review.
After his death many of his photographs, negatives, slides, and postcards were donated to the Library.
The Townline/Rial Tunnel, running east-west beneath the new channel on the old Townline Road (Welland), was opened to automobile traffic in July 1972 and Railway traffic in February 1973.