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 Acacia trees in the foreground were planted by Mackenzie himself in 1824 and are still growing. It was here that the first issue of the Colonial Advocate was printed on May 18, 1824