- Rainbow Tower
The Rainbow Tower is a 50.3 meter (165 ft) tower located at the Rainbow Plaza
Canadian border station of the Rainbow Bridge inNiagara Falls, Ontario . Construction on the tower was completed in 1947.The Rainbow Carillon
The Rainbow Tower houses a
carillon -- amusical instrument consisting of a baton keyboard that controls a series of bells. The Rainbow Carillon is sounded four times a day, 365 days a year. It features 55 bells with a total weight of over 43 tons. The instrument is controlled via a series of 55 oak batons and 30 foot pedals. The largest bell, called a bourdon, is 8 feet in diameter and 6.5 feet tall, weighing in at 10 tons. Musically the pitch of this bell is E. [http://www.gcna.org/data/ONNIFARB.HTM] The smallest bell in the instrument weighs less than 9 pounds and has a circumference of 5.75 inches.The bell castings for the Rainbow Carillon were begun in 1941 by
John Taylor Bellfounders ofLoughborough ,England , but interrupted by the onset ofWorld War II . Work on the instrument resumed in 1945 and was completed by 1947.When the tower was built it contained a small apartment for the resident musician (the carilloneur). By the mid 1990s the
Niagara Falls Bridge Commission had replaced the resident carilloneur with a fully automated system. The instrument can still be played manually, but is mostly automated to allow for frequent playing. In the past June Hamilton, Robert Donnell, and Leland Richardson have served as carillonneurs at the tower. [http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0002574]In film
The Rainbow Tower was featured in the 1953
Marilyn Monroe thriller "Niagara". Scenes were filmed outside the base of the tower, combined with sound stage footage.ources
*cite web | title=The bells of Niagara have historic ring; REDISCOVERING NIAGARA | work=Niagara Falls Review | url=http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=112310&catname=Local%20News&classif= | accessdate =20 July | accessyear=2006
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