Niagara Falls, NY

Niagara Falls is a western New York city on the Niagara River, directly beside one of the most famous waterfalls in the world. Its early European history includes Robert de La Salle, who built Fort Conti at the mouth of the river in the late 17th century. The city has always been more than the overlook: tourism, hydropower, industry, border traffic, and neighborhood decline and reinvention all sit together here, giving Niagara Falls a dramatic but complicated local identity.