The Rainbow Tower Carillon

*Location:

   Rainbow Tower
   Rainbow Bridge
   River Road
   Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
   LL: N 43.09185, W 79.07004

Site locator map

*Carillonist:

   (none)

   19??-?? Robert Kleinschmidt   (d.)
   19??-72 Leland Richardson   (d.)
   1972-75 Gordon Slater   (C)
   1975-?? Robert Donnell   (d.)
   1987-2001 Gloria R. Werblow   (C;d.)

*Contact:

   Niagara Falls Bridge Commission
   P.O. Box 395
   Niagara Falls, ON  L2E 6T8
   T: 905-354-5641
   - or -
   345 3rd Street
   Niagara Falls, NY  14303
   T: 716-285-6322   F: 716-282-3292

*Schedule:

   None - tower closed in fear of
   terrorists.  Was:
   7pm and 9pm Fri, 4pm and 7pm Sat & Sun,
   Memorial Day to Labor Day;
   and holidays.

*Remarks:

   Completely renovated early 1992, with
   GCNA standard console by Meeks, Watson;
   old console parts trashed in error.
   Treble bells corroding in atmospheric
   pollution from Niagara Falls spray
   contaminated with effluent from Love
   Canal dump site.
   Mar.2025:  All bells removed from tower
   to storage pending structural repairs
   to the tower.

*Technical data:

   Carillon-sized instrument (without any workable playing mechanism) of 55 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is E  in the bass octave
   Keyboard range:     G D   /    G C 29
   Transposition is down 3 semitone(s), i.e., from C to A 
   There is one missing bass semitone
   The presence or absence of a practice console is unknown
   The present keyboard was installed in 1992
     by the maker cited in Remarks above
   Prior history:
     In 1948, the complete instrument of 55 bells was installed
       with bells made by Taylor          
   Auxiliary mechanisms: nB    
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 1993

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Taylor bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Meeks & Watson company, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all North American traditional carillons by weight.
Ranking among all North American traditional carillons by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all North American concert class carillons by year of completion.

Other grand carillons with similar keyboard ranges.

The four bass bells of this carillon are among all great bells in North America.

Index to all traditional carillons in ON.

Index to all tower bell instruments in ON.

   This page was built from the database on 15-May-25
   based on textual data last updated on 2025/05/09
   and on technical data last updated on 1994/01/11