Frank H. Leslie

Details

Inductee: Frank H. Leslie

Year inducted: 2006

About:

Frank Leslie was born in 1876 in Toronto, but grew up in Bruce County, where he became a schoolteacher and the county correspondent. Soon, he became a newspaper publisher, purchasing the weekly Tavistock Gazette. Looking for better prospects, he later sold the modest Gazette and moved to Niagara Falls to purchase the Review, a weekly newspaper. Under his careful and clever guidance, the paper saw a dramatic increase in circulation, and Leslie quickly became an active promoter of the Niagara Falls community. In 1917, he became a member of the Canadian Press - Canada’s national news gathering cooperative. He was known as the Dean of the Canadian newspaper publishers for his longevity and prominent role in the industry.

For decades, Frank also ran a successful commercial printing company, becoming famous for producing picturesque postcards of the Niagara area. Frank Leslie was particularly passionate about local history and wrote numerous articles over his lifetime. Actively promoting Niagara’s history, he often reserved space in the Review for local history writers. After the First World War, thousands of columns appeared in the Review on a regular basis. Frank contributed to several historical publications, including Niagara Falls Canada - a History, the Kiwanis Club of Stamford’s Centennial History of Niagara Falls in 1967, and was still writing on the subject when he was over ninety years of age.

In his last years, Frank Leslie was Honorary President of both the Lundy’s Lane Historical Society and the Willoughby Historical Society, and played an active role in the foundation of the Willoughby Historical Museum in 1968.

Frank H. Leslie died in 1969 at the age of ninety-two, after spending nearly seventy years as a local writer, publisher, newsman and promoter of Niagara Falls.