George A. Seibel

Details

Inductee: George A. Seibel

Year inducted: 2013

About:

Born in Kitchener, Ontario in 1919, George A. Seibel spent most of his life in Niagara Falls, where he developed an early passion for the beauty and history of the Niagara Gorge and the Falls. In his teens, George began to gather and record the history and culture of Niagara.

With his wife Olive and their seven children, George managed an active upholstery business and began the
community work that would fuel his own passions and those of the many who benefitted from his various
publishing projects. A Royal Canadian Air Force veteran, George Seibel is best known for his deep involvement in Niagara’s history and culture.

In 1961, Seibel launched the Kiwanis Tour Map; with more than three million copies sold, this has been an
important fundraiser for the Kiwanis Club of Stamford. As the Club’s Centennial Chair, Seibel led production ofN iagara Falls, Canada published in 1967, 1968, and 1978. He helped gain Provincial Charter in 1975 for the “Niagara Falls Heritage Foundation,” and in 1985, he proposed and authored Ontario’s Niagara Parks to commemorate the Niagara Parks Commission’s 100th anniversary.

George Seibel was the first Official Historian of the City of Niagara Falls and later appointed (in 1984) as the Official Historian for the Niagara Parks Commission. Together George and Olive Seibel authored and edited The Niagara Portage Road – 200 years 1790-1990 which was published by the City of Niagara Falls. In 1991 he published Bridges Over the Niagara Gorge to mark the 50th anniversary of the building of the Rainbow Bridge. George felt driven to record the stories of Niagara’s past, for locals young and old; his publications can be found in libraries around the world.