The City of Erie transferred ownership of the vessel to the newly formed USS Niagara Foundation in 1929. They were set up to restore it and make it the centerpiece of a museum.
However, the Great Depression forced the State of Pennsylvania to take over. Two years later the state gave $50,000 for another restoration in 1931. In 1938, the state stopped funding the ship. It was transferred to the Pennsylvania Historical Commission and it became a WPA project.
The commission contracted Howard I. Chapelle to restore the Niagara and he used plans for period ships built by Noah Brown like the USS Saratoga.
Very little of the original USS Niagara remained by this time. What hadn't rotted had been sold off as souvenirs.
--Brock-Perry
2012 marks the 200th anniversary of America's "Forgotten War," the War of 1812 that took place over three years, 1812 to 1815.
Battle of New Orleans.
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