On Oct. 24, 1901, a woman with ties to Northern Michigan became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
You can see Anna “Annie” Edson Taylor with her barrel in the photo accompanying this story.
Taylor, who was born on Oct. 24, 1838, celebrated her 63rd birthday by taking the plunge over the fabled falls. You read that correctly - she was 63 when she set the record.
Taylor was a teacher who lived in Bay City. Her dreams were to become a dance instructor, but after that business failed, she moved to Sault Ste. Marie to teach music, according to reports. That didn’t work out either, and eventually she returned to Bay City.
By the time of her Niagara Falls attempt, she was in desperate need of money, as her husband had died and she wasn’t making much to support herself. She thought that if she survived the attempt, she could make money lecturing about it, but that never came to pass, and she remained poor.
According to Michigan Day By Day, Taylor only suffered minor injuries in the Niagara Falls plunge, and as she didn’t become rich off her stunt, she spent the last years of her life “autographing postcards at Niagara Falls.”
