From the Niagara Falls Review:
While the falls are certainly the most remarkable and most-visited phenomenon on the Niagara River, the whirlpool must rank as No. 2.
The earliest references to the whirlpool refer to it as the Twelve Mile Pond, since it was approximately that distance from Lake Ontario.
In 1785, the land beside the whirlpool was settled by John Thompson and his wife, Jeannet. They called their property, appropriately, Whirlpool Farm.