Lock 24

Lock 24. Lost Village. After the Ohio and Erie Canal opened, a tavern and store sprung up south of here to serve boat crews. By the mid-1800s, 40 to 50 boats were passing through nearly every day. The community expanded. A rival store, hotel, blacksmith shop, warehouse, and post office opened., After the Valley Railroad arrived in 1880, the Botzum depot – named for the local agent – became the second busiest on the line. Botzum became the village’s name too. It disappeared in the 1930s after the Botzum family sold 800 acres for Akron’s water treatment plant. Has a special place in your life been lost?, [Caption]: Locks 24 and 25 were partially demolished when Riverview Road was widened in the 1930s and the canal filled in. the village was near the Bath Road intersection., [Caption]: “Upstairs was a great ballroom….dances were held and we often had our home talent show…people came down from the hills and filled the hall.” Journalist John A. Botzum, Jr., describing the hotel across from the Botzum Store., [Caption]: This photo of the Botzum Store was taken in the late 1800s by Edwin Bell Howe, a descendant of canal engineer Richard Howe.