Waterloo, A Canal Town

Waterloo, A Canal Town. Village of Waterloo. , Peter Smith was a man of vision. Knowing the Morris Canal was about to build a lock and an inclined plane at the Old Andover Forge site, Smith moved his family to the village and built a general store right on the canal. He and his extended family operated the grist and saw mills, helped build the church and supported the local school. Soon, the village had a store keeper, lock tender, plane tender, school teacher, and other residents. Smith’s canal store became the commercial center of the region. High grade iron ore from nearby mines was shipped on the canal and hundreds of boats, loaded with anthracite coal from Pennsylvania, passed through the village. Smith’s vision made Waterloo a thriving inland canal port, where boatmen picked up supplies at the store, had their mules shod, and shared news with residents before traveling on. , < Sidebar : > , Morris Canal Greenway. The Morris Canal Greenway encompasses part of the historic Morris Canal’s alignment and is a cooperative effort of the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry, the Canal Society of New Jersey, the Village of Waterloo and the Friends of the Morris Canal. The Greenway’s purpose is to preserve the remains of the Morris Canal and its associated natural environment, to interpret canal sites to the public and to offer recreational opportunities. As you walk the Greenway, you will see the remains of canal features, including inclined planes, locks, canal bed and historic industries and communities directly related to the Morris Canal’s operation., Canal Stories , Beginning in the 1890s, Charles McWilliams was the brakeman on the plane cars at Plane 3 West, a short distance east of Plane 4 West, at Waterloo. He lived in the stone house provided by the canal company with his wife and eight children. In 1908, he received a promotion to become the plane tender at Plane 3 East, at Ledgewood. He moved his entire family and house contents on a canal boat to Ledgewood. His direct descendants still live along Plane 3 East, although not in the plane tender’s house which still stands.