Senior Chief Engineer
of the New York Canals
His public history may be found
in the history of the General
and State Goverments;
His private [virtues?] in the memory
of his acquaintances
Born in Pennsylvania
July 22, 1763. . . . — — Map (db m181134) HM
Canals were built in Ohio to provide a better way to transport goods to the eastern markets. Two major canals were built connecting the Ohio River to Lake Erie - the Ohio Erie & [sic Ohio & Erie] Canal running from Portsmouth to Cleveland and the . . . — — Map (db m30375) HM
The Sandy & Beaver Canal was constructed during the great 1827 to 1850 canal building era that transformed Ohio from a wilderness into a prosperous center of commerce, agriculture, and industry. Canals provided the first convenient and affordable . . . — — Map (db m293098) HM
James LeRetilley Sr. purchased the building in 1849, a year before his death. In 1825, he moved to Caldersburgh from Muskingum County and opened a general store. He was the first postmaster in Caldersburgh (1826). After the canal opened, LeRetilley . . . — — Map (db m27381) HM
The Ohio & Erie Canalway celebrates the first 110 miles of a waterway that helped the nation grow.
Dug by hand from 1825 to 1832, the Ohio & Erie Canal was the first canal west of the Appalachian Mountains. It connected Lake Erie to the Ohio . . . — — Map (db m224609) HM
Restoring the Cuyahoga as a healthy, free-flowing river has many challenges. A major goal is removing dams that block fish migrations and degrade natural wildlife habitats. Here two dams diverted water into this section of the Ohio & Erie Canal, . . . — — Map (db m228495) HM
The Ohio & Erie Canalway celebrates the first 110 miles of a waterway that helped the nation grow.
Dug by hand from 1825 to 1832, the Ohio & Erie Canal was the first canal west of the Appalachian Mountains. It connected Lake Erie to the Ohio . . . — — Map (db m296753) HM
Starting in 1827, the Ohio & Erie Canal connected Ohio to New York and New Orleans, promoting westward expansion and a national market economy. Today, the Ohio & Erie Canalway is a National Heritage Area, offering trails, scenic byways, canal . . . — — Map (db m296755) HM
For generations, two families have made their livlihoods in the gristmill at Lock 37. The Alexander family built the mill about 1853 to grind wheat into flour. Water from Lock 37’s spillway turned the mill’s wooden waterwheel and grindstones. In the . . . — — Map (db m202347) HM
Canal Engineers did not foresee the intensity of valley floods and later added structures to control water levels. Here a National Park Service worker adjusts a floodgate built in the early 1900s. Look closely at the actual structure. Can you see . . . — — Map (db m202345) HM
Canal locks attracted businesses to serve canal boat crews, locals, and farmers. Here at Lock 37 the Vanouceks ran a tavern and general store, and the Alexander family operated a gristmill. A spillway allowed excess water to flow around the lock. . . . — — Map (db m202342) HM
Hi, I’m Blossom. During the canal days.mules like me
walked the towpath, pulling heavy boats behind us. We
were strong engines, able to haul 60 tons or more of
freight. Mules worked in teams of two or three. Cargo
boats had a middle cabin to . . . — — Map (db m140592) HM
James Abram Garfield, 20th President of the United States, was born here in 1831. His father died when he was two, but the family remained on the farm where James helped when he was not attending school. He continued to live here through his years . . . — — Map (db m118214) HM
Stephen and Mehitable Frazee experience both the challenges and benefits of the Ohio & Erie Canal. They arrived in this area in the early 1800s, when it was sparsely settled. They lived in a log cabin, cleared forests for farmland, and were mostly . . . — — Map (db m202332) HM
You are on the historic Station Road Bridge facing the Pinery Narrows, the Cuyahoga Valley’s thinnest point. Here the river is confined by hard, deeply cut bedrock. Its path is narrower and straighter than where it twists through loose glacial . . . — — Map (db m202248) HM
The first steam engine chugged its way down the new Valley Railway in 1880, beginning an era of progress for the Cuyahoga Valley. Regional industrial growth boosted demand for coal and other raw materials. The railway connected mineral fields in the . . . — — Map (db m202330) HM
This house reflects Stephen and Mehitable Frazee’s transition from being subsistence pioneers to successful farmers. They may have come to the Cuyahoga Valley as tenant farmers as early as 1811. Within 10 years they were able to buy more than 600 . . . — — Map (db m202331) HM
Lock 38 is one of the few restored, working locks
along the historic Ohio & Erie Canal. Locks are like
elevators – they raise and lower boats between levels.
State engineers designed 44 locks to deal with a 395 foot
rise in elevation from . . . — — Map (db m140161) HM
Edison Recalls Milan
My recollections of Milan are somewhat scanty as I left the town when I was not quite seven years old. I remember the wheat elevators on the canal, and Gay shipyard; also the launching of new boats, on which occasion the . . . — — Map (db m296794) HM
On this spot in 1848, Jacob Bope constructed one of the largest warehouses on the Ohio and Erie Canal. Bope, a Virginia native who came to Ohio as a child, was a well-noted carpenter and craftsman in the Fairfield County area. He was known . . . — — Map (db m298026) HM
The Ohio & Erie Canal and the "Twin Cities"
On this site the Ohio & Erie Canal flowed south and down-level under the Market Street Bridge. Nearby Pawpaw Creek and the canal culturally divided the Swiss settlers to the west in Basil and the . . . — — Map (db m183071) HM
Canals were an important means of transportation when Carroll was founded in 1829 by William Tong and his brother Oliver, who chose this site because it was where the proposed intersection of the Lancaster Lateral Canal and Ohio-Erie Canal would be . . . — — Map (db m80624) HM
The Ohio & Erie Canal extended 309 miles from Cleveland to Portsmouth. Beginning in 1825, it was used to transport goods across the state. Lockville was named for its staircase of locks, a series of nine locks used to raise and lower boats when . . . — — Map (db m271275) HM
Park Features
Ohio & Erie Canal Locks 11, 12, 13
In the park are the remains of three locks-South 11 aka Gristmill Lock, South 12 aka Tennis or Tennat Lock, and South 13 aka Rowe Lock. Remains of Locks 14, 15, 16, and 17 are to the north . . . — — Map (db m271276) HM
[Marker Front]:
You are standing on the site of Ohio and Erie Canal. The canal helped to open the interior of Ohio to trade and settlement and played a part in Winchester's prosperity during the mid-1800s. Local farmers exported grain from . . . — — Map (db m12530) HM
The Ohio Canal passed through Groveport's downtown area, approximately where Wirt Road is now.
[Left top photo] This circa 1900 view shows the Ohio Canal looking northeast from Main Street, where the municipal parking lot is now. . . . — — Map (db m295324) HM
Built on Main Street, circa 1815, this two story log residence was later sided. In 1974 during new post office site preparation, the log structure was discovered and moved to present location along Ohio-Erie Canal route. In adjoining Groveport . . . — — Map (db m296648) HM
The canal was an economic boon to Groveport, stimulating business and trade.
Groveport's Canal Lock 22 was one of 146 locks on the canal. The 308-mile-long Ohio and Erie Canal, which extended from Cleveland to Portsmouth, opened in Groveport in . . . — — Map (db m298659) HM
Ohio and Erie Canal in Groveport
The Ohio and Erie Canal was Ohio's solution to the lack of a reliable and fast transportation system to move goods to outside markets. The canal opened in the then unplatted village of Groveport on September 25, . . . — — Map (db m12659) HM
The Ohio and Erie Canal Lock 22, constructed from 1830-1831, is the only canal lock in Groveport. Constructed by W.H. Richardson as part of his $2,937 bid to build section 52 of the canal, the sandstone lock is 117 feet long and ten feet deep and . . . — — Map (db m13724) HM
The Ohio and Erie Canal enabled economic progress by making it easier to transport goods from Ohio to eastern and southern markets. Groveport. a stop along the canal route, was one of many communities that grew because of the waterway. This . . . — — Map (db m297674) HM
The Ohio Canal played a large role in Groveport's daily life, providing jobs, shipping, travel, and recreation.
A large boatyard, where canal boats were built and repaired, once operated in what is now Groveport's Blacklick Park..
Fishing was . . . — — Map (db m298660) HM
Ohio-Erie Canal and Locks
The Ohio-Erie Canal was built between 1825 and 1832 and extended 308 miles from Lake Erie at Cleveland to the Ohio River at Portsmouth. The greatest engineering achievement in Ohio up to that time, the canal gave . . . — — Map (db m12902) HM
[Marker Front]:
Formed by the retreating glacier more than 14,000 years ago, Buckeye Lake first existed as a shallow, swampy pond, named "Buffalo Swamp" by Ohio Company explorer Christopher Gist in 1751. Beginning in 1826 the State . . . — — Map (db m183075) HM
At this site on July 4, 1825, Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York turned the first shovelful of dirt for the Ohio Canal. The ceremony was attended by area citizens of Master Masons.
In the early 1840’s James A. Garfield, who was to become the . . . — — Map (db m2377) HM
Where the Water Met the Road
While the citizens of St. Clairsville, in eastern Ohio, celebrated the groundbreaking for the National Road on July 4, 1825, construction began on the Ohio & Erie Canal on the same day at Licking Summit (now . . . — — Map (db m97542) HM
Located at the crossing of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the National Road, Hebron was a favored commercial and agricultural center for Licking County in the nineteenth century. Only four miles north of the city Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York . . . — — Map (db m286222) HM
The village of Hebron lost its first mill to a fire in 1881. By the mid 1880’s, a new mill took its place and continued operation into the 1990’s, making it the longest running business in Hebron. by 1891, the Hebron Mill converted from water power . . . — — Map (db m97543) HM
The Hebron Milling Company building was built in 1880 where the National Trail (Route 40) and the Ohio Canal crossed in the village of Hebron. The building sat on the edge of the “turning basin” in the village, where canal boats docked to load or . . . — — Map (db m13879) HM
The preserve is rich in natural as well as early Ohio history. The name, Blackhand, originated from a dark hand-shaped Indian petroglyph which was engraved on the face of a massive sandstone cliff along the north side of the river. The engraving was . . . — — Map (db m205963) HM
Making the final leg of her journey on the Ohio & Erie Canal in 1840, sixteen-year-old Ellen Snell traveled 4,000 miles from her home in England to a country totally foreign to her. The Snell family were like many immigrants before and after . . . — — Map (db m206030) HM
Construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal began on July
4, 1825. Once completed, the canal ran between
Portsmouth on the Ohio River and Cleveland on Lake
Erie. The canal's route through Newark connected the
city to the far boundaries of the state . . . — — Map (db m205957) HM
James Birkey could clearly see that the importance of the Ohio and Erie Canal was being eclipsed elsewhere by newly-built railroad lines. His foresight led him to recognize that without a railroad connection of its own, Newark would cease to be . . . — — Map (db m206032) HM
The Ohio & Erie Canal Park is dedicated to the life and memory of Joseph M. Bowden, 1957-2012.
The Works was created from the vision and resources of Howard B. LeFevre and the physical facilities were made possible by the tireless efforts of . . . — — Map (db m206044) HM
Welcome to the Streetscape & History Walk In 1881, Reinhard Scheidler built a new factory building at SS S. 1st Street for his business, the Scheidler Machine Works. Today, that building houses our museum. Scheidler built many types of machinery, . . . — — Map (db m206025) HM
What Is The Ohio-Erie Canal?
Ohio's canal system consisted of two main canals: the Ohio and Erie Canal in the central portion of the state and the Miami and Erie Canal in the western portion. Both canals provided man-made waterways to allow . . . — — Map (db m250204) HM
How Does The Canal System Work?
The Ohio-Erie Canal was constructed with two summit levels: one near Akron in Summit County and the other, the Licking Summit, in Licking and Fairfield Counties. Reservoirs of water were created on both summit . . . — — Map (db m250206) HM
The State Dam
Water leaked and evaporated from the canal continuously and so the canal was always located near a natural stream to add water as needed. The feeder dam at Circleville was built in 1830 and added water to the canal as it flowed . . . — — Map (db m250207) HM
History Behind The Trail
A 10-foot-wide towpath ran between the canal and the Scioto River and was the place that the tow animals walked to pull the canal boat. Two types of animals were used to tow canal boats: horses and mules. Mules were . . . — — Map (db m309408) HM
Locks 48 and 49
Rush Township, Ohio
The Ohio & Erie Canal under construction in this area 1830-1832 would cross the farm of George Herodth, a stone contractor. He built the Elbow Lock, Camp Creek Culvert and more. While the canal was being . . . — — Map (db m230148) HM
Stagecoach
Prior to the advent of railroads, Portsmouth was a hub for stagecoach transportation, maintaining regular schedules to various surrounding towns. In 1830, a trip on the Portsmouth and Columbus turnpike took 18 hours in good . . . — — Map (db m165688) HM
Stagecoach
Prior to the advent of railroads, Portsmouth was a hub for stagecoach transportation, maintaining regular schedules to various surrounding towns. In 1830, a trip on the Portsmouth and Columbus turnpike took 18 hours in good weather . . . — — Map (db m166250) HM
Home of the
St. Helena II
Ohio and Erie Canal
Historical Landmark
1825-1913
Babst Tavern
A most famous layover between Cleveland and Portsmouth on the Ohio and Erie Canal. This Inn was visited by Presidents William Henry . . . — — Map (db m246592) HM
Home of the
St. Helena II
Ohio and Erie Canal
Historical Landmark
1825-1913
Easly House
Built as a canal warehouse and later converted to a hotel. President McKinley was a guest here. — — Map (db m246594) HM
Home of the
St. Helena II
Ohio and Erie Canal
Historical Landmark
1825-1913
Great Western
Built in 1833. This site was once a canal warehouse and converted to an opera house in 1872. — — Map (db m246595) HM
Sounds of boat horns and brawling packet crews resounded for many years at this lock and 142 others on the Ohio and Erie Canal. The canal was a 308-mile water toll road built between 1825 and 1832 from Lake Erie at Cleveland to the Ohio River at . . . — — Map (db m246581) HM
Did you know before canals Ohio's main form of transportation was by horse and wagon? The Ohio & Erie Canal formed an early shipping route connecting Lake Erie to the Ohio River. This canal system linked Ohio to the rest of the nation.
Lock 4 . . . — — Map (db m247153) HM
The Cascade Valley is the steepest section of the Ohio & Erie Canal. The elevation changes 150 feet within a mile. This provided an advantage for the Cascade Race, but a challenge for the Ohio & Erie Canal. The Cascade Race needed the elevation . . . — — Map (db m276325) HM
Although trained as a chemical engineer, Jack's great passions were the Ohio canal system and photography. Jack and his wife, Vicki, walked the entire length of all of the canals in Ohio. Author of A Photo Album of Ohio's Canal Era, 1825 – 1913 and . . . — — Map (db m302681) HM
Lynn Rodeman Metzger taught Anthropology at The University of Akron from 1990 to 2014. She always considered mentoring students as her most important endeavor, encouraging them in the classroom and beyond. Lynn also believed in connecting students . . . — — Map (db m302684) HM
The Ohio & Erie Canal connected the Cascade Mills to markets in Ohio and beyond. Boats carried flour packed in barrels and paper bags north to Cleveland, or south to Portsmouth. In Cleveland, flour could be transferred to Lake Erie steamers for . . . — — Map (db m276310) HM
In the nineteenth century, the scene in front of you would have been busy with canal travelers patronizing the Mustill Store to buy provisions. Three generations of the Mustill family operated the store, which held a prime commercial location across . . . — — Map (db m302680) HM
Bruce came to Akron, Ohio, in 1976 and was employed by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. as a tire design engineer. Bruce's passion for photography led him away from Goodyear to operating his own camera repair business.
Always a history buff, Bruce . . . — — Map (db m302682) HM
This planted area depicts the original boundaries of a canal basin, the widening, turning, terminating, and waiting area for canal boats. Docks are indicated above ground level for cargo loading and unloading. Mills and shops needed canal . . . — — Map (db m276324) HM
The village of Boston grew up along the Cuyahoga River. After the Ohio & Erie Canal opened in 1827, the community boomed with boatyards and businesses serving canal traffic. The Valley Railway opened in 1880 and spurred construction of the . . . — — Map (db m202357) HM
The size and shape of a canal boat is determined by the smallest lock. Along the Ohio & Erie Canal the smallest is 75 feet long by 15 feet wide.
Workers begin building a boat by laying the keel. Made from white oak timbers, the keel forms . . . — — Map (db m202373) HM
William Barnhart and James Fayerweather’s boatyard is humming with activity. Shipwrights enclose the hull of a canal boat with white-oak boards from Julius Edson’s sawmill and lumberyard. The blacksmith, R. Darmer, makes deadeye rings for canal . . . — — Map (db m202372) HM
Boston’s economy boomed building canal boats. Later it shifted to making toy marbles and then paper. If you were standing here in the early 1900s, the photo below shows what you would have seen. Across the Cuyahoga River stood the Cleveland-Akron . . . — — Map (db m202378) HM
Boston and its citizens experienced booms and busts. Entrepreneur Julius Edson built a business empire that included a sawmill, a gristmill, and major land parcels. By 1856 he also had gained a controlling interest in the 20-year-old Boston Land . . . — — Map (db m202374) HM
The Ohio & Erie Canalway celebrates the first 110 miles of a waterway that helped the nation grow.
Dug by hand from 1825 to 1832, the Ohio & Erie Canal was the first canal west of the Appalachian Mountains. It connected Lake Erie to the Ohio . . . — — Map (db m202381) HM
Since the 1800s, the Cuyahoga Valley has been a place where people from nearby cities relax in nature. Building on this tradition, locals worked tirelessly to preserve what is now Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Created in 1974, the park protects . . . — — Map (db m202382) HM
After the Ohio & 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 . . . — — Map (db m203429) HM
Most valley families pieced together a living, earning income in different ways. In the mid to late 1800s the Botzums were the most prosperous family in the area. John August Botzum owned a canal boat, sawmill, general store, and farm. He and his . . . — — Map (db m203428) HM
"The dam and feeder are said to be in good condition. This furnishes all the extra water needed between this point and Cleveland … and has always been ample." Ohio Canal Division Reports, 1880
Soon after this canal . . . — — Map (db m228496) HM
Soil washing into the canal created an ongoing problem. Storms eroded upland fields and hillsides left treeless by farmers. Engineers usually built culverts under the canal to carry streams into the Cuyahoga River. Here the intermittent Galley . . . — — Map (db m228497) HM
Founded in 1816, the Village of Clinton flourished after the Ohio & Erie Canal opened here in 1828.
Clinton became a major distribution center for coal, grain and produce. Supporting businesses increased including blacksmiths, grocery and . . . — — Map (db m246687) HM
Just north of where you stand, the Ohio & Erie Canal crossed the Tuscarawas River. A dam built on the river created still water which canal boats could safely cross.
Located on the canal just south of the river crossing was the rare type of . . . — — Map (db m246688) HM
For thousands of years, Native Americans followed a north-south trade route through here. The Cuyahoga River allowed travel by canoe to an eight-mile portage trail to the south-flowing Tuscarawas River, which eventually led to the Ohio River. . . . — — Map (db m183610) HM
The reconstructed Everett Covered Bridge stands as a
reminder of a common 19th-century Ohio scene. While its
original date of construction is uncertain, it is patterned on
the 1869 Smith Truss design. In the 19th century, Ohio led
the nation . . . — — Map (db m166145) HM
This model shows a boat that has entered Lock 29 from the north. It is heading south – upstream – towards Akron. Most locks were 90 feet long from gate to gate. Walls were 15 feet apart. Boats were up to 75 feet long and up to 14 feet side, so . . . — — Map (db m202438) HM
For over 100 years, these quarries were a source of sandstone prized for its fine quality. Deep Lock Quarry Metro Park’s name is a nod to Lock 28, a stop along the Ohio & Erie Canal where untold tons of stone were shipped to form Akron’s buildings, . . . — — Map (db m202477) HM
The State of Ohio mobilized a work force – as many as 2,000 a day – to build the Ohio & Erie Canal. The project became an extension of the Erie Canal. Ohio borrowed money from New York investors. Engineers surveyed the route and adapted Erie . . . — — Map (db m202439) HM
History
Peninsula is a river town settled on the bend, or “peninsula” of the Cuyahoga River in 1818. Peninsula soon became a center of commerce as a main stop on the Ohio & Erie Canal. Goods were transported via the canal including quarry . . . — — Map (db m203331) HM
Canal, farm, railroad – all played a part in the lives of Charles and Susan Carter. They lived in a house next to Lock 26 and made a living in various ways. Charles served as a canal boat captain and locktender. The family raised corn and hay on . . . — — Map (db m203427) HM
Lock 29 is one of many historical features of the Ohio & Erie canal, which linked Lake Erie with the Ohio River. The far end of Lock 29 was connected with an aqueduct that carried boats over the Cuyahoga River. The lock- aqueduct combination was a . . . — — Map (db m202437) HM
The Ohio & Erie Canalway celebrates the first 110 miles of a waterway that helped the nation grow.
Dug by hand from 1825 to 1832, the Ohio & Erie Canal was the first canal west of the Appalachian Mountains. It connected Lake Erie to the Ohio . . . — — Map (db m202479) HM
Peninsula has had a stormy relationship with the Cuyahoga River. Over the years the river has supported thriving industries and attracted travelers. During heavy rains, however, massive floods have damaged property and disrupted day-to-day . . . — — Map (db m202434) HM
Since the 1800s, the Cuyahoga Valley has been a place where people from nearby cities relax in nature. Building on this tradition, locals worked tirelessly to preserve what is now Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Created in 1974, the park protects . . . — — Map (db m202473) HM
In 1832 Hermon Bronson built a gristmill here to turn grain into flour. He shipped the flour to market on the Ohio & Erie Canal. After the Valley Railway arrived, the mill built a bridge over the river. Wagons carried grain from the train and . . . — — Map (db m228550) HM
The presence of industry changed the physical appearance and social composition of the Cuyahoga Valley. In the early years of the 20th century, both the Cleveland Akron Bag Company and the Jaite Paper Mill built new structures that impacted the . . . — — Map (db m228502) HM
The Ohio & Erie Canal turned Peninsula into a thriving community. The village-halfway between Cleveland and Akron-was a logical place to spend the night. Peninsula had four boatyards, two dry docks, three blacksmith shops, two hotels, and several . . . — — Map (db m228549) HM
Peninsula is a historic village in the heart of Cuyahoga Valley. Since the canal era, the village has been a place for travelers to stop and refresh before adventuring onward.
The depot on your right sells tickets to explore the national . . . — — Map (db m228547) HM
After it was abandoned in 1779, Fort Laurens slowly decayed. When the Ohio & Erie Canal was constructed here in 1828, it destroyed the two eastern bastions of the fort that faced the river's edge. In 1850, when Charles Whittlesey drew this map, . . . — — Map (db m313827) HM
The Ohio-Erie Canal 1825-1913
Seeking an alternate transportation route to distant markets, many farmers and manufacturers in Ohio wanted to connect the Ohio River to Lake Erie with a canal. Beginning in Cleveland the Ohio-Erie Canal ran south, . . . — — Map (db m15190) HM
1825–1913. Seeking an alternative transportation route to distant markets, many farmers and manufacturers in Ohio wanted to connect the Ohio River to Lake Erie with a canal. Beginning in Cleveland the Ohio-Erie Canal ran south, the length of the . . . — — Map (db m293) HM
The greatest engineering achievement in Ohio during the pre-railroad era, the Ohio & Erie Canal traversed nearly six miles of Warwick Township. Completed in 1830, the canal brought prosperity to the village of Trenton (now Tuscarawas) and to . . . — — Map (db m294) HM
Begun in 1831 at Beaver, PA and completed in 1844, the canal crossed W. 6th St. at this point ending at Presque Isle Bay in West Canal Basin. Part of Pennsylvania
Canal System, this canal connected Lake Erie to Ohio River. After closing in 1871, . . . — — Map (db m310501) HM
