February 4, 1825
The Ohio state legislature voted to approve construction of the Ohio & Erie Canal, a waterway that would ultimately span 308 miles (496 kilometers) and connect Lake Erie at what was originally the village of Cleveland with the Ohio River at Portsmouth in the south-central region of the Buckeye State.
The legislature actually ended up authorizing two waterways at the same time – the Ohio & Erie Canal; and a system that would course along the Great Miami River and link the cities of Cincinnati and Dayton in the state’s southwestern corner. Construction on the latter waterway, which became known as the Miami & Erie Canal and eventually connected Toledo on Lake Erie with Cincinnati, took longer and was not completed until 1845; the efforts to build the Ohio & Erie Canal, however, proceeded at a much more rapid pace.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Ohio & Erie Canal took place only four months after construction on the waterway had been approved. DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828), who had recently become governor of New York and would serve in that position until his death, was the dignitary who turned the first soil for this project. As someone who long championed building the Erie Canal in his home state, Clinton was a well-established advocate for that kind of transportation infrastructure. (Construction on the Erie Canal started in 1817 and would be completed during the fall of 1825.)
The entire route for the Ohio & Erie Canal was completed in 1832. The Ohio & Erie Canal provided key socioeconomic benefits for the Buckeye State. In allowing vessels to efficiently transport passengers and cargo for long distances, the canal helped make Ohio one of the most prosperous states during the 19th century. The canal also proved to be a major component of the network connecting Erie Canal with the western frontiers as well as New Orleans via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The canal was instrumental as well in transforming Cleveland into a major city and commercial center.
One of the better-known individuals associated with the Ohio & Erie Canal was future U.S. president James A. Garfield (1831-1881). During his teenage years, he worked briefly in a job that involved the management of mules moving along the canal’s towpath to pull barges there in the water. After falling into the canal one too many times, though, Garfield quit that job and instead began pursuing his formal education.
Over time, factors such as the growing prominence and utilization of railroads caused the Ohio & Erie Canal to steadily fall into disuse. Many of the surviving parts of the canal are now managed by either the National Park Service or the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, with one portion preserved as a National Historic Landmark and other sections used for recreational purposes and as a source of water for local industries. (The accompanying 2008 photo features a restored section of the canal in the Cleveland area.)
Photo Credit: Oydman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Oydman) at English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
For more information on the Ohio & Erie Canal, please check out https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000607_text
Transportation History 
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