Structure at Lock 38 near the end of the 19th century.

In the 1790s Connecticut sold off a strip of land it had previously owned along Lake Erie, known as the Western Reserve. These three-million-acres were then surveyed and divided into a series of five-mile-square townships. County delineation and organization in the area underwent several phases, with Cuyahoga County initially established in 1810. Early settlement in Cuyahoga County, and the Western Reserve in general, was sporadic and began on the east bank of the Cuyahoga River. After the War of 1812, when the threat of hostilities in the region had ended, a second phase of emigration began leading to relatively rapid population growth. However, settlement was scattered, transportation and communication systems were poorly developed, and the Western Reserve was economically isolated from eastern markets. Thus, it could still be characterized as a frontier settlement.

The Ohio & Erie Canal
Construction of the Ohio & Erie Canal , which ultimately connected the Ohio River to Lake Erie, New York City, and the Atlantic Ocean, brought dramatic economic and social impacts to the Cuyahoga Valley during the 19th century. Despite problems associated with canal construction, including many deaths from disease and weather in 1826, the local economy began to diversify and improve with the new and reliable transportation route that paralleled the often-shallow river.

After the opening of the first canal segment from Cleveland to Akron in 1827, jobs were created to meet the need for quarried stone and lumber, and settlers shifted from small-scale subsistence agricultural pursuits to a cash crop economy. Local products, such as wheat, coal, flour, beef, and cheese, were shipped north on the canal, while general merchandise, salt, and fish were sent south. The availability of exotic products in the region during the late 1820s contrasts markedly with the lack of such goods during earlier decades of the 19th century. As other segments of the canal were completed, trade flourished and local crop prices and land values increased. By 1832, over 5,000,000 pounds of merchandise were being shipped down the canal from Cleveland each year and that number had quadrupled by 1839.

The Ohio & Erie Canal was most important to local development from 1827–1840, after which a long and steady decline in its importance has been documented, due to rapid railroad development during the 1850s. Use of the canal finally ended with the disastrous flood of 1913.

The Canal and American History
In 1966 a 1.5 mile section of the watered portion of the canal was designated a National Historic Landmark, and in 1983 the designation was extended to encompass a 4 mile section. Many other features of the canal and structures related to its operation are also listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The listing includes three major segments of the canal encompassing a combined distance of 16 miles. In fact, nearly 70 properties within the park boundaries are now listed in the National Register as having national or local significance in representing various aspects of American history.

Of course, the Ohio & Erie Canal did not stop at the southern park boundary near Akron, but continued 268 miles to the Ohio River at Portsmouth. In 1996, Congress extended official recognition of the historic importance of this region by designating the Ohio & Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor. Comprising the northern division, the scenic area runs from Cleveland to New Philadelphia, a distance of 110 miles. The Heritage Corridor connects many historic points of interest in northeast Ohio, including the town of Canal Fulton, where visitors can ride a replica canal boat, and the Village of Zoar, founded by German religious dissenters in 1817 as a communal society. NEXT >>