Canals of Ohio

Join us to learn about the Ohio canal system and how it opened Ohio to the world of commerce and connected us across the continent. Registration required.

In 1825, Ohio began construction of a canal system that eventually grew into a nearly thousand-mile system of channels, towpaths, locks, ponds, and lakes. This network created a pathway to and from Ohio, exporting grain and goods all across the world, while receiving goods in turn from as far away as Europe. These canals were the link between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River, making it possible to move from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico. While building this massive network, workers had to adapt to Ohio’s variable landscape across glacial deposits and the Allegheny Plateau and, in the process, stitching together Ohio’s many settlements into a unified state.

O’Grady has been an instructor of Observational Astronomy in the evenings at Ohio University for thirty years. He has spent a considerable amount of the past twenty-five years studying Ohio history, researching its geography and settlement, the mound builders, Ohio canals, and several of its interesting characters and their stories.