Boats on the Ohio Erie Canal at Groveport, Ohio.

Boats on the Ohio Erie Canal at Groveport, Ohio.

Boats on the Ohio Erie Canal at Groveport, Ohio. The Ohio and Erie Canal was one of Ohio's most important canals during the mid nineteenth century. During the late 1810s, Governor Thomas Worthington and Governor Ethan Allen Brown both supported internal improvements, especially canals. Both men believed that Ohioans needed quick and easy access to the Ohio River and to Lake Erie if they were to profit financially. In 1820, Brown convinced the Ohio legislature to establish the Ohio Canal Commission. Construction began in 1825, and the canal was completed in 1833. Once completed, thirty-three of Ohio's eighty-eight counties either had portions of canals running through them or quarries to mine rock for construction. Most canals remained in operation in Ohio until the late 1800s.

Columbus Dispatch. 1833

The Ohio History Connection, Columbus Dispatch Photograph Collection, P 245; Box 1, Folder 10

1833