Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal |
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Map of historic Pennsylvania canals and connecting railroads
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| Specifications | |
| Status | Generally abandoned except for historic interest |
| History | |
| Construction began | 1835 |
| Date completed | 1840 |
| Date closed | 1877 |
| Geography | |
| Start point | New Castle, Pennsylvania |
| End point | Akron, Ohio |
| Connects to | Beaver and Erie Canal, Ohio and Erie Canal |
The Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, also known as the P & O Canal, was a special waterway built to move goods and people. It was open from 1840 to 1877. What made it unique? It connected canals in two different states: the Ohio and Erie Canal in Ohio and the Beaver and Erie Canal in Pennsylvania. Also, regular people and businesses, not the government, paid for it!
Building the P & O Canal
People really wanted this canal. In Warren, Ohio, over a hundred leaders met in 1833. They decided to pay for the canal themselves. This was because neither Ohio nor Pennsylvania wanted to spend money on a canal that mostly helped the other state.
Construction started on September 17, 1835. Workers used picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows to dig the 82-mile (132 km) long canal. It stretched from New Castle, Pennsylvania, to Akron, Ohio. In Akron, it met the Ohio and Erie Canal.
The canal followed old Native American trails and rivers like the Cuyahoga and Mahoning River. In Northeast Ohio, water from Lake Pippen and Brady Lake helped fill the canal. When the canal officially opened on August 4, 1840, there were big celebrations along its route!
How the Canal Helped
Just like other canals back then, mules and horses pulled the boats along the P & O Canal. These boats carried goods and passengers from Pittsburgh to Cleveland and Lake Erie.
The canal made it easier to trade between Northeast Ohio and other states in the East. This helped towns and villages along the canal grow bigger and richer. Some people even say the canal helped the iron industry grow in the Mahoning Valley in Ohio.
The Canal Closes Down
Over time, railroads became more popular and faster. They could move goods much quicker than canals. Because of this, the P & O Canal was used less and less.
By 1872, all parts of the canal were no longer used. The canal officially closed in 1877, and its land was sold off. Today, you can still find parts of the old canal bed in places like Munroe Falls and downtown Kent. In Kent, the Cuyahoga River now flows through what used to be a canal lock. There's also a stone culvert, like a bridge for water, over Plum Creek in southern Kent that was part of the P & O Canal.
