Columbus Neighborhoods: On the Canal!

See how locks at Groveport and Lockbourne have been preserved, and learn about the feeder canal that connected Columbus to distant markets. Also, architectural historian Jeff Darbee visits Roscoe Village, a restored 1800s canal town.

[@austx290]

I definitely want to visit Roscoe Village. What a neat place!

[@jasonbradford4788]

I really wish the US would have keep the canals functioning. They would great for vacations or even living on them.

[@ffjsb]

WAY too much cost. They're very labor intensive, that's why they didn't last long, even back in the 1800's.

[@brandoncook8975]

@@ffjsb and im pretty they smelled really bad. i can't imagine the stench coming off a canal. people throwin garbage in them, sewage. yuck!!

[@ffjsb]

@@brandoncook8975 They did at least have some flow to them, so it probably wasn't too bad.

[@Pdasilva0324]

I've done some exploring around the Lockbourne locks. You can also see some of the actual canal system remnants in and around parts of Groveport, Obetz, and Hamilton Township.

[@theodorerelic2718]

Oh definitely. I lived in Groveport as a kid between 1965-1981, and we used to go to the park at the end of Blacklick St. There's an indentation that runs into the woods where the canal tributary from Wirt Rd ran, and if you go deeper into the woods, at the clearing you'll see the remains of the lock (haven't watched this yet so I don't know if that's covered). In fact, the house we grew up in, on the 300-block of Center St (I know what it is, but in deference to the current owners I won't identify the exact number in case they don't like it), was actually built around a canal boat that had been hauled there. It's mentioned in the 1947 Groveport Centennial book, identifying it as being owned by the family we bought the house from in 1965.

[@71259mark]

Where can one find good detailed maps of the canals. I'm particularly interested in the Miami-Erie canal. What I would love to see is an overlay of the canal maps on today's maps.

[@theodorerelic2718]

Heh. I remember when I was a kid growing up in Groveport in the 60s and 70s, and I recall visiting the lock...had to have been around 13 or 14 so this would have been around 1975-76. I went with my brothers, and the lock was just full of junk where people would dump it....hell, there was even an old car that had probably been there since the 40s or 50s that locals were using for target practice. I went back there in the late 90s or so, and it was so full of small trees and overgrown weeds you couldn't even tell what it was, other than the blocks peeking out at the sides. Fortunately I went back years later with a nephew and they had cleaned it out to how it looks now. Also, on the 300 block of Center St, there is a house that was built around an old canal boat. I suspect the sun porch may have been the more obvious, visible part of the boat that was retained. I grew up in that house, and spent many a night sleeping on that sun porch. It's mentioned in the 1947 Groveport Centennial book.

[@ffjsb]

There are still some better preserved locks, even working, in the Cuyahoga National Park area.

[@Michael-fl1tm]

Would be nice if the narrator didn't keep interrupting the people when they were trying to explain what the lock was about, try not being so obnoxious next time Mr know it all

[@garyfoster5014]

Shame on those in charge of the Lockborurne locks. Weeds and brush everywhere,