An Overview


In the spring of 1823, work on the Erie Canal at this end of the state began with the building of a dam. Its purpose was to raise the water level of Tonawanda Creek 4 to 4 1/2 feet so that its ten-mile stretch between Pendleton and Tonawanda could become part of the canal without having to dig. Then, digging was resumed at the point where the canal veered from the dam to travel westward through the village of Tonawanda and along the Niagara River to Buffalo.

If you turn and look directly behind you through the two columns, you will see the route taken by the Erie Canal through downtown Tonawanda.



Looking across the Dam to North Tonawanda, circa 1910.



Runaway Canal Boat, March 1916. A runaway canal boat, carried over the dam by spring flood waters and melting snow, smashed into the abutments of the creek here. The railroad bridge at the left of this photo was unharmed, but the "long bridge" on the other side of it sustained damage.



Viewed from North Tonawanda, a canal bridge spans Ellicott Creek from Gastown to downtown Tonawanda. The building with the Discovery tobacco advertisement on its side is a blacksmith shop on Young Street.

No More Dam: the Arrival of the New Barge Canal


In 1918, the dam was no more and the Tonawandas were the terminus of the new N.Y.S. Barge Canal. In the photo to the left, the old canal veers left to flow westward through downtown Tonawanda where over the next decade it would become a sort of local dump to be filled in with trash and refuse.



Above, in this aerial photo, the process of filling in the old Erie has begun.



No more towpath. No more animals. No more manure. The magnificent Erie passes into history.

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Show me all markers in:  Tonawanda, NY  |  Erie County  |  14150  |  New York  |  United States of America

Lumber Capital
Gateway to the West
The Railroad
Roll of Honor
Roll of Honor
Lumber Port
The Long Homestead
Long Homestead
The People
First Schoolhouse

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