Ohio and Erie Canal
At this site was lock 44, the north terminus of the Ohio and Erie Canal from 1829 to 1872.
Lock 44 as the outlet of the canal into the Cuyahoga River and the first stop in the transportation system which linked the Great Lakes with the Ohio River during the nineteenth century. Across Merwin Street was the canal basin where goods and passengers transferred between the canal boats and the Great Lakes ships.
The canal stretched 309 miles from this point to the Ohio River at Portsmouth and had three branches and four side canals through eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. It was largely responsible for the development of Cleveland from a small village into an important industrial city.
Marker is at the intersection of Merwin Avenue and West Street, on the right when traveling south on Merwin Avenue.
Courtesy hmdb.org
