The Ohio Canal or Ohio and Erie Canal was a canal constructed in the 1820s and early 1830s. It connected Akron, Summit County, with the Cuyahoga River near its mouth on Lake Erie in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and a few years later, with the Ohio River near Portsmouth, Scioto County, and then connections to other canal systems in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
The canal carried freight traffic from 1827 to 1861, when the arrival of railroads killed the market. From 1862 to 1913, the canal served as a water source to industries and towns. In 1913, much of the canal system was abandoned after critical sections were destroyed by flooding.
Today, most of the remaining portions are managed by the National Park Service or Ohio Department of Natural Resources. They are used for various recreational purposes by the public, and still provide water for some industries. Parts of the canal are preserved, including the Ohio and Erie Canal Historic District, a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
Read more about Ohio And Erie Canal: History, Notable Persons Associated With The Canal, The Canal Today, Points of Interest
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)