Canal Basin Park
Canal Basin Park
Canal Basin Park is a historic site, fueled by the Cuyahoga River. From prehistoric times to today, the river has shaped the area, impacted settlements, and fueled migration, industry, and civic growth.
National Parks Service Photo
The Cuyahoga River was pivotal in the settlement patterns of indigenous peoples and colonial settlers. Historically, wetlands lined the riverbanks and the surrounding higher bluffs created a protected valley.
The earliest inhabitants migrated to the Ohio region from a sub-arctic landscape at the end of the last Ice Age, following large game for food. Later, Native American tribes lived in seasonal base camps, hunting and gathering food from the region’s abundant forests and waterways.
In 1795, the Treaty of Greenville identified the Cuyahoga River as the western edge of the United States, with the west bank of the Cuyahoga River being designated as Native American territory, but many tribes continued to experience pressure and displacement. By the mid-1800s, warfare and disease had eliminated or displaced Native Americans from the area, as more Euro-Americans traveled west across the Cuyahoga.
In 1796, General Moses Cleaveland arrived in the Western Reserve of “New Connecticut” via Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River, supposedly landing in the area now called Settlers Landing in Canal Basin Park. General Cleaveland plotted the map for the city, stayed for 8 months, and returned to Connecticut, never to visit his namesake city again.
In part because of its border of marshy wetlands, the City of Cleveland grew relatively slowly, until the start of the Canal Era jumpstarts migration, trade, and industry.
The Ohio & Erie Canal was a 40 foot-wide waterway dug by hand by mostly Irish and German immigrants between 1825 and 1832. This was the first canal west of the Appalachian Mountains, connecting Lake Erie to the Ohio River and allowing people and products to flow across America for the first time– connecting New York City to New Orleans, by way of Cleveland, Akron and other Ohio cities. This new transportation network spurred migration into Ohio, especially Cleveland, and propelled the growth of a nation that now had the ability to easily move goods west.
The population of the City of Cleveland doubled in the 50 years after the canal opened. By having the ability to move grain grown in Ohio throughout the country, Ohio overtook Europe as the country’s top grain supplier.
The Ohio & Erie Canal served as a major mode of travel and transportation through the Civil War until 1913, though the Cleveland portion of the canal went out of use in 1874 when the Valley Railroad purchased the northern piece of the canal including Canal Basin and filled it in. With the growth of the railroad industry, the use of the canal decreased until the flood of 1913 damaged it to the point it was retired as a commercial artery.
The Canal’s impact on industrial and commercial growth in Cleveland are still felt today through our working river and industrial network.
This northern-most location of the Ohio & Erie Canal was one of the widest areas of the canal, where canal boats could dock to load and unload goods and people. In addition to canal boats, steamer engines traveling on Lake Erie would also utilize the Canal Basin to load and unload goods and passengers before heading back to the lake.
As a center of trade and transportation, Canal Basin became one of Cleveland’s first neighborhoods and its economic heart. Shops and warehouses quickly grew up around the basin, with homes and residences becoming part of the mixed-use neighborhood.
The Ohio & Erie Canal had just over 30 years as the main driver of trade and travel before trains grew in popularity, the canal was sold and then disappeared beneath railroad tracks within the City of Cleveland. In 1874, the Valley Railroad purchased and filled in the canal in Cleveland to use as a route for the train tracks. In 1878, the Superior Viaduct Bridge was built, connecting Ohio City and Downtown Cleveland across the Cuyahoga River, and creating a bypass over Canal Basin. The area became so industrial it no longer existed as a neighborhood in any way.
Today, Berea sandstone from the canal, railroad tracks, and historic bridges can be seen throughout Canal Basin Park, and each telling the story of the area’s past.
Heritage & History
When the canal was in operation, boats had to cross locks one at a time. Boats heading upstream had the right-of-way according to law.