Date: Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Time: 1:30 - 3:00 PM
Place: Westminster Village, Community Room
Cost: FREE - No Registration Required

The second longest canal ever built went through Vigo County, Indiana. The Wabash & Erie Canal connected Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio, with the Ohio River at Lamasco, Indiana (now part of Evansville). Structures on the canal in Vigo County included aqueducts, bridges over the canal, locks, reservoirs, a dry dock, box culverts, turning basins, and a waste weir. There are remains of these structures in Vigo and surrounding counties.
The community of Lockport (Riley), Indiana, was platted as a canal town. The governor of Indiana had to call up the state militia to put down a rebellion of locals opposed to a canal reservoir built on the Vigo-Clay county line. Why was the canal built and why did it fail? We are still dealing with state and local issues from the canal era to this day.