The Short-Lived Canal -- Evansville IN
N 37° 58.411 W 087° 34.377
16S E 449678 N 4203031
The Wabash & Erie Canal arrived in Evansville Indiana in 1853, bringing Irish immigrants and prosperity to the area. By 1873 the canal was obsolete, done in by railroads -but the people stayed.
Waymark Code: WM15VMD
Location: Indiana, United States
Date Posted: 03/03/2022
Views: 2
The W&E Canal was authorized by Congress in 1827 to link the Maumee and Wabash rivers in Indiana. Work began in 1832 and although the canal reached Terre Haute on the Wabash River in 1849, the decision was made to extend the canal to connect with the Ohio River. In 1853 the W&E canal reached Evansville, at the time a small city on the banks of the Ohio River. Although the canal was discontinued and filled in the 1870s, it had a dramatic impact on the city of Evansville and on settlement throughout Indiana.
The interesting history of the Wabash & Erie Canal (W&E) is related on this historical sign placed by the Ohio River Scenic Byway, which we found at the SE corner found of the Vanderburgh County Courthouse in downtown Evansville Indiana, several blocks from the Ohio River.
The connection between this inland Location and the Ohio River is that the courthouse is built on the former turning basin for the W&E Canal, which was filled in after the canal was decommissioned in the 1870s.
The Ohio River scenic byway sign reads as follows:
"THE SHORT-LIVED CANAL
On March 2, 1827 Congress provided a land grant to encourage Indiana to build the Wabash & Erie Canal. The original plan was to link them applicable water of the Maumee with the Wabash through the seven mile portage at Fort Wayne. Work began 5 years later and proceeded west, reaching Huntington by 1835, Logansport in 1838 and Lafayette in 1841. Work was also performed east toward the Ohio line, but the canal did not reach Toledo until 1843. A second federal land grant enabled the completion of the canal to Terre Haute by 1849. At Evansville, 20 miles of the Central Canal had been completed north by 1839. The 2 canal projects were united in 1849 and bore the name Wabash & Erie.
The W&E was extended south in the late 1840s through the abandoned cross-cut canal works to Worthington and then south following the old proposed Central Canal route. The Wabash & Erie Canal was completed to Lamasco, a separate settlement to the west of Evansville, in 1853. Though fully operational for only a short seven-year period, the 468 mile-long canal drew national attention to the Evansville area and spurred rapid increase in population and wealth in the 1850s.
The canal and Evansville included a basin used for turning boats for return trips and docking facilities for loading and unloading passengers and cargo.
The canal was more than a mere transportation means. Canal water, channeled through races, turned waterwheels powering factories and mills along the canals route; communities and businesses paid rents to the state for the waters use. Local people use the canal to bathe and wash clothes.
Recognized as the longest canal in the United States, this gigantic enterprise was doomed to failure by the growing presence of railroads. The canal’s official demise was in 1873. Basins and other sections of the canal profile were filled.
In the 1880s, the leaders of Vanderburgh County recognize the need for a new courthouse. The site chosen was the Union Block and Evansville, the location of the drained Wabash & Erie Canal basin.
The courthouse, designed by Henry Wolters of Louisville, Kentucky, and completed in 1891, is a massive edifice, proudly displaying the finest Indiana limestone. The main rectangular building is symmetrically balanced, with a broad pavilion projecting from each of the long sides. A soaring dome crowns the building at the crossing point of the pavilions and the axis of the main building. The ornate decorations of the exterior are reflective of the equally ornate and rich treatment of the interior.
Vanderburgh County was one of ten Indiana counties with large Irish populations. Next to German-Americans in Evansville, they constituted the largest group of foreign-born residents in the community. Some arrived in Evansville by virtue of laboring on the canal, and others arrive through normal immigration patterns -- that is by answering the summons of friends or relatives who preceded them. The peak period of Irish immigration in the Evansville area was between 1850 and 1880. Irish immigrants and oxen provided most of the labor committed to digging the Wabash & Erie Canal.
[Separate box, inset:]
By the Way:
The passenger packet Pennsylvania was the first boat to reach Evansville from Lake Erie, via the canal, September 23, 1853."
Website with background information about this Waymark: [Web Link]
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