Celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal, one of the most ambitious American projects of the 19th century.
Celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal, one of the most ambitious American projects of the 19th century.
1st floor, Joel I. & Joan Picket Museum Treasures Case
This installation celebrates the Erie Canal—a shipping route forged between the Hudson River and Lake Erie—one of the most ambitious American projects of the 19th century. In 1808, New York State legislators authorized a survey to identify possible canal routes. Construction on the selected route began in 1817. Newly elected New York governor DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828) championed the project, while detractors called the canal “Clinton’s big ditch.”
Engineers faced forests, swamps, rocky terrain, and enormous elevation changes as they considered how to cut new paths for the canal and connect with existing waterways. They devised a system of locks and created a new type of cement. A newly invented stump puller cleared the path for laborers, including many recent Irish immigrants, to dig a canal forty feet wide and four feet deep. Completed in 1825, the 363-mile-long canal allowed for people, goods, industry, and urban development to flow from the East Coast to the interior of the United States. Curated by Emily Pazar, assistant curator of decorative arts and material culture
Exhibitions at The New York Historical are made possible by Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, the Saunders Trust for American History, the Evelyn & Seymour Neuman Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. WNET is the media sponsor.
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