Five years later, on July 21, 1825, the digging of the canal began at what now is Yankee Road and Verity Parkway. That “major event” is what propelled a population growth and the eventual transformation of Middletown into an industrial city, according to Ashworth.
Last year, Ashworth formed a committee, and the group has been planning a bicentennial celebration of the first dig. The property belongs to Cliff’s, and Ashworth said the steelmaker has been very cooperative.
He plans to invite Gov. Mike DeWine, local and county officials and the community to the 200-year anniversary.
Part of that celebration, and educational signage that will tell the canal’s historical significant, are being funded by a grant the Middletown Historical Society received from the W.E. Smith Family Charitable Trust.
The trust has awarded grants twice this year in excess of $90,430 to history-related projects from libraries, museums, school programs, and other organizations across Southwestern Ohio, said Dick Sollmann, chair of the advisory board.
Ashworth said the grants have been “a lifesaver” for the historical organizations in the region, and without them, some projects would not be possible.
The historical society used some grant funds last year to create a little park near the Excello Lock by Dicks Creek, he said. There were 105 locks on the canal when it was completed in 1845 from Cincinnati to Toledo. The Excello Lock was the first one completed in 1826.
The canal allowed farmers to ship goods and was a harbinger of the hydraulic canal that drew several paper companies to Middletown, Ashworth said.
“That changed everything,” he said. “It made a major impact and changed Middletown from a small village to an industrial town.”
The grants are awarded twice a year and this fall nearly $26,000 was given to support projects submitted for display and storage materials for collections; computer equipment to manage collections; school and community outreach programs; publishing projects, and other events and programs, Sollmann said.
The Smith Trust was established by the estate of Ophia Smith, longtime Oxford resident and wife of W. E. Smith, who chaired Miami University’s history department and was first director of the William Holmes McGuffey Museum.
FALL SMITH TRUST GRANTS AWARDED
Butler County Historical Society: To support local field trip scholarships for elementary school programs and retractable banner display units.
Heritage Hall McCloskey Museum: For programming and materials for Women’s History and Heritage using McCloskey resources.
Cummins Local History Room, Lane Library: Continuing the library’s digitization of newspaper holdings.
Delhi Historical Society: Assist in purchase of computer equipment to input and manage the collection.
Friends of White Water Shaker Village: In support of Simply Shaker: Preserving and Sharing the Shaker Story.
Hamilton City Parks Conservancy: Partial support of rejuvenation and replacement of base for historic GAR sundial.
King Studio Cincinnati: Music record history project of King Studios after school for elementary students.
Middletown Historical Society: Support historic signage for the “First Dig Project” of the Miami & Erie Canal.
Over The Rhine Museum Cincinnati: Partial funding for Questo, electronic self guided tour project.
Preble County Historical Society: Assist with continuation of digitization project of scanning and conserving documents donated to the collection and be able to make them available to the public via internet searches.
Reilly Twp. Historical Society: Continue cataloging and digitization projects for library/research room.
Smith Library of Regional History: Continuing the project of digitization of city directories for Hamilton/Oxford and Hamilton/Fairfield.
Talawanda Elementary School: To help fund scholarships to assist deserving students opportunity to participate in the school’s planned visit to Washington, D. C. to explore the nation’s Capital and history.
West Chester Historical Society: Update and reprint a driving tour brochure of the historic features of West Chester.
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The Journal-News periodically runs a “Good News” story on weekends. If you have a story idea, send it to contributing writer Rick McCrabb at rmccrabb1@gmail.com.
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