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MIDDLETOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
"Linking the Past with the Present for the Future"

The Economic Development of Middletown, Ohio
1796-1865
by
George C. Crout

Chapter 4

The first factor which lead to the industrial development of Middletown was the Miami River; the second factor was the building of the Miami-Erie Canal. The building of the canal was facilitated, and made possible by, the Miami River, which served as a feeder for the canal.

Before the canal was built, flatboats were used on the river; often these boats were wrecked and great losses occurred. Wagon trains carried the goods overland, and stage coaches carried passengers, but this was an expensive method of transportation.

Governor De Witt Clinton had been the canal commissioner for the state of New York, and it was through his efforts that a canal gave the people of the Miami Valley and of the state as a whole a model. So strong became the sentiment for the building of canals in Ohio that in 1819 the governor of the state asked that a canal commission be established to consider the construction of a canal to link the lake with the Ohio River. In 1820 an act was passed authorizing this survey.

Among the early settlers of Middletown, Abner Enoch, Hugh Veil, John Sutphin, John Martin, and Peter Vanderveer worked to have the canal built through Middletown. They, realizing that water transpiration was cheaper than land transportation, asked either for the canalization of the Miami River, which at first was considered practical, or the building of a canal, for which Dr. Daniel Drake began campaigning as early as 1815.

Governor Brown appointed a commission on canals in 1819. In 1822 the legislature appropriated the money for the survey of the possibilities of a canal through the Miami Valley; this survey lead to the authorization of the building of the canal.

At first it was thought that the Miami Canal would go from Toledo to Dayton and there connect with the Miami River. The difficulty with this plan was that the river was only navigable downstream, and there was need for traveling both ways. Since the river had a fall of seven feet a mile, the cost of enlarging the bed and making the river navigable both upstream and downstream was prohibitive.

In 1825 Samuel Forrer, an outstanding engineer of the time, came to this part of the valley to make a survey. He decided that using the river would be too costly; he also made plans to extend the canal to Cincinnati, stating that the water form the Miami River would be used to feed the canal, which was to be sixty miles long.

The Miami-Erie Canal, 301 miles long, was formerly began July 4, 1825, and was completed in 1845 at a total cost of $8,062,680.80. Along with the other canals, it was financed by the aid of the state and Federal governments. The Federal government in 1828 was petitioned by the General Assembly of Ohio for land donations for the building of its canals. In 1827 the national government had made grants to Indiana for the building of the Wabash Canal, and since part of this canal was in Ohio, Congress had given a grant of 292,223.51 acres of land to the state of Ohio. Altogether the state finally received a grant of 1,230,512 acres, from which it realized $2,257,487. Private contributions totaled $500,000.

Work began on the Ohio Canal at a spot near Newark, at Licking Summit. Governor Morrow of Ohio and Governor De Witt Clinton of New York were there to see the first spadeful of dirt turned. Three weeks later, July 21, at Middletown, these men came to see work began in the area. Governor Clinton and Governor Morrow made the trip over the proposed route of the canal. They visited Dayton, Cincinnati, Hamilton, and the Middletown. John P. Reynolds gave a public dinner in their honor; and after the dinner, Governor Clinton lifted the first spadeful of dirt; it was at Middletown that the real construction of the canal was begun in this region.

Mr. Cone described the occasion as a "monster celebration." Mr. Caleb Atwater wrote: "From this city (Cincinnati) the governors went to Middletown on the Great Miami, where amidst a vast concourse of people, the Miami Canal was commenced by the governors. An address to Governor Clinton and the citizens was delivered by Joseph Crane, Esquire. And there was a public dinner at Middletown," Middletown was the scene of the inauguration of a new system of transportation; the people were as excited over it as the city would be over the construction of a new airport today.

In the 1820’s Middletown was only a small straggling country village of a few hundred people. The town was surrounded by swamps, dense forests and underbursh. The undrained land was a breeding place for fever-carrying mosquitoes. The roads were poor and most of the year were impassable. Every few miles a clearing and a farm were seen. Farmers were not encouraged to raise too large a surplus, because poor facilities made transportation to market exceedingly difficult.

It was important to this town that James Geddes, David Bates, and Samuel Forrer decided on a canal route through Middletown. Little wonder that the people of Middletown joined so heartily in the celebration at the beginning of the construction on the canal. A local paper gave this account of the ceremonies:

The governors were followed in the parade by the men who were to help build the canal. The governors each lifted a sod. Muskets were shot off, and the bank played. After a dinner was served, toasts were given. Mr. Clinton made this toast; "The Miami Canal, like the Nile, will enrich and aggrandize the region of its transit--not by fertilizing a soil exuberantly rich, but of opening lucrative markets for its products."

The ceremony took place in a field south of town, where the first lock was constructed. On the lock at Amanda there was set in masonry below the lower gates, a tablet of stone to commemorate the occasion. This stone read:

THE MIAMI CANAL

Dedicated July 19, 1825, by Governor De Witt Clinton of New York
 

 First section completed Sept. 26, 1826

David S. Bates -------------------------------Chief Engineer 

Commissioners

Ethan Brown Micajah T. WilliamsBenjamin Tappan

C. T. Starr-----------------------Sub-Contractor

Thus Middletown was to become the trading center of this section of the Miami Valley. The fertile land could now be made to produce to the limit of its capacity, for a market awaited the surplus. The canal made Middletown an important trading center. Before the canal was built, Jacksonburg, located in the northern part of Butler County, was the trading center of this region; it had a population of 600 to 700 when Middletown had around 300. The farmers for miles around went to Jacksonburg to buy the staples and clothing they needed. The canal changed all of this. The village of Middletown had promise of a great future; she had unexcelled transportation facilities. By 1840 the village had a population of 809.

In 1827 the canal was opened as far north as Middletown. On the canal plied freight boats and the flying packets which were pulled by mules. The first boat to leave Middletown was the Samuel Forrer, which had been named in honor of the engineer of the canal. In January 1829 Samuel Forrer stated that the water from the Mad River at Dayton was to reach the Middletown Canal, and that it would be only a matter of days until the canal would be filled, admitting the passage of boats between Cincinnati and Dayton. The date of this extension was January 22, 1829. The Governor Brown was the first boat to make the through trip; later that day the Forrer, the General Martin, and General Pike also made the trip.

By 1832 it is estimated that one thousand people each week went through Middletown on the canal. Packets were used for passengers; one could leave Middletown in the evening, sleep on the boat, and arrive in Cincinnati in the morning. The freight boats were strong and large, carrying great quantities of port and grain to Cincinnati. The canal became the center of commerce in Middletown. "Men grew rich in the construction, management and operation of it."

Since so many passengers traveled by canal, the packet lines prospered. Daily these lines made the trip from Dayton to Cincinnati. A typical schedule of a packet boat was as follows: left Dayton at 6 a.m., passed through Miamisburg at 8:30, arrived at Franklin at 10:00, at Middletown at 11:00, at Hamilton at 2:00 p.m., and at Cincinnati, at 9:00 p.m. Passengers were furnished with meals on board. Another packet ran between Hamilton and Cincinnati, leaving Hamilton at 5:00 a.m. and arrived in Cincinnati at 12:00; this packet left Cincinnati at 2:00 p.m. and arrived at Hamilton at 10:00 p.m. Douglass, Buchanan and Company was the owner of a canal line of daily packets.

Canal freighting became the occupation of many. A man would buy a canal boat and advertise that he was ready to do freighting. John James, who owned the boat Maryland advertised these rates for carrying goods from Cincinnati to Middletown: port, 26 cents a barrel; whiskey, 26 cents a barrel; flour, 18 cents a barrel; bulk pork, 10 cents a barrel; merchandise, 18 3/4 cents per hundred pounds; iron, 15 cents per hundred pounds; coal, 5 cents a bushel; lumber, $1.87 1/2 cents per 1000 board feet. By canal a barrel of flour could be carried for 18 cents, whereas before the coming of the canal, it had cost 25 to 30 cents to transport.

Many of the owners of the canal boats were obliging to their customers, William McAdams, who owned the Black Hawk, purchased goods for his patrons in Cincinnati and delivered them to Middletown.

Canal boats were bought and sold frequently. In 1839 Tytus and Phipps offered their canal boat, The Hudson, for sale. The newspapers of that day contain many similar notices.

The canal brought about a new trade route. Merchandise was sent from New York city, up the Hudson River, and across the state by the Erie Canal, and the Ohio River to Cincinnati, and thence up the Miami Canal to Middletown; this route, a total of 1130 miles, required from eighteen to twenty days. Merchandise was carried for about $20 a ton.

The Miami-Erie Canal was profitable. For the month of May this statement of collection of tolls was issued:

The total collections for the whole year of 1833 in the four above stations was $19,851.69; and the total for the year 1834 was $30,761.20.

The canal records give us a rather complete picture of the economic life of Middletown for a period of several years. These records tell how much property of different kinds was received and cleared at the canal collector’s office here. During the year ending December 1, 1837, the following amount of property was cleared at the Middletown office; merchandise, 234,382 pounds; lumber, 24,022 board feet; sundries, 760,264 pounds; pork and beef barrels, 12,669; butter, 47,746 pounds; apples and seeds, 19,124 bushels; beans and bran, 4,209 bushels; salt, 141,797 pounds; hams 445 hhds; stone, 159 perch.; brooms and handles, 26,424 pounds; hoop poles, 9,495 m.; wood, 78 cords; lard, 30,454 kegs; bulk pork, 2,531,346 pounds; whiskey, 17,887 barrels; corn, 53255 bushels; iron nails, 52,343 pounds; stone coal, 500 bushels.

These statistics show that by this time Middletown was an important producer of pork and pork products. The hog was king. Lard, bulk pork, and hams were the leading exports. Flour and whiskey were being exported by the small mills of Middletown along the Miami River. The farmers brought in apples, butter, beans, lumber, and wood to export to other communities. Mr. Simpson had an iron works in Middletown, where he did most of the iron work required on the canal. Brooms were manufactured here for many decades, and broom corn was grown in this vicinity. Apples were grown on the hills along the Miami River.

During the year ending December 1, 1837, Middletown received the following property at the collector’s office; Coal, 16,940 bushels; bacon 400 pounds; lumber and timber, 303,858 board feet; sundries, 212,816 pounds; merchandise, 755,491 pounds; shingles, 1,527 m.; iron and nails, 314,512 pounds.

Canal trade grew rapidly. If one compares the tolls collected in 1836 and those in 1837, there is evidence of this. In 1836, $8,230.55 was collected and in 1837, $12,442.80 was collected at the Middletown office. In 1837 the tolls collected at Dayton were $19,915.72; at Hamilton, $4,184.29; at Piqua, $355.84; at Cincinnati, $25,924.75. Middletown was rapidly growing into one of the most important trading towns of the valley; she was making good use of the canal.

The canal was closed during the cold winter months. During the time it was closed, ice was out from the canal and stored away for the summer. Also water was taken from the canal into shallow ponds, and ice was cut from them.

In the spring the canal was opened for navigation. The locks often had to be repaired, and when a lock broke, the canal at that point was closed. There were ten locks, which had an aggregate lift of 110 feet, at Cincinnati, and since they had originally been built of free stone, they had to be rebuilt every few years. The repairing of locks and the stone masonry on the canal employed a large number of skilled workmen. Darius Lapham, as resident engineer, received $1,500 a year; and a superintendent was paid $1,440. The census of 1840 shows that six men made their living through the "navigation of canals, lakes, rivers," and that ten men were employed in the learned professions and engineering in Middletown.

Around the canal grew up an economic system. A bank was needed for the handling of shipment of goods to Cincinnati. As trade grew, there was a need for a place to borrow and to deposit money. Men wanted to borrow money on shipments. The Canal Bank, the first bank in Middletown, was founded. In 1840 N. P. Iglehart and Company advertised: "Canal Bank--Middletown--We will give Bank Notes, in exchange for the Due Bills signed John S. Inglehart for two per cent discount--and will also receive them at par, for all bills or notes due . . ."

The locks of the Miami-Erie Canal were used to furnish water power for the early mills. The lock at Amanda furnished power for the running of a grist mill and a distillery. Before the coming of the canal, Mr. Dickey had used the waters of Dick’s Creed for power, but the water power furnished by the lock was more dependable. Around the lock and the mills which it fostered grew up a little hamlet. The owners of the mills paid the canal offices an annual rent for the use of the water. Races were constructed, and many a pioneer mill was begun.

As the citizens of Warren County saw the advantage of being on a canal route, they decided in 1830 to build a canal leading from Lebanon to the Miami-Erie canal at Middletown. The state legislature passed on February 22, 1830 a special act, granting a charter to the Warren County canal company. This private company began the canal, which was to feed the Miami Canal with the products of the rich Warren County farms, but when it failed, the general assembly purchased the canal, and decided to make it part of the Miami Canal system. It was completed in 1836. Many of the contractors refused to do the work, and the contracts had to be relet at higher prices. The canal ran through the valley of Turtle Creek, and ran over a level country from Lebanon to Middletown. It was 18 miles long, and had six complete locks built of Dayton stone.

It furnished valuable water power at Middletown and Lebanon. At Middletown the Iglehart Brothers leased for ninety-nine years of T. Bates all the surplus water of the canal for the annual rent of $100. They built a flour and saw mill, which did a large volume of business. By 1841 the Warren County canal was doing little business. Because of the competition of the new turnpike roads running from Dayton, Hamilton, and other towns to Cincinnati, this canal was of little value. Since full boat loads could not be gathered at one place, often the produce was taken to market more cheaply by wagons, which brought back a return road from the cities. Low rates of tools were charged on the roads, while it was felt that the tools on this canal were too high, and the tolls on the turnpikes were too low, but people took advantage of the lower rates.

In 1853, J. D. Ward, of Lebanon, introduce a bill into the legislature to abandon the Warren County Canal, which had resulted in a great loss to the state. Everyone agreed that the "Lebanon Ditch" would be abolished, and in that year it was sold to L. D. Campbell.

The Warren County Canal had brought some farm produce into Middletown for market, but the water power which it furnished was the most significant contribution to the industrial development of Middletown.