Canal Fever: The Ohio & Erie Canal, from Waterway to Canalway

ch16. Grassroots and Connections

Chapter 16 Grassroots and Connections peg฀bobel฀and฀lynn฀metzger The Ohio & Erie National Heritage Canalway, or simply the Canalway, buildsonalongnortheastOhiotraditionof recognizingthevalueof green space. This Canalway is a designation of a lineal swath of land containing historic, natural, and recreational resources along the northern section of the historic Ohio & Erie Canal, from Cleveland to New Philadelphia. The Canalway is a product of many regional partnerships between communities , governments, and nonprofits, all sharing a common vision. Advocating for saving the Cuyahoga Valley and the canal lands began in 1925 when the Akron Metropolitan Park District Board (now Metro Parks, Serving Summit County) hired Olmsted Brothers, a firm established by the son and stepson of famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, to identify potential park areas. Their report raved about the “richness of opportunity,” especially in the impressive Cuyahoga Valley north of Akron. They wanted to preserve it all, “brink to brink.”1 Their plan, which included canal lands, did not address the valley north of the Summit County line. The northernmost part of the valley was already the heart of a vital industrial area in Cleveland, and in 1915, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. began consulting with William Stinchcomb, first director of the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District, on a design for a series of suburban parks known today as Cleveland’s Emerald Necklace, which rings the City of Cleveland, providing green space and connecting trails for residents of Cuyahoga County.2 That park system did not include the northern Cuyahoga Valley; for most residents of the area, the ฀ 305 306฀ peg฀bobel฀&฀lynn฀metzger valley was but an ugly expanse whose floor contained major industrial and manufacturing companies. The idea of preserving the scenic parts of the river and the old canal between Akron and Cleveland slumbered for many years; progress in the early twentieth century was defined as the development of large-scale industry and business enterprises, which needed land and water. Between Cleveland and Akron and south of Akron, in southern Summit, Stark, and Tuscarawas Counties, the areas surrounding the old canal were still rural, and there were long stretches where the canal and towpath were intact. Indeed, the canal and towpath were frequently used for recreation, while other sections of the canal were maintained for industrial use. The preservation ideas finally developed as a movement in 1960, when individuals and communities began advocating for preserving what remained of the old transportation system and canal history. In the 1960s, members of the Canal Society of Ohio, many from Stark and Summit Counties, began identifying and calling for preservation of canal resources . Then the future congressman Ralph Regula of Navarre and Canton Repository writer Al Simpson began their campaign to save canal lands in Stark County.3 Building on the many voices from the past featured already, the following chapters use contemporary voices, feasibility studies, reports, and photographs to tell the new canal fever story.4 All of this material facilitated the spread of the new fever to engage people and communities along the towpath route from the Cleveland waterfront 110 miles south to New Philadelphia. By the end of 2008, 85 miles of towpath had been restored and made into a multiuse path; the remaining stretches were either under construction or in the planning stage. The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad now connects Canton with Independence, and the Ohio & Erie Canalway’s scenic byway, part of the America’s Byways program, provides for interesting tours of the Canalway. The story of the transformation of the “old ditch and path” into the Canalway is multilayered, with Cuyahoga Valley National Park and two grassroots movements at its center. The core of the movement begins with the founding of Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area in 1974, which was renamed Cuyahoga Valley National Park in 2000 (CVNP). The park also geographically separated the north and south grassroots movements. Two important organizations became major advocacy groups. First the Cleveland-based North Cuyahoga Valley Corridor, Incorporated (NCVCI), was founded in 1984, then in 1989 the Ohio & Erie Canal Corridor Coalition (OECCC), based south of the park in Sum- grassroots฀and฀connections฀ 307 mit, Stark, and Tuscarawas Counties, was organized. They provided critical avenues for volunteers who wanted to support the eVort to develop a heritage corridor. Both organizations, NCVCI (north of the park) and OECCC (south of the park), are nonprofit groups that work with local communities to raise funds for the development of the Ohio & Erie Canal National Heritage...