“Some of the original canal was located in the slack water of the Hudson River but by 1828 the canal was shifted entirely from the banks of the river where it remained until 1917. * Over the years following 1828 the canal was widened and improved several times. In 1868 the iron bridge crossing the canal at Ferry Street was built. * In 1905 a bill authorizing a new enlarged canal system passed the New York State Legislature and construction began. * The system was completed in 1917 with the new enlarged Champlain Canal in the Hudson River just to the east. * In 1911, by referendum the people of New York State voted to fund the construction of terminal facilities along the entire Barge Canal System. * In 1914, the citizens of Schuylerville voted to retain a portion of the old Champlain Canal as a terminal in lieu of a new standard terminal facility that would have been located on the banks of the Hudson River. Since the new large barges could not enter and use the portion of the old Champlain Canal in the village, canal traffic within the village soon died. * This timeline from “The History of the Champlain Canal in the Old Saratoga Area” written by the former Town of Saratoga Historian Thomas N. Wood.* The Champlain Canal has served as a travel corridor for centuries. Stretching 64 miles between the Hudson River and Lake Champlain, the Champlain Canal stands as one of the earliest and most significant public works projects in the history of the United States.* It was General Philip Schuyler that recognized the economic potential for a continuous waterway between the Hudson River and Lake Champlain. The Champlain Canal was opened in 1823 and consisted of a land cut channel from Waterford to a canalized Wood Creek, which joins Lake Champlain at Whitehall. Later efforts to build a canal large enough for ocean-going vessels were too ambitious and costly to implement. Instead, an enlarged barge canal incorporating the Hudson River was built in 1916. * Construction of the Champlain Canal created a physical and commercial connection between Saratoga (Schuylerville) and the U.S. Atlantic coast (and the nation’s Midwest and West) that had impacts far beyond its intended effects. The canal formed the first truly effective means of inland interstate commerce, directly enabling the growth of Schuylerville, Midwestern agriculture and the emergence of New York City and New York State as national and international economic powers. The Champlain Canal help define this community and our region as a corridor of commerce. Preserving key landscapes enhances our historic settings and protects the natural systems that are shared throughout our community, county and region.
Historian at Saratoga - Town of Saratoga 