The Cascade Locks Historic District is a historic district located in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1992.

History

Located immediately northwest of downtown Akron, the Cascade Locks Historic District is a ravine that opens up to a flat plane where the

Ohio and Erie Canal The Ohio and Erie Canal was a canal constructed during the 1820s and early 1830s in Ohio. It connected Akron with the Cuyahoga River near its outlet on Lake Erie in Cleveland, and a few years later, with the Ohio River near Portsmouth. It also ...

empties into the

Little Cuyahoga River The Little Cuyahoga River is a 17.4 mile-long tributary of the Cuyahoga River in the U.S. state of Ohio. Located in southeastern Summit County and southwestern Portage County, its 61.7 square mile watershed drains portions of Akron, Tallmadge, S ...

. This area of the canal included the steepest grade of the entire 304 miles between

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

to the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

. The district was the site of many industrial operations during the 19th and early 20th centuries, fueled by the abundant hydraulic power created by the steep descent of the runoff from the parallel Crosby's Mill Race. Along with providing an industrial power source, canal operations provided ample time and traffic for commerce. With each lock, canal traffic stopped. There were 21 locks in the Akron area, and it took boats six hours to get through the two miles of canal. A popular establishment for canallers was located in the Cascade Locks area. Though it originally functioned as a cigar box plant with its own mill race, the Mustill Store was best known as a “swilling place” across from Lock 15. The 1913 flood brought an end to the canal. Several locks were dynamited to prevent inundating the downtown area. The most damaged area of the canal included the cascade locks. The canal commission determined the system was not salvageable. Water from the Summit Lake is controlled by ODNR by a dam/gate system at Lock 1 to prevent the disaster that happened in 1913. From there, it flows unimpeded over the locks and into the Little Cuyahoga River. There are many varied buildings and sites within the district including the Mustill Store—now a visitor center and canal museum. The district also includes the site of the original mills of

Ferdinand Schumacher Ferdinand Schumacher (1822–1908),
at www.quakersquare.com. Accessed 10 August 2006. also known as The Oatmeal King ...

—founder of

Quaker Oats The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago. It has been owned by PepsiCo since 2001. History Precursor miller companies In the 1850s, Ferdinand Schumacher and Robert Stuart founded oat mills. S ...

; two railroad bridges spanning the gorge; a steam plant and two rubber factories; numerous lock and waste way ruins. A footpath currently runs alongside the locks. The Ohio and Erie Canal towpath hike/bike trail is complete throughout the Cascade Lock Park and a bridge connect the trail from Harvard Avenue in

Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban County (United States), county located in the Northeast Ohio, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.- ...

to the Southern Boundary of urban Akron in Summit County.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Buildings and structures in Akron, Ohio Chicago school architecture in Ohio Greek Revival architecture in Ohio Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Summit County, Ohio Houses in Summit County, Ohio Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Locks on the National Register of Historic Places Locks of Ohio