Teaching the Local

Center for Working-Class Studies

Youngstown State University

Summer 2003

A History of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal

Abstract: This presentation is designed to help students gain understanding of how the building of canals during the middle decades of the nineteenth century allowed Ohio to experience rapid economic and population growth.

Setting:

One class period during a fifteen-week semester will be devoted to a lecture and PowerPoint presentation of visual sources, such as maps and photographs to introduce students to the history of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal. The presentation about the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal will be a part of a larger weeklong module about transportation in Ohio during the 19^th century.

The module about transportation in Ohio will be contained within a larger upper-division Ohio History course at a local Ohio college or university. It will be taught during the course section relating to 19^th century Ohio history and will most likely occur during the sixth or seventh week of the semester.

Students may or may not have an understanding of transportation history when they begin the module. Prior understanding of transportation history is helpful, but not required for student success during and after the module is completed.

Courtesy of Wendy J. Adkins

Goals:

• Students will acquire an understanding of how the building of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal was vital for the economic growth of communities such as Akron, Kent, and Youngstown

• Students will develop an appreciation for the importance of transportation in the economic development of Ohio during the 19^th century

• Students will be inspired to do additional research about the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal as well as other aspects about transportation in Ohio during the 19^th century

• Students will be asked to demonstrate comprehension of the material about transportation during an essay test on 19^th century Ohio history, which will occur during the tenth week of the semester.

Process:

• The first class period will be devoted to giving a lecture and PowerPoint presentation about the building of canals in 19^th century Ohio with an emphasis on the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal
• The second class period will comprise a lecture and PowerPoint presentation about the growth of railroads in Ohio during the 19^th century.
• The third class period will involve answering questions and an open discussion about transportation in Ohio during the 19^th century.

• A two-page synopsis of transportation in Ohio will be required of students during the week following the presentation of material in class.

• Students may use this material for a paper that they will write at the end of the semester on some aspect of Ohio history. A ten page paper will be required on the last day of the fifteenth week that will require the student to take some aspect of Ohio history learned during the semester and use five additional sources in writing a term paper about that topic.

Aqueduct of Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal by Kent, Ohio artist Kenneth McGregor

Resources:

The picture to the left is a representation of a boat crossing an aqueduct on the Pennsylvania and Ohio canal.

The Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal was often called the Mahoning Canal and was vital to the growth of communities such as Akron, Kent, and Youngstown.

An overview of the canals

General information about Ohio's canals

Links to information about Ohio's canals

A history of Kent, Ohio and the importance of transportation to its growth