Lockland, Ohio: Where the Canal Climbed

Lockland owes its name and its existence to the canal locks. When the Miami and Erie Canal was being built north of Cincinnati in the eighteen twenties, engineers had to lift boats up the hillside using a series of canal locks. A village was platted at the lock site in eighteen twenty-eight.

The falling water attracted industry: a gristmill and other manufacturers lined the canal's edge to capture the power. The village was incorporated in eighteen forty-nine and the canal kept it busy until the system finally closed in nineteen twenty-nine. Lockland is now a small village folded into the northern suburbs of Cincinnati.