The OES visited Lockville Park on September 29, 2001. We noticed a large canal lock to our left and a covered bridge to our right as we pulled into the parking lot. As we began to walk around the park, we discovered the park contained two more locks. In total, there were seven locks in the town of Lockville, but only Locks 11, 12 and 13 are accessible via the park. Locks 14 through 17 are on private property. The Lockville locks are one of the state’s longest remaining series of intact locks. The locks here also seemed larger and much deeper than the locks we had previously visited in Lockbourne. Ohio’s canal systems once spanned more than 1,000 miles across the state and provided a mode of transportation where none had previously existed. The construction and opening of the canals attracted thousands of immigrants to the state for work. Only a few deep excavations, high earthen embankments and massive structures of stone remain today. Below are the three publicly accessible Ohio-Erie Canal locks in Lockville. Click Here to see Hartman Covered Bridge #2.
Location Information: Public Park
Lockville Park is located on Pickerington Road in Lockville; Fairfield County.
Photographs
Lock 11, also called the Upper/Change Lock, was located at the entrance to the park.
This was the section of the lock we viewed while pulling into the parking lot.
It appeared that a stone was missing here.
A closer look where the gate once attached to the stone.
The northwest side of the lock faced the park.
Standing at the southeast end of the lock, looking back toward Hartman Bridge #2.
We walked along the old tow path to reach Lock 12.
Lock 12 was also known as the Tennant/Tennis lock.
It appeared the entire wall of this lock had collapsed at some point. It also gave a good view of how the locks were constructed.
This small wall was on the northwest side of Lock 12.
We continued down the old tow path to reach Lock 13, the last of the publicly accessible Lockville locks.
Standing on top of the lock looking down.
There was a dedication plaque for the Lockville locks built into the wall of Lock 13.
Lock 13, also called Rowe lock, was the largest of the three.
Standing inside the old canal bed, looking up at the stone walls.
Looking back toward the park from the northwest side of the lock.
Part of the remaining canal basin.
The small sign at the entrance to the park.
A display in the park showed historic photos from the canal's heyday in Lockville.
A historical photo from the spring of 1897, the last time water went through the canal. The Mithoff Brothers general store is atthe center with the Mithoff residence to the right.
Lock 13, known as Rowe Lock, taken the same year. The building on the left is the Mithoff distillery, closed in the 1860s.
