When Patterson Boulevard was a canal

RELATED: When the old courthouse was new

But by 1847 plans were made to bring the railroad to the city. Railroads could carry goods four times as fast as the canal boats. On Jan. 27, 1851, the first train arrived. In 1877, the State of Ohio decided to officially abandon the canal. Eventually the canal became full of stagnant water and trash.

NCR founder and former canal toll collector John H. Patterson began a campaign to fill in the old canal bed. The city did so in 1927. Because of his efforts, the boulevard that replaced the old canal was named in memory of Patterson, who had died in 1922.