The paved recreation path along the Upper Mill Creek Conservation Corridor makes for great hiking/biking in winter and, for that matter, any season. Imagine what it would have been like here 200 years ago as you wind your way past the Ellis Lake Wetlands. Today, your footsteps probably retrace the route of a towpath that would’ve followed the old Miami and Erie Canal back then. Construction of the canal began in 1825. After transporting goods and people, north and south, through our corner of Ohio and across the western half of the Buckeye State for more than a century, the canal ceased operations in 1929. In its heyday, the canal was a boon for agriculture and the ice business – thriving enterprises in West Chester (formerly Union Township) in the late 1800s.
Ice was a necessity for companies like those in the food & beverage industry of the time, before electricity and appliances like refrigerators and freezers were commonplace in our homes and workplaces. Mammoth blocks of ice would’ve been sawed and scooped from lakes and ponds in winter, stored in icehouses and hauled to customers in cities like Cincinnati and Hamilton. Mules pulled boats up and down the canal’s waters, through its locks to make the important deliveries. Not much remains of the canal now, but you can still see portions of the foundation of one of the icehouses owned by James Cullen and later the Cincinnati Ice Company. The stone ruins are visible in thickets of the green space just beyond the wetland park’s paved walking surface.
The Miami Erie Canal Path is accessible by way of Firebird Lane off Union Centre Boulevard in West Chester, and Seward Road about a half-mile south of Tylersville Road near the railroad crossing in Fairfield. (Scroll photos on the West Chester Township Instagram page.)
Founded in 1823, West Chester Township is looking back on history in celebration of its 200th birthday bicentennial anniversary. Visit www.WestChesterOH.org/200 to see old photos, browse our timeline of historic milestones and watch oral history interviews with founding families on West Chester TV.
Tap into more local history on social media with the hashtag #WestChester200.