WHM- The Blackstone Canal - Story of the Canal

Highway of Commerce: The Blackstone Canal
Industrial Worcester

The Story of the Canal

Incentive
Providence merchant John Brown first proposed digging a canal inland to Worcester in 1796. A canal, he reasoned, would dramatically reduce the cost of transportation and improve access to markets, keys to stimulating economic growth. Boston merchants, who held a monopoly on trade with interior towns, forced a veto in the legislature. Nearly 30 years later, agitation renewed for a cheaper method of transport than traditional overland hauling by horse-drawn carts, and by now inland towns had enough political clout to pass the proposal. In 1823 acts of incorporation passed in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In 1825 the two states formed the Blackstone Canal Company. Massachusetts' directors were John Waldo Lincoln (1787-1852) and John Davis (1787-1854) of Worcester, and Sylvanus Holbrook (?-1856) of Northbridge.

Funding
To fund the canal project, agents sold stock at $37.50 per share. Anthony Chase, a merchant and County Treasurer for 34 years, was the Worcester agent. He raised $250,000, while his Providence counterpart raised $500,000. A profile of Worcester-area investors indicates they were mostly well-to-do merchants and professionals in their 30s and 40s. More than a third of the initial 30 investors held college degrees at a time when higher education was a rarity. Although none was primarily a farmer, nearly all were members of the Worcester Agricultural Society, the region's most prestigious social club at the time.
(Note: When more stock was issued in 1829, the price dropped to $15/share.)

Construction
Work on the canal began in Providence in 1825. In June of the year following, seasoned canal builder Tobias Boland and a crew of 30 fellow Irishmen arrived in Worcester with picks and shovels. More Irish arrived as the work progressed. The men with their families created a shantytown on the east side of town, which later developed into Worcester's first Irish neighborhood. Horrified Yankees prohibited workers from walking down Main Street, fearing their Catholicism and old-world customs.

Making the canal required skilled quarrymen, stone sawyers, masons, ironworkers, and carpenters as well as unskilled laborers digging and blasting out the bed. In all, it extended 45 miles and descended 451½ feet through 49 locks from the Thomas Street basin to Providence harbor. It took nearly four construction seasons before the canal opened for operation in the fall of 1828.

Opening Day
When the Lady Carrington arrived in Worcester at 11:00 A.M. on October 7, 1828, cannons boomed, church bells peeled, crowds cheered. After the boat moored at the Thomas Street basin, first selectman Pliny Merrick delivered a welcoming speech from the deck. Then, as the Massachusetts Spy reported, "a large number of invited guests repaired to the hospitable mansion of the Governor, and partook of a sumptuous collation furnished in his usual handsome style." The air was charged with the promise of new economic opportunities. The cargo delivered on that momentous day was salt and grain for Nathan Heard, co-owner of the canal company store.

Demise
The canal was not always navigable. The shallow man-made bed froze over in the winter. In the summer, low waters in the natural waterways used along the route left boats stranded for days or even weeks. Still, companies operating boats on the Blackstone Canal prospered for 7 years - until the arrival of the Boston & Worcester Railroad in 1835. It was followed by more rail lines and Worcester was soon connected to a sprawling network of trade and commerce. The canal, which was never a financial success for the investors, limped along until it finally closed in 1848, a year after the Providence & Worcester Railroad opened. Still the Blackstone Canal left an enduring legacy. It jump started regional social, economic, and cultural change.

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