Lockport Locks Project

Preservation Buffalo Niagara has sent a letter of support to Governor Patterson for the wonderful idea of restoring the circa 1835 Erie Canal Locks #67 -71 in Lockport.

Lockport’s locks are already a marvelous historic resource, with the heroic stories of our canal builders tackling the escarpment, the ‘modern’ functioning locks, the former 1830s locks/spillway and the canal buildings.  Lockport’s locks has a  scale and importance that is unequaled elsewhere on the canal.  

This importance will be significantly enhanced by the repair and replacement of original stone masonry, railings and lighting, and the installation of wooden gates and balance beams.  It will be exciting, while educational, for visitors to see the currently operating Locks 34 & 35 alongside newly restored Locks 67-71 depicting the operation of the Erie Canal in the mid-19th Century.

This initiative also has the ability to enhance western New York as a tourist destination based upon our regions history, historic sites and significant architecture.  With historic places like the Darwin Martin House now being completed, enhancing the Lockport Locks, a site of national and international importance, will help give our region a critical mass of attractions.  We will all reap economic benefits if major sites encourage more tourists to come here and gives them so much good stuff to see that that they stay longer or return later.