Rise and Fall of the C & O Canal

From Washington D.C. to Cumberland Maryland, the C & O Canal was originally intended to ship goods from D.C. to the Ohio Valley (near Pittsburg).  Construction began in 1828 and was completed up to Cumberland by 1850.  The canal was subject to flooding, labor intensive to build, operated at a loss for many years and finally was outdated by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad which was built along the same route.  The railroad took over the canal in 1902 but its financial liability and damage from the 1924 flood finally lead it to suspend operations.

The Feds Take Over

184 miles of level right-of-way would be a great place to build a federal highway and so the federal government bought the canal from the railroad.  At first they made some attempts to restore it until another flood in 1942.  They tried to decide between a park and a parkway and considered how to fix all the flooding problems until 1971 when President Richard Nixon designated it a National Historical Park.  Since then it's been a major recreational area for residents of the Washington DC area.