SAVE THE DATES
BICENTENNIAL DAYS May 17-20, 2025
with activities in
READING and other CANAL TOWNS
along the Schuylkill River
Articles, links, and listings will be posted here to promote the 200th birthday celebration of the Schuylkill Navigation, Pennsylvania’s pioneering slackwater-canal system. This page will be updated as the anniversary approaches.
- Events will take place along the Navigation in the five Pennsylvania counties of Schuylkill, Berks, Chester, Montgomery, and Philadelphia.
- Download this letter to send to any organizations, societies, or schools that might like to know about this anniversary, participate in any events, or plan classes or programs about the Navigation.
- Join our Schuylkill Navigation Facebook Group.
TWO CANALS
Philadelphia has two canals:
The Manayunk Canal, still watered with intact lock chambers at both ends.
The Fairmount Canal, with just a few hidden remnants left.
This 12-page booklet by Fairmount Water Works educator Sandy Sorlien tells the story of both our canals, and the legacy of the associated industries, pollution, and cleanup.
Together these Philadelphia canals didn’t even add up to three miles. But they were critical levels of the 108-mile Schuylkill Navigation that brought anthracite coal and other cargo from Schuylkill County all the way to our tide lock at the Fairmount Dam, some boats continuing on New Jersey canals to New York City. The Navigation canals also provided critical water power to mills.
TWENTY-SEVEN CANALS
The Schuylkill Navigation is often called the Schuylkill Canal. But actually the system included 27 canals, each with its own name, not to mention 32 dams and their slackwater pools. Thus, 200 years ago, the shallow, rocky Schuylkill River was tamed. Boats up to 100 feet long traveled in and out of the river pools and canals. They brought cargo from coal country to tidewater, and went back up. There were scores of hand-built stone locks to handle the elevation change, totaling 618 feet of “lift”, and aqueducts to carry the canals over streams. The Navigation ceased operation by the 1930s, but many structures survive: some standing in the woods, some buried under fill; one even survives underwater.
The private Schuylkill Navigation Company, based in Philadelphia, chartered their system in 1815. Construction began in 1816, a year before the Erie Canal started their construction. The upper and lower sections of the Schuylkill Navigation were built simultaneously with individual canals operating as early as 1818 or 1819, including the one in Manayunk. The two long sections finally connected through Reading on May 20, 1825.
This new article by Stuart Wells explains why we chose that date to celebrate.
This video by Larry Whyte provides an excellent, illustrated overview of the system.
SCHUYLKILL NAVIGATION BICENTENNIAL
2025 EVENTS
Late Winter and Early Spring 2025: Navigation Cleanups: Auburn Tunnel, Snyder’s Aqueduct, Lock 27, Lock 57, Vincent Canal, etc.
Spring 2025: Grand Reopening of the Manayunk Canal at Flat Rock, insider’s tours with Philadelphia Water Department
Saturday, April 5, 2025: All-Day Canal-Rail Excursion with Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad, a fundraiser for the American Canal Society.
May 17-20, 2025: Details below
June 2025: Schuylkill Sojourn Adopt-a-Canal-Boat
Canal Heritage Marker Dedication Ceremonies (Dates TBA)
- Lock 27 at Port Clinton, Schuylkill Gap
- Vincent Canal, Spring City
- Lock 60 Schuylkill Canal Park, Mont Clare
- Catfish Dam and Locks, Schuylkill River Trail near Betzwood Bridge
BICENTENNIAL WEEKEND May 17-20, 2025
- Saturday May 17: Along the Navigation.
Open houses and events at individual historical societies and parks along the Navigation. Links will be posted here. - Sunday May 18 History Symposium.
Slide talks, display tables, screening of the film, “Shadow River,” and self-guided walking tours. Events held at C. Howard Hiester Canal Center at the Berks County Heritage Center, 1102 Red Bridge Rd., Reading PA 19605 - Monday May 19 All-day driving/walking tours of the upper reaches of the Navigation. (Start at Hiester Canal Center)
- Tuesday May 20 All-day driving/walking tours of the lower reaches of the Navigation. (Start at Hiester Canal Center)
PARTIES
Friday May 16: Reading Fightin’ Phillies baseball picnic OR music/brewpub
Saturday May 17: Reading Fightin’ Phillies baseball picnic OR music/brewpub
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SCHUYLKILL NAVIGATION
VIDEO PRESENTATIONS
- Larry Whyte, The Schuylkill Navigation: A Journey on the Historic Nineteenth Century Waterway. This video presentation, written and narrated by Whyte, provides an excellent overview of the history of the system.
HISTORIC MAPS & DRAWINGS
- 1827: Maps of the Schuylkill Navigation by T. H. Gill
- 1913: Schuylkill River, Wissahickon Creek, Phila., PA. to Norristown, PA. 18 sheets.
- 1891: The water supply of the City of Philadelphia by a proposed aqueduct from Norristown Dam, and the acquisition of the works of the Schuylkill Navigation Company. Collection of 16 oversized plates, folded and bound between boards
- 2022: Download this new Schuylkill River map created by Morgan Pfaelzer for Sandy Sorlien’s book Inland: The Abandoned Canals of the Schuylkill Navigation, showing the 27 Canals and 71 Locks of the Schuylkill Navigation system, plus selected parks and trailheads of the Schuylkill River Trail.
- Reading Area Community College: Schuylkill Navigation Collection
- City Plans Collection: Streets Department of Philadelphia
BOOKS AND ARTICLES
- Stuart William Wells, The Schuylkill Navigation and the Girard Canal
- Edward S. Gibbons, The Building of the Schuylkill Navigation System 1815-1828
- Walter S. Sanderlin, The Expanding Horizons of the Schuylkill Navigation Company 1815-1870
- Sandy Sorlien, Inland: The Abandoned Canals of the Schuylkill Navigation (2022)
- Chari Towne, A River Again: The Story of the Schuylkill River Project
PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS
Acts of the Legislature of Pennsylvania relative to the Schuylkill Navigation Company. Philadelphia: Joseph and William Kite, 1838
More Resources on the Schuylkill Navigation Facebook Page
The shadow image at the top of the page is a detail from an 1847 map of the Manayunk Canal by John Levering, from the collection of the City Plans Unit, Streets Department of Philadelphia. This tracing of the original was made by H. H. Platt, probably in the late 19th century. You can view the full map here.