AUBURN, N.Y. (NCC News) — The Erie Canal played a major role in transforming New York state in the 19th century, but the immigrants who helped shape today’s communities were an important part of its construction and growth.
A lunchtime discussion at the Seward House Museum in Auburn focused on the impact immigrants had on the Erie Canal and the communities that developed along it.
Walker Goodemote, interpretation and communication coordinator at the Seward House Museum, said immigrants were essential to the canal’s construction.
“It literally would not exist without immigrants because immigrants largely helped build it,” Goodemote said.
The Erie Canal also helped shape the communities surrounding it. Derrick Pratt, deputy director of the Erie Canal Museum, said many communities today can trace their development back to the canal.
“Well, most of the towns that we live in today are canal towns or in some way related to them, right? Syracuse grows up on the banks of the canal as do everywhere from Fayetteville in Onondaga County to Jordan,” Pratt said.
Pratt said the canal connected communities while also contributing to their growth. Immigrants not only helped construct the canal but also became part of the communities that developed along its route.
Immigration remains a major topic of discussion today, but organizers say looking at the Erie Canal’s history shows the role immigrants have played in helping build and shape New York communities for generations.