Lock 25 stands at a site on the Historic Erie Canal, whose construction began in 1817 and which opened in its entirety in 1825 after the State of New York undertook the ambitious work of cutting 363 miles of canal through the wilderness with the muscle power of men and horses. The canal became an engineering marvel of the 1800s, drew settlers west, and transformed trade by reducing freight rates from Buffalo to New York from $100 per ton by road to $10 per ton by canal. Wheat shipments down the canal from Buffalo rose from 3,640 bushels in 1829 to 500,000 by 1837 and to one million four years later, and canal tolls recovered the full construction cost in just nine years. Within 15 years of the canal's opening, New York City had become the busiest port in America, handling greater tonnage than Boston, Baltimore, and New Orleans combined. At this site, the former towpath lies on the north side of the lock. When first built, this was Lock 24, on land acquired from John W. Peck, whose property lay south of Route 5S between Lock Street and the south end of the lock; records show Peck helped build it by drawing stone for Lock 24 in July 1824. The original lock was a single chamber 90 feet long and 15 feet wide, and John Clute's inn and grocery store stood on its south side; in the 1850s the lock was known as Clute's Lock. As the canal was enlarged twice between 1835 and 1900 to handle heavier traffic, Lock 24 was replaced in 1841-42 during the first enlargement by the existing Lock 25, with double locks realigned to the south in place of the original single lock. Although the original canal later fell into disuse with the development of the NYS Barge Canal system, its impact endures: nearly 80 percent of upstate New York's population lives within 25 miles of the Erie Canal, and its trade route helped make New York City one of the most prominent commercial cities in the United States.
