Lock 4 was the first lock west of the summit level of the Wabash and Erie Canal, which connected Lake Erie with the Ohio River in 1853. Known as Dickey Lock, it was built as Lock 1 in 1834-1835 of wood construction and was renumbered Lock 4 after the canal was completed to the Ohio line in 1840. Remnants of an arch culvert survive nearby. The canal was important to the founding of Roanoke.