Founded in 1962 in Syracuse, New York, this nonprofit museum preserves the story of the Erie Canal through the Syracuse Weighlock Building, an 1850 canal structure and the canal’s only surviving weighlock. From 1850 to 1883, boats entered its chamber to be weighed for tolls by draining the water and measuring each vessel against its certified empty weight. Saved from demolition by local citizens, the building later became home to a collection that has grown to more than 50,000 objects related to the Erie Canal and other waterways. A full-size replica line boat, lectures, and events help present the canal as a living system that shaped New York and the United States.