Lock 59, about 300 feet away across Clinton Street in Newark, was part of the Enlarged Erie Canal, built between 1839 and 1841 in a section of town once known as Upper Lockville. Its sister locks, 58 and 57, stood in Middle and Lower Lockville. The remains of Lock 58 lie about 500 feet east of Lock 59, but Lock 57 was dismantled for construction of the current Erie Canal. The three original Clinton's Ditch era Erie Canal locks, 70, 69, and 68, were also dismantled for construction of the Enlarged Erie Canal. By the mid-1830s, growing traffic had made enlargement imperative because demand exceeded the capacity of the original Clinton's Ditch-era canal. Rather than widen the existing ditch, engineers planned a nearby alternate route, then excavated and built the new enlarged section. Most locks were built as doubles to allow east-west traffic and were made deeper, longer, and wider to handle larger barges and heavier cargoes. Lock 28B of the current Erie Canal has been in use since 1914, and near the south end of its lock chamber stands the lock house removed from abandoned Lock 59 and installed there in 1913.