The Wabash and Erie Canal lock discovered here in June 1991 during excavation for highway construction was built from 1838 to 1840 by Henry Lotz and named for lock keeper Joseph Gronauer. This rare, well-preserved timber-frame lock measured 115 by 40 feet, and its lock chamber measured 90 by 15 feet; two-thirds of the total structure was excavated and removed. Numerous artifacts and 750 pieces of timber were recovered. After extensive preservation treatment, approximately 5 percent of the total lock structure became part of an Indiana State Museum exhibit. The Wabash and Erie Canal, America’s longest at approximately 460 miles, linked Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio, with the Ohio River at Evansville in 1853.