Two hundred years after the grand opening of the Erie Canal, Buffalo invites the world’s canal community back to New York State’s ‘Queen City’, for the World Canals Conference in September 2025. Governor DeWitt Clinton’s inaugural voyage began here on 25 October 1825, culminating in the famous ‘Wedding of the Waters’ ceremony in New York Harbor.
Buffalo’s Canalside, where many of the conference activities will take place.
©Call of the Loon Productions
Page presenting the conference in IWI’s magazine World Wide Waterways (issue No 38)
Buffalo NY starts planning for Erie bicentenary 2025
Two hundred years after the grand opening of the Erie Canal, Buffalo invites the world’s canal community back to New York State’s ‘Queen City’, for the World Canals Conference in September 2025. Governor DeWitt Clinton’s inaugural voyage began here on 25 October 1825, culminating in the famous ‘Wedding of the Waters’ ceremony in New York Harbor.
The opening of this ‘Grand Canal’ shaped the fate of the American nation. Today’s Erie Canal is a testament to the vision and imagination of New Yorkers who dared to dream that a narrow ribbon of waterway, four feet deep and 40 feet wide, carved through 363 miles of forests, fields, and wetlands could transform not just a state, but a young America.
The Erie Canal’s historic role in shaping settlement, growth and national identity was recognized by the Congress of the United States with the formal establishment of Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor in 2000.
The Erie Canal as a system is still fully navigable and is proudly operated by the New York State (NYS) Canal Corporation, an agency of state government.
These two organizations, in partnership with the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation and Visit Buffalo Niagara, are planning WCC 2025 as the culmination of the Erie Canal’s bicentennial.
The Erie Canal connected the port city of Buffalo with other cities along the Great Lakes and to the Atlantic Ocean in New York City.
This historic connection is central to Buffalo’s history, and it is the major reason the city became a commercial and industrial powerhouse in the 19th century. After the canal opened, Buffalo became the largest inland port in the fledgling nation and the ‘grain capital’ of North America.
In the mid-20th century, following a steep decline in commercial traffic on the canal triggered by competition from the railroad and opening of the St Lawrence Seaway, Buffalo’s once thriving Inner Harbor became desolate and underutilized.
Beginning in 2005, the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC) successfully spearheaded an incredible era of waterfront transformation, reclaiming the historic junction of its canal and lake front as one of America’s brightest treasures. New York State and Erie Canal communities are thrilled to welcome the world to Buffalo in 2025.