To begin the celebration of the 200 years of the Erie Canal, the Oneida County History Council in partnership with the Canal Society of New York will hold a conference in Utica and Rome May 19 to 21, 2017.
The Erie Canal Bicentennial Conference 200 will take place on Friday, May 19, 2017 at the Oneida County History Center, 1608 Genesee Street, in Utica. On Saturday, May 20 a bus tour will take those in attendance on an all-day bus tour of significant canal sites in Utica and then proceed to Rome. On Sunday, May 21 the conference will end with a two-hour canal boat tour from Herkimer.
At Friday’s program six speakers will discuss the history, engineering aspects, and significance of the canal. Featured will be state historian Devin Lander, Dr. Andrew Wolfe, Craig Williams, Thomas Grasso, Dana Kruger, and Christine O’Neil.
Registration information will be released in mid-April through local media and at the conference website.
As the President of the Lower Manhattan Historical Society, I am very encouraged to see that groups are beginning to focus on the Bicentennial of the beginning of the Construction of the Erie Canal , which was started on July 4, 1817 (hardly an accidental date) when the first spade of Earth was turned at Rome New York. I understand that there will be no ceremony marking this momentous event this year in Rome on July 4 (rather the ceremony will be July 22) because it was believed that these days a July 4 celebration would not draw a sufficient crowd. We in Lower Manhattan have until recently had a somewhat similar problem,
in that the major public New York City event on July 4 weekend for many years has (and perhaps to some extent still is) the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest in Coney Island. However, this year for the third year we will be holding a July 4 Weekend parade (actually on July 3) from Bowling Green/Evacuation Day Plaza
up Broad Street and across almost the entire length of Wall Street to the South Street Seaport.
This year the them of the parade will be the construction of the Erie Canal and its tremendous economic and political impact on the City and State of New York.
We urge people throughout the state to join us and march in our parade on July 3 to celebrate this great event.
James S. Kaplan
President, Lower Manhattan Historical Society
Jskaplanesq@gmail.com
646-383-3688