Union Canal
West Hanover Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
At Union Deposit, five miles south, can be seen remains of this Canal. It connected the Susquehanna at Middletown with the Schuylkill at Reading. Suggested by William Penn, it was surveyed, 1762. Completed, 1828. Abandoned in 1885.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
The Union Canal fulfilled a dream that reached back to William Penn, who as early as the colonial era imagined linking the Susquehanna and Schuylkill rivers. Surveyed in 1762 but not finished until 1828, the completed waterway ran from Middletown on the Susquehanna to Reading on the Schuylkill, threading boats and cargo across the Pennsylvania interior. Railroads soon outpaced it, and the canal was abandoned in 1885; its remains can still be traced near Union Deposit.
Why it matters
The Union Canal was part of the great canal-building era that knit early America's rivers into a commercial network, briefly making inland Pennsylvania a corridor of trade before the railroads took over.
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Related people
- · William Penn
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Union Canal
West Hanover Township, PA · est. 1948
The Union Canal grew from a vision as old as William Penn: a water link between the Susquehanna and Schuylkill rivers. Surveyed in 1762 and completed in 1828, it stretched from Middletown to Reading, carrying cargo through the heart of Pennsylvania until railroads made it unprofitable. It was abandoned in 1885, and traces of the old canal survive near Union Deposit a few miles south.
Union Canal
Derry Township, PA · est. 1948
First imagined by William Penn and surveyed as early as 1762, the Union Canal finally opened to traffic in 1828, connecting the Susquehanna River at Middletown with the Schuylkill at Reading. For a few decades its boats carried coal and goods across the Pennsylvania interior before the railroads rendered it obsolete. Abandoned in 1885, its overgrown remains can still be seen near Union Deposit, just to the north of the marker.
Middletown
Lower Swatara Township, PA · est. 1952
Laid out in 1755 by the Quaker George Fisher, Middletown is the oldest town in Dauphin County, its name marking its spot midway between Lancaster and Carlisle. In the 19th century it grew into a busy river port at the junction of the Pennsylvania and Union Canals, where boats gathered before heading downriver. Early flour, lumber, and iron industries clustered around that traffic, giving the town its livelihood.
Union Canal
Middletown, PA · est. 1950
From 1828 to 1884, the Union Canal linked the Susquehanna River at Middletown to the Schuylkill at Reading, threading its way along the Swatara and Tulpehocken Creeks. Barges laden with coal and iron ore moved through its locks, feeding the furnaces and markets of a booming industrial economy. Here the old canal ran just west of the former mill race, a reminder of how water once powered both mills and commerce.