Working Waterfronts

Water was perhaps the most important factor guiding our nation’s earliest settlement and industrial development. Settlement of the Great Lakes coincided with a rapid growth in industrial know-how. The lake’s natural waterways and manmade canals aided this expansion.

Entrepreneurial willpower and technological innovativeness created improvements to ship designs, handling of goods, shipping channels, and manufacturing systems. As Lake Erie ports became better able to handle freight, production, and passengers, these ports supported larger markets and encourages inland development. Access to raw materials (such as salt, limestone, timber, and freshwater fish), location, and a growing labor force enabled Lake Erie ports to develop worldwide connections.

But it was perhaps the discovery of iron ore in the upper Great Lakes in the mid 1800s that built the Great Lakes shipping industry. As coal-powered factories replaced those based on wood, backhaul cargoes made shipping even more efficient and economical. After receiving the ore, Ohio's ports load coal from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, southern Ohio and Kentucky for shipment elsewhere. The availability of easy transportation made the area the center of the iron and steel industry, and as that industry drove the Industrial Revolution, the Midwest grew in prominence as a center of industry. Immigrants arrived both to work on the harbors, as well as in the factories and mills. Their arrival brought longlasting traditions that have influenced the vitality and culture of Lake Erie's cities.

Lake Erie is part of the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway navigation system, linking the Midwest to domestic, Canadian and world markets. Seaway-sized ships from around the world enter Lake Erie's ports, most of them equipped as self-unloaders. Shipping on the Great Lakes is both economical and environmentally friendly. Ships burn less fuel and produce fewer emissions than both trains and trucks. Tour two museum ships, the William B. Mather and the S.S. Willis B. Boyer.

Today, more than 100 million tons of goods travel through Lake Erie's ports, from rock salt mined deep beneath the lake's surface to limestone rich with remnants of shellfish from the days when Ohio was covered by a warm saltwater sea. These ports also enable farmers in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and other Midwestern states to market their produce less expensively than in other parts of the world. Learn more about Great Lakes shipping and sailing at several maritime museums, including the Ashtabula Marine Museum, the Inland Seas Maritime Museum in Vermilion, and the Maritime Museum of Sandusky.

Bulk cargoes such as coal, iron ore and stone make up more than 90 percent of Ohio's Lake Erie port traffic. Other important commodities include grain, petroleum, cement, salt and general cargo. Railroads played an important part in the industrial expansion. Places like Conneaut Historical Railroad Museum, Jefferson Depot and the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum are excellent places to learn more about this development, while you can take a train ride by visiting Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, Ashtabula Carson and Jefferson Scenic Line and the Toledo, Lake Erie, and Western Railway and Museum.

If the lake is a precious highway for industry, it’s also a treacherous one. Its narrow shape makes it a wind tunnel with waves that sometimes exceed 12 feet. Retaining walls and lighthouses are human responses to this threat. The oldest lighthouse in continuous operation on the Great Lakes is the Marblehead Lighthouse. It has guided sailors safely along the rocky shores of Marblehead and Peninsula since 1822. You can climb to the top of this lighthouse, as well as the lighthouse at the Fairport Harbor Marine Museum and Lighthouse.