SUNY Niagara to host event celebrating Erie Canal's bicentennial

SUNY Niagara Press Release

SUNY Niagara will present “Risk, Boom and Rebirth: 200 Years on the Erie Canal” from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, in the E Building on the college’s Sanborn campus. This daylong conference exploring the enduring legacy of one of the most transformative waterways in American history is free and open to the public.

“The Erie Canal, which resides in the background for most of us, is unique in our country’s history,” said conference organizer Dr. Matthew Clarcq. “Its audacity and sheer scale set it apart from every other project undertaken in 19th century America. The canal helped transform New York City into an economic powerhouse, and its part in populating Western New York and beyond made New York the Empire State.”

Six distinguished SUNY Niagara faculty members will examine the Erie Canal’s origins, its role in Western New York’s resurgence, its influence on social movements, and its lasting inspiration for generations of artists. David Kinyon, chairman of the board of directors of the Lockport Lock Heritage District, will deliver the event’s keynote address.

Conference schedule

•“Persistence, Innovation, and Audacity: Creation of the Great Western Canal”; Clarcq, presenter; 9 a.m., Room E142

•“Canal at Canalside: Heart of Buffalo’s Waterfront”; Bonnie Waterman and Dr. Katherine Johnson, presenters; 10 a.m., Room E142

•“Rugged Reality: Mark Twain Punctures Mythification While Elevating the Real Canal”; Dr. Elizabeth Sachs, presenter; 11 a.m., Room E142

•“Pathways to Progress: The Erie Canal and the Women’s Rights Movement”; Dr. Adelle Cerreta, presenter; 1 p.m., Room E140

•“The Erie Canal and New York Landscapes”; professor Nancy Knechtel, presenter; 2 p.m., Room E140

• Lockport’s Erie Canal Flight of Five & the Erie Canal’s Bicentennial”; Kinyon, presenter; 3 p.m., Room E140