Lock 24

Lock 24 is the surviving wall of a canal lock beside the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath. It’s a fragment, not a complete or working lock, so come for a tangible piece of the canal’s past rather than a big ruin. The NPS approach starts at Botzum Trailhead: park there and walk north on the Towpath toward Beaver Marsh. That lot has 126 spaces and an accessible composting restroom; the NPS also lists Lock 24 as wheelchair accessible. The exact walk length from the lot isn’t stated.

By the mid-1800s, 40 to 50 boats passed Lock 24 each day in the warm months. A tavern and store came first, then a village with a post office, hotel, blacksmith shop, and warehouse. It was platted as Niles, later called Buckeye, and eventually took the name Botzum. When the Valley Railway opened in 1880, Botzum Depot became one of its busiest stations. The canal and railroad made this a working community, not just a place boats passed through.

In the 1930s, widening Riverview Road partly destroyed Locks 24 and 25 and filled the canal. Construction of Akron’s wastewater treatment facility briefly brought a shanty town to Botzum, but the settlement faded afterward. Today the village is gone, and this weathered wall is its most visible trace.