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Erie Canal Museum

Erie Canal Museum

The Erie Canal Museum (ECM) is a private, nonprofit corporation founded in 1962. It is housed in the 1850 Weighlock Building, where canal boats were weighed during the days when they traveled through the center of Syracuse on the Erie Canal. A gallery full of participatory exhibits gives visitors a look at canal life and promotes hands-on- learning. The Museum has three special exhibits each year that draw on its nationally renowned artifact collection and historical research. Museum tours and specialty programs for all age groups are developed to entertain as well as educate. A variety of school programs are also offered by the Museum.

The Erie Canal Museum serves the general public from broad geographic areas. It maintains and enhances the scope and appeal of its canal-related educational programs, exhibits and collections. In 1986, Syracuse was selected as one of New York State Parks Department's 14 Heritage Area communities because the city captures a unique facet of state history. ECM's one-of-a-kind historic Weighlock Building and our Mission Statement led to ECM being invited to serve as the official Syracuse Heritage Area Visitor Center. As such, the ECM has since been acknowledged and promoted by the City of Syracuse as the place to learn local and state history. ECM also provides reference maps and brochures to Syracuse's other cultural resources.

• Admission to the Museum is Free
• Donations are greatly appreciated
• Open Mon. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

This building is the last remaining of seven weighlocks on the Erie Canal.  The original use  was the collection of tolls and inspection of boats and barges on the Erie Canal.  On one side of the building the piers form a portico around the lock.  Boats and barges rested on a scale when the water was drained from the locks; a toll was levied accordingly.  The low-pitched, triangular supporting piers illustrate another variation of Greek Revival architecture.  Tolls were abolished in 1883 but skippers continued to use the locks to weigh boats and as a dry dock for emergency repairs.  In later years the lock was enclosed and eventually the canal was filled in and is now Erie Boulevard.  The building now houses the Canal Museum and is one of the few collections in the U.S. devoted solely to canal history.  It is listed in the National Register of Historical Places.