CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. – The Erie Canal, often called the Eighth Wonder of the World, was a transformative engineering marvel for the U.S. economy and society. But did you know the idea for this historic waterway originated from a jail cell in Canandaigua?
In 1806, Jesse Hawley was a flour merchant from nearby Geneva who couldn’t pay his bills due to the wretched roads of the early 19th century that made it impossible to deliver his product.
“He lost a lot of money in flour that he couldn’t move east,” said Leif HerrGesell, Town of Canandaigua Historian.
Hawley was sentenced to 20 months in debtor’s prison, located on the corner of Main and Coach Streets in Canandaigua. While locked up, he began writing and researching.
Under the name “Hercules,” Hawley submitted 14 essays to the Genesee Messenger on the idea of building a canal to move goods, complete with drawings and cost estimates.
“His essays are really a brilliant strategic plan for how to lay a canal from Buffalo to Mohawk, with the elevations, where the ports would be, how you would do this physically, and then why it was important,” HerrGesell said.
Although President Thomas Jefferson called the idea “madness,” the essays caught the eye of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton, who became a huge advocate for the canal project and credited Hawley as the source of the idea.
On October 26, 1825, at the opening of the Erie Canal, Governor Clinton invited Hawley to speak at the festivities in Buffalo.
“He was recognized as a man of vision — and nobody held debtors prison against him,” HerrGesell said.
While many may not know about Hawley’s influence, it inspired Buffalo musician Hank Chlebowski to capture it in a song called “The Ballad of Jesse Hawley” – a worthy tribute for the man with the big idea behind the Erie Canal. Listen to the song here.
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