Playmates of the Towpath: Happy Memories of the Canal Swimmers’ Society

In historic downtown Cincinnati, Central Parkway is a landmark avenue, noted for its width. But under the parkway was once the Miami & Erie Canal, which connected Lake Erie with the Ohio River. Completed in 1845, the canal was a vital means of transporation of goods through the state. Railroads put the canal out of business, but it remained a waterway through Cincinnati well into the twentieth century. As Cincinnati burgeoned into a modern urban metropolis, the canal became a playing ground for the city’s daring youth and adults. Upon the demise of the canal and the opening of Central Parkway, Charles Ludwig, a reporter for the Cincinnati Times-Star and himself a canal swimmer in his youth, gathered together stories and vignettes celebrating the canal’s recreational past. Illustrated with historic photos, this book, originally published in 1929, records a time and way of life long vanished.