Lake Erie

A pictorial portrait of the social history and geography of Lake Erie based on historical research and interviews with longtime residents and covering daily life, industry and commerce and notable events.

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A detailed and richly illustrated history.

To create this unprecedented collection of photographs and essays, the authors spent years visiting museums and archives, and interviewed Lake Erie experts, from professional historians to longtime residents. The result is Lake Erie a remarkable portrait of daily life, industry and commerce on this dynamic Great Lake.

The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 connected the Hudson River to the Great Lakes and unleashed the financial potential of the American interior. The industrialists who located factories with ready access to raw materials soon became legends: Rockefeller, Henry Wells and William Fargo, Sherwin and Williams, Charles Brush and Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, B.F. Goodrich, Carnegie, Frick, Westinghouse and Mellon.

The book is divided into chapters covering:



The lake's prehistory
Early settlement
Role in the American Revolution
Economic boom from 1815 to 1880
High Industrial period from 1880 to 1945
History of dramatic storms, shipwrecks
Role in the Underground Railroad and Prohibition
Wealth of flora and fauna