Towpath Walking Tour Brochure

© Emily Fuller 2008
The Manayunk Canal served as an important link in the operation of
the SNS between the Delaware, Schuylkill, and Susquehanna Rivers.
Its combination of water power and canal transportation propelled
Manayunk as an industrial power, and pushed the City of Philadelphia
to the top of the industrial revolution. Today the canal still functions to
meet some industrial needs.
Manayunk was planned by the Schuylkill Navigation Company (SNC)
in 1821 on land owned by the company. SNC also sold canal water
to Manayunk businesses to supplement income for navigational tools.
By 1824, businesses in the canal area rejected the proposed name of
“Udoravia” and the common name “Flat Rock” for a simplified version
of the Native American name Manayunk. By the mid 1800’s, Manayunk’s population was nearly 7,000, including many Polish immigrants
employed by the textile mills.
The Manayunk Canal began at the Flat Rock Dam and ended at outlet locks 69 and 70. Initially, mules were ferried across the river on board
the boats, but later a towpath bridge was constructed over the river
directly below the combine locks.
During the 19th century, Manayunk became an industrial power within
Philadelphia. Before 1810, nine mills were built. By 1819, the Manayunk
Canal was completed to navigate around the flat rock falls and manufacture water power. Although the Erie Canal is awarded the distinction as the first large inland waterway in the United States, the SNS (a
private enterprise) was completed five months before the Erie Canal (a
public work of the State of New York).
ments of hand-dug canal (the other segment is in Montclare) in the
oldest anthracite navigation system in the country to carry stormwater
as well as meet the community’s recreational needs. As the only mile
of intact canal with both the upper and lower locks of the larger 108
mile original system, the Manayunk Canal is eligible for the National
Register of Historic Places and the area is located within the Manayunk
Historic District.
The word “Manayunk,” which has its origins in the language of the
Lenni Lenape, means “where we go to drink.” For the Native Americans, the water of the Schuylkill River in this area satisfied their thirst.
During the 1800s, the Manayunk Canal was constructed parallel to the
Schuylkill River as a part of the larger Schuylkill Navigation System (SNS)
that brought anthracite coal (hard coal with the fewest impurities) to
Philadelphia. Today, the Manayunk Canal is one of two surviving seg-
History
Main Street, Manayunk, Pa. c.1916
A floodplain functions best when left undisturbed. However, where
disturbance is unavoidable, every precaution should be taken to insure the
safety of people and property.
Floodplains also filter water helping to improve water quality. When soil is
eroded, it can move into fish habitats and human drinking water sources.
Preserving floodplains not only protect us from more serious flooding but
also can mean less sedimentation in our streams and rivers, keeping water
clear and clean.
Flooding can damage businesses, transportation routes, and utilities.
Floodplains protect other areas from flooding by absorbing flood waters
into the soil and vegetation. Floodplains also provide wildlife habitat,
recreational sites for boating, hiking, fishing, and wildlife observation.
All imges optained via Google Images
except where noted.
Development
Friends of the Manayunk Canal have
installed stations along the canal equipped
with plastic bags and trash bins to
encourage people to clean up after their
pets. Please be a responsible pet owner and
utilize these stands to clean up after your pet!
The City of Philadelphia is performing improvements to the Manayunk
Canal, which would include minor restoration work on the upper locks
and Sluice house, bank stabilization as well as removal of sediment to
increase water flow into and through the canal. This project will not
include any improvements to the Towpath adjacent to the canal.
Manayunk Canal Restoration Project
A 130-160 unit condo development by Dranoff Properties.
Venice Island Lofts
A 280 unit condo development proposed by Neducsin Properties, in
which initial plans show up to 80% of the area between Leverington
Avenue and Green Lane on Venice Island being covered with
impervious surface.
Venice One Project
Condo development proposed by Realen Properties Associates, who
originally announced that they planned to build 270 units on the site
of Connelly Containers, a number which was then reduced to 205 in
November 2005.
Cotton Street Landing Project
While the entire length of Venice Island has been and continues to
be under intense development pressure, the lower section of the
island, from Cotton Street to the island’s southern tip below Lock
Street, is slated as the location for a Philadelphia Water Department
retention basin. The construction of this water retention basin has been
mandated by the EPA to help to prevent raw sewage from flowing
untreated into the Schuylkill River during storm and flood events. The
project will about take two years to complete. Construction would
require the demolition of all of the current recreational facilities located
on this portion of the island. If adequate funding is raised, new,
improved recreation facilities are planned.
Lower Venice Island
For more information about the Friends
of the Manayunk Canal and upcoming
events visit:
http://www.manayunkcanal.org/
A flood is defined as a general but temporary condition of partial or
complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow of
streams, rivers, or other waters. Therefore, floodplains are the areas along
rivers or streams that have been or may be expected to be submerged
by floodwaters in a 100-year frequency flood (probability of occurring
once every one hundred years). Floodways are defined as a channel for
diverting floodwaters and are likely to be the place were the waters are
the deepest and the fastest. Venice Island is located in the floodway of
the Schuylkill River.
Floodplains and
Floodways
AWalk
Along the
Manayunk
Canal’s
Towpath
© Emily Fuller 2008
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Channel Catfish
Ictalurus punctatus
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Dominant Fish
Species
American eel
Anguilla rostrata
Eofcological
T
our
the
ManayunkTowpath
Baltimore Orioles, Orchard Orioles, Northern Rough-winged
Swallows, Black-crowned Night Herons, Great Blue Herons,
Green Herons, Great Egrets, Mallard Ducks, Wood
Ducks, Kingbirds, Cedar Waxwings, White-eyed
Vireos, Warblers including Redstart, Yellow,
Black-throated Green, Black-throated
Blue, Black-and-white, Tennessee,
Cerulean, Parula, Magnolia, and
Palm, Kingfishers, Carolina
Wrens, Canada Geese
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The towpath (dotted line) is a flat trail perfect for walking, biking, or
running. Most of the trail is fine gravel and dirt with some paved areas
and boardwalks.
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Smallmouth Bass
Micropterus dolomieu
Birds
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Fish ladder is located at
Flat Rock Dam to help
fish in their natural
migration.
White Sucker
Catostomus commersonii
Flat Rock Dam,
Valley Forge
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From the beginning of the path at locks 69 and 70 to Leverington Avenue, one
finds mainly landscaped areas with native species, such as the inkberry shrub.
Just north of Leverington Avenue is Riparian Slope Forest. Here you’ll find native trees such
as red maple, sycamore, box elder, and exotics such as tree-of-heaven. These trees act as
stabilizers for steep slopes and providing a buffer.
The area along Fountain Street is blanketed mainly by vines. The dominant vines found here are
Japanese honeysuckle, Asiatic bittersweet, cucumber vine, and briars.
An area of meadow can be found north of Fountain Street. Grasses, wildflowers, and roadside weeds
occur where there is recent fill or abandoned paving. Some species include mullein, evening primrose
and crown-vetch.
Japanese knotweed, purple loosestrife, and creeping water-primrose grow along the banks of the
canal. The former two are non-native invasive species that one might seek to eradicate. However, in
this environment these species play an important role in bank stabilization and wildlife habitat.
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An area of Herbaceous Wetland is located below Domino Lane. This area is described as an historic
wetland. In the canopy you’ll see European black alder, box elder, and black willow. In the shrub
layer you’ll find false indigo and buttonbush, and an herbaceous layer of spotted touch-me-not,
forget-me-not, false nettle, horehound, and purple loosestrife.
Tree-of-Heaven
Invasive
Center City
Philadelphia
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Lowland Forest surrounds the Herbaceous Wetland. It includes the native red maple, silver maple and
sycamore and the non-native species tree-of-heaven and European black alder.
Immediately north of Flat Rock Dam is another Lowland Forest supporting a canopy of box elder, silver
maple, and sycamore and an herbaceous layer of stinging nettle, wood nettle, false nettle, pale
touch-me-not, spotted touch-me-not, and poison ivy.
Green Heron
Cedar Waxwing
Purple loosestrife
invasive
Belted Kingfisher
Great Blue Heron
Mullein
Spotted Touch-me-not
Crown Vetch
Invasive
Red-bellied turtle
Threatened
Stinging Nettle
Japanese Knotweed
Invasive