Did you know Pennsylvania is home to the oldest existing transportation tunnel in the United States?
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(WHTM) – Central Pennsylvania has plenty of historical sites, from the nation’s first capital in York to the state capital in Harrisburg, but Pennsylvania is also home to the United States’ oldest existing transportation tunnel as well.
In 1827, in Lebanon, the Union Canal Tunnel was completed and was part of the Union Canal that ran from Reading, Pennsylvania, to Middletown, Pennsylvania.
Lebanon County Historical Society states that the Union Canal operated from 1827 to 1885.
The Union Canal Tunnel was originally 729 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 14 feet high, and divides the Quittapahilla Creek and Clark’s Run, states the County of Lebanon. The tunnel was built within two years and only used hand tools and gunpowder.
The idea for the canal found its roots with the founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn, in 1690. The idea was to use the Susquehanna River and the canal to help with agricultural wealth and to give access to a second settlement.
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The American Society of Civil Engineers states that in 1792 and 1794, George Washington visited the canal diggings.
The canal would connect waterways from Harrisburg to Philadelphia by converging with the Schuylkill River.
In 1827, after the tunnel was finished, the Alpha of Tulpehocken would be the first boat to pass through it.
The boats that did pass through the tunnel were poled through the tunnel while mules would walk over the tunnel.
The tunnel cost $30,404.29 in total but would add another $8,280 due to reducing the length of the bridge to 600 feet instead of 729 because of the canal enlargement.
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The Union Canal Tunnel would be purchased by the Lebanon County Historical Society in 1950 and would receive three honors:
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places (Oct. 1, 1974)
National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (1970)
National Historic Landmark by Secretary of the Interior (April 19, 1994)
If you have photos of the Union Canal Tunnel, send them to mbenedetto@abc27.com
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