{"nrhp_refnum":"98001146","name":"Erie Canal Lock 52 Complex","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Maiden Ln.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Port Byron","county":"Cayuga County","state":"NY","lat":43.03694993800008,"lon":-76.63474876799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-09-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Maritime History","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly 3.4-acre canal complex on Maiden Lane at the western edge of Port Byron, Cayuga County, New York, with an Enlarged Erie Canal lock built ca. 1849-53, a canal prism, a culvert, the ca. 1894 Erie House and a blacksmith shop/mule barn.","why_significant":"The complex is tied to the transportation, engineering and commercial history of the Enlarged Erie Canal between about 1849 and 1917. Lock 52 is described as one of the most intact nineteenth-century canal locks in New York State. The Erie House and the blacksmith shop/mule barn are rare surviving examples of canal-associated businesses and building types.","narrative":"Beside the New York State Thruway at the western edge of Port Byron, this 3.4-acre complex preserves a working slice of the Enlarged Erie Canal. Its centerpiece is Lock 52, built about 1849-53 of limestone ashlar with two chambers divided by a center pier. The lock was later improved with a winching system, a lengthened south chamber and deeper channels. Nearby are a dewatered stone-lined canal prism built in 1854-58 and a stone culvert. On the north side stand the Erie House, a frame building of about 1894 that served as a saloon, hotel and residence, and a late nineteenth-century blacksmith shop and mule barn. The interior of the Erie House keeps much of its original wood paneling and plan. The group is valued for showing both the engineering of the canal and the businesses that served boat traffic until the canal was abandoned here in 1917. Potential archaeological remains of the original Erie Canal are also included.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1849 to ca. 1917","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian / Italianate (Erie House); canal lock","criteria":[],"status_note":"Form lists current functions as vacant/not in use and museum. The canal channel is dewatered but stone-lined and well defined, and Lock 52 is largely intact.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.008522-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/98001146.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001146/170429e913-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001146/170429e913-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PortByronNY_ErieCanalLock52_Inside.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PortByronNY_ErieCanalLock52_Inside.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316703","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie_Canal_Lock_52_Complex","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5388278"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/cayuga-county/erie-canal-lock-52-complex-98001146/"}