Botzum

aka Niles, Yellow Creek, Buckeye

Locks 24 & 25

Botzum began as a community along the Ohio and Erie Canal where the canal spread out to form the Yellow Creek Basin near Yellow Creek. This was thought to be a good place for business. There were two warehouses, a store, and a hotel there in 1827, set up by Nathaniel Hardy. ^[1]

Botzum was platted in 1836 on 100 acres (0.4 km²) ^[2] as Niles by Peter Voris and some of his associates ^[3]. The village was never actually built, though, due to the Panic of 1837. Eventually the lots were sold off, one of them to George Botzum. In 1866 the Buckeye post office opened up. In spite of this name, though, the railroad depot in town was called Botzum. The name of the post office was also changed to Botzum in 1893 to match the name of the depot^[4].

In the 1920s the city of Akron purchased 800 acres (3.2 km²) of land at Botzum to build a sewer treatment plant, which opened in 1928 and remains there to this day^[5]. There is no longer any sign that there was a community there. Along with the sewage plant it is known for a viewing station for great blue herons to the east where Bath Road crosses the Cuyahoga River. There is also a sign on the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath with a photograph of Botzum from 1875^[6].

The Conrad Botzum Farm was built in the early 1900's before the demise of the canal and exists today as a tourist site.

 

Photo taken around 1875. In picture are a yoke of oxen, two horses, and 21 friends of John A. Botzum. They're assembled at the store he opened in 1858. Here he sold groceries, dry goods, lumber, livestock and real estate. Mr. Botzum was the father of John A., Jr., who was a well known Akron newspaper man and historian.

 

Yellow Creek Lock - Niles Lock

 The original towpath passed along the eastern bank of the canal with the spillway to the west.  The spillway tumble is intact and very visible from both the Towpath Trail and Riverview Road. Both Lock 24 and Lock 25 shared the same spillway. The drive to the Botzum Farm is between the two locks and the remains of what might have been a bridge over the spillway can be seen in the woods near the driveway.

Yellow Creek Lock - Mudcatcher Lock

 The original towpath passed on the eastern side of the lock while the spillway sat on the western side and was shared by both Lock 25 and 24. According to the plat maps from 1916, both of these locks were called Yellow Creek Lock. The eastern wall of the lock was removed when Riverview Road was widened in the years after the demise of the canal. A bridge once existed at the upper gate that allowed access to the Botzum Farm.