In the Kusler-Cox Auditorium on the 3rd floor of the Rundel Library Building is a Rochester's Rich History Series lecture titled History of the Barge Canal by Tom Grasso.

The Barge Canal's origin can be traced back to 1884 when one chamber of existing Enlarged Erie Canal Lock 50, just west of Syracuse, was lengthened to permit the passage of double long tows. For the next 20 years, additional enlargement projects would move forward in fits and starts. Finally, the vote to vastly enlarge the canal system was approved in 1903 and Teddy Roosevelt's Ditch would be constructed from 1905 to 1918. The newly completed Erie Barge Canal was first filled with water on 10 May 1918 when workers dug through to the Genesee River at Rochester and officially opened for through traffic from Lake Erie to the Hudson River on 15 May 1918. All this and more will be illustrated in a presentation by Tom Grasso, President Emeritus of the Canal Society of New York State.

[source: City of Rochester website, 2018-Sep-12]