Lock Tenders Tribute, Lockport

About Lock Tenders Tribute

Lock Tenders Tribute is a monument in Lockport that celebrates workers who operated the Erie Canal Flight of Five Locks during the 1800s. The attraction centers on an iconic 1897 photograph of twelve lock tenders and a young girl, captured by photographer Frank B. Clench. After a decade of research by local genealogists and amateur historians, each person in the photograph has been identified and memorialized through a series of statues created by artist Susan Geissler. Visitors learn the stories of individual lock tenders: Frank J. LeValley Jr., who became a foreman; Michael Riley, who later owned an electrical shop in Buffalo; Michael Oates, an Irish immigrant stonecutter; William J. Bower, a millwright; Ira M. McCoy, who served as an alderman; Michael E. Hennessey, who joined the county Sheriff's Department; and John A. Leonard. The monument honors those who worked twelve-hour days moving freight boats between Buffalo and New York City, located in Lockport, New York.