Merrill Lock No. 6
The Merrill Lock No. 6 is the remnant of a historic lock and dam complex located along the Ohio River at Industry, Pennsylvania, United States. The remaining buildings, which now compose a restaurant, are together listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Construction
The dam was built at the community of Merrill, near the mouth of Raccoon Creek, as part of the process of canalization of the Ohio River. Construction began at the site on June 2, 1892, several years before many of Pennsylvania's other Ohio River dams were started. By late 1903, construction was virtually complete; only the lock gates remained to be placed, as well as the necessary buildings that were yet unfinished. Within a year, the gates had been added and the buildings completed. Operations began on August 3, 1904; the entire project had cost $1,123,441.80. The complex was named for William Emery Merrill, an officer of the United States Army Corps of Engineers who had been responsible for the earliest successful Ohio River dam in Pennsylvania.Site profile
Lock No. 6 itself was a concrete structure, 600 feet by 110 feet ; its first gates were built of pine wood, but steel gates were eventually put in their place. It lay at the northern end of the dam, which had a spillway and included a weir and two other locks. The three buildings on the site were a three-story powerhouse, which contained the machinery to operate the lock, and with two identical -story residences for the lock master and for the crew that worked at the site. All three buildings were built of brick on a concrete foundation and roofed with slate.Only one modification to the site was made during the lock's operational years. In the early 1920s, the engines in the powerhouse were converted from coal-burning to oil-burning; this was a purely interior change and had no effect on the exterior of the building.