The Erie Canal Museum in downtown Syracuse, is the nation’s premier maritime museum specializing in Erie Canal history. The museum is housed in the National Register 1850 Syracuse Weighlock Building – where canal boats were weighed to assess a toll – and is the only remaining structure of its kind in America. Within its walls, visitors learn how and why the Erie Canal was built, how a weigh station operated, and discover how the Erie Canal affected industrial development, trade, and frontier settlement.