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Center of the Grain Trade
Seneca is home to the oldest surviving I&M Canal grain elevator, which stands between the canal and the railroad. Before the I&M Canal, farmers had to bring their grain by wagon to distant markets. After the canal opened in 1848, they could deliver their grain locally to canal-side elevators for storage before it was shipped to Chicago and the east coast. In 1876, one Seneca warehouse shipped 550,000 bushels of grain on the canal – more than any other canal warehouse. Seneca’s restored Hogan Grain Elevator is open for guided tours.

Canal life
When canal boats arrived here and in other canal towns, the captain blew a large horn, and residents gathered to get fresh lemons and oranges, sugar, molasses, and tobacco. Farmers brought their corn and wheat, and workers loaded and unloaded coal, limestone, agricultural implements, furniture, and lumber.