Begun in 1833, the Miami Extension linked the Miami Canal in Dayton to the Wabash & Erie Canal at Junction. Engineering difficulties, epidemics and the Panic of 1837 delayed completion of the Extension until June 1845, when the packet boat Banner first navigated the almost 250 mile distance from Cincinnati to Toledo in three days. New Bremen was the northern terminus for a period while work continued northward on the Extension. Designated the Miami & Erie in 1849, it served as the primary avenue of commerce and military transport, and as a "post road" (mail route) between western Lake Erie and the Ohio River before the railroad era. The Miami & Erie remained in use until 1913, long after the canal era had passed. Along the course of the canal, New Bremen was the approximate midway point between Cincinnati and Toledo.

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"The northernmost post on Anthony Wayne's water-based supply route was also selected because the site had been used previously. The current site of the Auglaize County town of St. Marys had been a trading post and village headed by James Girty, a brother of the notorious renegade, Simon Girty. James had been a partner of Peter Loramie, and had fled to the banks of the St.Mary's River after George Roger Clark's men had destroyed Loramie's Store in 1782."
"From 1783 to 1790, Girty maintained his trading post. He was married to a Shawnee woman, but the village around his post that came to be called Girty's Town was home to members of assorted tribes. Within his palisaded post, Girty traded for furs which he sent up the Maumee Rivers to Detroit. He also served as an unofficial representative of the British, so when Harmar's army approached in 1790, he fled the area."

"When Wayne had Fort St. Marys built on the site in 1795, many referred to it as Fort Girty Town. Fort names were sometimes a generation behind in St. Marys, because when Fort Barbee was built during the War of 1812, many referred to that post as Fort St. Marys."

"Wayne had considered a water route for supplies during the summer of 1794, but it wasn't until a year later that he authorized Henry Burbeck to build a blockhouse to store building supplies at St. Marys. The actual construction of the fort was done in October, 1795, by a detail under the Lieutenant John Michael. After the small fort was completed, the officer in charge was a Lieutenant John Whistler. Whistler had come to America with the British Army during the Revolution and was captured when Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga. He returned to this country and took up a military career, as did his son. His grandson, however, took a different path as the painter, James Abbot McNeil Whistler."
"the first fort on the Lake Erie watershed, Fort St. Marys was where the military stores were transferred from wagons to boats. A crude road was built between Forts Loramie and St. Marys, and at St. Marys boat building became a major activity. Once the new boats were launched they could float to Fort Wayne in seven days in moderate waters, although they tied up at night. At low water, navigation was more difficult, but the issue became moot after the fall of Detroit in 1796."

"The fort was abandoned in 1796. When a new fort was built in 1812, it was located slightly closer to downtown St. Marys, almost adjacent to the old grounds. There is a marker in the Lutheran Cemetery noting the location of Fort St. Marys and an archaeological dig has uncovered several artifacts from the era."

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The Miami and Erie Canal, connecting the Ohio River with Lake Erie, was the primary mode of transportation for cargo in the mid to late 1800s. This allowed towns like New Bremen to quickly grow and prosper. Local farm boys, leading the family mules, pulled the canal boats along the towpath. This sculpture "Partners” depicts Johnnie, a local farm boy and Sadie, one of his mules, as he gets ready to harness another mule and begin his day's work. These local boys, called "hoggees", would lead their mules along the towpath, pulling the canal boats for several miles, before switching off with another hoggee further down the canal. One to three mules would be used for this task. This sculpture is dedicated to those young boys and their mules for being such an integral part of the history and prosperity of our community.

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Construction of the Miami Extension of the Miami and Erie Canal, which included Troy, began around 1834. Lock 12 was built in 1836. General William Henry Harrison and other dignitaries officially opened the Troy section on July 4, 1837. The canal brought prosperity to the area, as its products were shipped to new markets and more people moved here. The last canal boat came through Lock 12 in 1912 and the disastrous flood of March 1913 finally ended Troy and Ohio’s canal era. Evidence suggests that in the late 1920s, the Hobart Brothers Company’s building on West Main Street covered part of the lock. The building and lock were razed in 2015. The footprint monument was dedicated June 7, 2017 and includes stones from Lock 12.

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