The politics of the canal set up a rivalry between the two towns that would only grow when Waverly would later petition county residents to move the county seat from Piketon to Waverly. Lucas gained even more power and money that gave him the lift up to the steps of the Ohio Statehouse. The revised canal route on the west side helped make the young James Emmitt a wealthy man, as his town of Waverly became the economic hub of Pike County. Coincidently, this revised route had the canal running through land owned by Robert Lucas (among others). This became one of the great controversies of the era.Ĭanal commissioners, under the influence of Robert Lucas (a resident of Pike County and speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives and a future governor), decided the canal would run down the west side of the Scioto River through the village of Waverly, instead running down the east side through the original county seat of Piketon. Canal Politicsĭuring the early planning for the Ohio & Erie Canal, it was planned that the canal would pass through Piketon, a town several miles south of Waverly and on the east side of the Scioto River. Waverly was then incorporated in January 1842. Whether that's true or not, the name was accepted by the people and the post office officially recognized the village in 1832. It was then that a resident engineer of the canal, Captain Francis Cleveland (later he would become Grover Cleveland's uncle), suggested the name Waverly, supposedly because Cleveland had been reading a series of books by Sir Walter Scott's Waverly. However, that name was already in use by another town. After the Ohio & Erie Canal came through the area, residents needed to establish a post office. Downing established the community in 1829. Waverly was first called Union Town, a common name used by several other villages in Ohio.
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