This mile-long waterway you see today replaced a canal that failed within two days. The canal you see opened on July 2, 1999, part of a revival that followed an idea first noticeable in the late 1880s. An earlier canal opened in 1890 after a year of construction but drained itself two days later, leaving an empty waterbed.
The modern canal was funded after voters approved a temporary one-cent sales tax increase as part of the Metropolitan Area Projects, known as MAPS. Since opening, the waterway has become a popular tourist destination, featuring many attractions and spurring over $109 million in development. It runs one mile and was improved in 2004 and again in 2013.
The Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation Department maintains the canal. Downtown OKC Partnership and the Bricktown Association marked the canal’s 20th anniversary in 2019. Stand here and imagine the long arc from that failed 1890 channel to this renewed waterway in 1999; note how a temporary tax and MAPS investments reshaped this area.
Follow the water and notice the attractions that helped drive over $109 million in development here.