“In 1852 John Brown, a stonemason, built this last remaining vestige of the early canal era in Fort Wayne.
A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Brown came by canal boat to Allen County in 1847 with his wife Mary. He and his Scottish business partner, James Humprhey, were contractors for such area projects as canal locks, the county jail,and the Barr Street Market. In 1862, Brown sold “The Canal House” to Heinrich Drover, a German immigrant and canal boat captain who in later years served on the Fort Wayne City Council. During the 1870’s, in the last years of the canal, “The Canal House” was home to several successive German families, all of whom worked on the canal. Later, the Nickle Plate Railroad used the house for storage.
As a project of the national Bicentennial in 1976, the house was saved under the direction of ARCH, the Fort Wayne architectural heritage society, and became the central offices of Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne.”
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