Built in 1913, the dam over the Big Falls of the Cuyahoga River has out-lived both the Power Plant and the Hydro Plant. It is a 57 feet high and 420-feet wide, reinforced concrete structure with a unique buttress-style design. The dam was inspected regularly and had to be repaired several times. The most recent and significant repairs occurred in the early 1980’s when all the galleries within the dam were filled with concrete.

Gorge Dam under construction in 1912 (CFHS).

Before the last rehabilitation, the interior of the dam was accessible from the south side. A number of people described being “inside” the dam, sometimes meeting homeless men who were sleeping there.

Gorge Dam under construction in 1912 (CFHS).

N.O.T. Co. Power Plant with bridge in foreground (CFHS).

In recent years, there has been pressure from the public to remove the dam, thus opening the river to better water quality for fish and for whitewater boating.  Two small dams further up the river in Cuyahoga Falls will be removed in 2013, thus the public’s pressure for the dam’s removal may only increase.