What Is the Towpath?

Long before Morris had a Main Street, it had a canal. The Illinois & Michigan Canal opened in 1848, linking the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and creating towns like Morris as stops along a vital trade route. Mules and horses towed boats loaded with grain, lumber, and goods down the waterway — walking not on the water, but alongside it, on a narrow dirt path called the towpath.

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That towpath still runs right past our door. Today it's part of the I&M Canal Heritage Corridor Trail, drawing cyclists, hikers, and history lovers through Morris and the surrounding canal towns. It's the same ground once walked by hoggees and lockmasters — and it's what gave our store its name.

Towpath Books sits at the intersection of that history and the present-day life of downtown Morris: a place to pause on the trail, browse a shelf, and connect with the story of the canal that shaped this town.