On Sept 12, 1928, the Ohio River Lock & Dam #46 at the present day English Park officially opened and the steamer “Shawnee” was the first boat to pass through. Surveying by the US Army Corps of Engineers began in 1910 looking for a suitable location. Construction took five years, beginning in August 1923 at a cost of $2,000,000.
With newer dams up and down river, it became obsolete and demolition with dynamite started on Aug 28, 1975 with demolition complete by winter of 1976.
Peter “Book” English retired here after 49 years of working on the Ohio River, hence the name of the park named after him. He started working here in 1924 as a derrick operator during the dam’s construction. In 1935, he was promoted to lockmaster at the Cannelton dam, in 1940 he served as lockmaster in Louisville, then came back to Owensboro in 1957 and retired in 1973.
