Auburn Tunnel

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Auburn Tunnel is a 19th‑century canal tunnel near Auburn, Pennsylvania, built for the Schuylkill Canal. It’s considered the first transportation tunnel in the United States. The tunnel was bored through a hill that could have been bypassed, but it became a famous novelty and drew visitors traveling up the river from Philadelphia—about 97 miles away. Construction began in 1818 and it opened in 1821; it was owned by the Schuylkill Navigation Company. The tunnel was 450 feet long, with a clearance of 22 feet and a width of 15 feet, and its highest point stood about 471 feet above the Delaware River at mid‑tide. In 1857 it was daylighted to become an open cut and was abandoned as a tunnel.