Historical eventApril 251959

St. Lawrence Seaway

The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.

Everything on April 25Original source

In context

When
Saturday, April 25 195967 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
20th century · 1950s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: From 1959.

What happened

History This section needs more citations . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . ( June 2015 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) The St. Lawrence Seaway was preceded by several other canals. For example, The Welland Canal opened in 1824, and following improvements completed in 1839, 1887, and 1935, it attained a depth of 7.6 m (25 ft), with locks 233.5 m (766 ft) long by 24.4 m (80 ft) wide.

The St. Lawrence Seaway is a system of rivers, locks, canals, and channels in Eastern Canada and the Northern United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North America, as far inland as Duluth, Minnesota, at the western end of Lake Superior. The seaway is named for the St. Lawrence River, which flows straight from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Gulf of St. Lawrence. Legally, the seaway extends from Montreal, Quebec, to Lake Erie,

April 25 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1959St. Lawrence Seaway
  2. 2004March for Women's Lives (2004)
  3. 2005Amagasaki derailment
  4. 2005Obelisk of Axum
  5. 2005Bulgaria
  6. 2007Death and state funeral of Boris Yeltsin
  7. 2012San Diego
  8. 2014Flint water crisis
  9. 2015April 2015 Nepal earthquake
  10. 2026Sadio Camara
  11. 20262026 White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting

Also in 1959

  • September 13Luna 2The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 (model pictured) struck the Moon, the first spacecraft to reach another celestial body.
  • September 15Nikita KhrushchevNikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.
  • June 14Disneyland MonorailDisneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
  • August 17Miles DavisAmerican musician Miles Davis released Kind of Blue, which became one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed jazz recordings o…
  • November 21Disc jockeyAmerican disc jockey Alan Freed (pictured), who popularized the term rock and roll, was fired from WABC-AM for his role in the payola sca…
  • November 16The Sound of MusicThe Sound of Music, a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein based on The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, opened on Broadway at the Lunt-F…
  • November 16National Airlines Flight 967National Airlines Flight 967 explodes in mid-air over the Gulf of Mexico, killing all 42 aboard.
  • March 181959 Tibetan uprisingTibetan uprising: After the 14th Dalai Lama sought refuge at Sera Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, Chinese forces bombarded the monastery, infl…

Everything we record for 1959 →

Sources

Cite this page

“St. Lawrence Seaway”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/st-lawrence-seaway-1959-april-25, accessed October 24, 2026.

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Questions about this entry

When did St. Lawrence Seaway happen?

April 25 1959 — 67 years ago, on a Saturday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

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