Lockport (city), New York  Lockport is a city and the county seat of Niagara County, New York, surrounded by the town of Lockport. The population was 21,165 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population of 20,305 as of 2019. It is named from a set of Erie Canal locks (Lock Numbers 34 and 35) within the city. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The New York State Legislature authorized the Erie Canal's construction in April 1816. The route proposed by surveyors was to traverse an area in central Niagara County, New York, which was then "uncivilized" and free of White settlers. At the time, the nearest settlers were in nearby Cold Springs, New York. As it became known where the proposed canal was to be built, land speculators began to buy large plots along and near the proposed route of the canal. By December 1820, when the exact location of the step locks had been determined, the area that would become Lockport was owned by only fifteen men, many of whom were Quakers. The canal reached Lockport in 1824, but the Flight of Five Locks were not completed until 1825. By 1829, Lockport was an established village. The community was centered on the locks, and consisted mainly of immigrant Scottish and Irish canal workers brought in as labor. The workers remained in Lockport after the completion of the locks, giving the city a heavy Celtic influence still discernible today, especially in the Lowertown and North Lockport neighborhoods. The city of Lockport was incorporated in 1865. The Erie Canal was supplanted by the larger New York State Barge Canal in 1918, and the famous south "flight of five" locks was replaced by two much larger locks E34 and E35. The north "flight of five" lock chambers still remains as a spill way. In recent years public officials and private businesses have made an effort to incorporate Lockport history into a regional or national tourist attraction. This includes the completion of the Canal Discovery Center, the Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Ride tour, and the Lockport Locks and Erie Canal Cruises. Local officials are seeking state grants to reconstruct the historic "flight of five" and make it a living history site complete with boat rides and reenactors. Published reports state a living history site in Lockport marketed as a day trip from Niagara Falls could draw thousands to Lockport each year. The city has a number of properties on the National Register of Historic Places.