The settlement got its nineteenth-century identity from the construction of the dam, canal, and locks by the Schuylkill Navigation Company. The Manayunk section was finished at the end of 1818. Since the power provided by the water was extensive, the Navigation Company sought lessees of the power for use in mills and factories. In 1819, Capt. John Towers opened the first mill that used the canal's water power. After that, purchases of water-power and the erection of mills and factories greatly increased. The area became important as a manufacturing village. It had a very large textile industry, which was built in the 1830s by Joseph Ripka.