In 1836, construction began on the I & M Canal and Channahon became the site for one of the locks that were needed along the waterway. The village itself was laid out by Myrvin Benjamin, and for a while it was called DuPage after the river that cut through the area. In the 1840s, the name of the area became Swifton after the I & M Canal board president. This area continued to thrive until the railroad replaced inland boat travel, which caused business to decline. In the early 1900s, the automobile began to emerge as a new form of transportation. In June 1908, the owner of an automobile planned to sue the village after their automobile plummeted into the Du Page River due to a bridge failure. According to legend, this incident was one of the factors in the decision of the village fathers to discard an earlier established corporate charter.