Visit Modoc’s

OLD CANAL COFFEE CO.

About Us

When we were deciding on a name for our business, we were drawn to the interesting history of this area. Our name recalls the days of the Wabash and Erie Canal which passed just a couple of blocks from our roastery in historic downtown Wabash, Indiana. The canal was an incredible undertaking, beginning service in 1835 and continuing in some fashion or other until about 1874.

Alas, the Wabash and Erie Canal was done in by the railroads and never turned a profit or even recovered the cost of its construction. It was however, for a time, the most important route in and out of the lands adjacent to its incredible 468 mile course from Ohio to Southern Indiana. It allowed goods from the outside world to filter into the frontier. Certainly coffee found its way to settlers via the canal too.

Today, the canal is all but forgotten, and those that built and traveled it are long gone. What remains are some historical markers and a some low spots in farmers’ fields and some stone blocks that were part of canal locks here and there.

Old Canal Coffee Roasters is a small family-owned business with ties to the area going back through six generations of artisans and farmers. We became interested in the specialty coffee business a few years ago while visiting Seattle. We began roasting in 2003.

We source premium green Arabica coffees from around the world and hand roast to order, in small batches, on a fluid bed roaster. Our roaster is in our front window on Miami Street and can be seen operating daily.