CHILO — Dormant for decades, an old lock and dam building along the Ohio River in Clermont County will get a new life as a visitor center and local-culture museum.

        Congressman Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, announced that the Clermont County Park District was awarded a $732,845 grant from the Federal Highway Adminis tration for renovation of the operations buildings and adjacent park at Chilo Lock No. 34 Park.

        Renovations are expected to begin in January, according to Chris Clingman, director of the Clermont County Park District. An opening in 2003 would coincide with Ohio's bicentennial celebration.

        The plan includes additional parking, a scenic walkway along the Ohio, a river overlook and a new park en trance off U.S. 52 in Chilo, about 50 miles east of Cincinnati. The park will also have improved access to its boat ramp and the hiking trails to nearby Crooked Run State Nature Preserve.

        The grant was 80-20 matching, but state and local sources wound up funding more than 20 percent. The park district paid $10,000, and obtained $205,000 from the Ohio Department of Transportation's metro parks program and $20,000 from the Pattison Foundation. Total cost: $967,845.

        “This is good news for Clermont County,” Mr. Portman said in a news release. “These funds will help to improve tourism in Clermont County, preserve our proud Ohio River heritage and allow more people to explore this scenic site.”

        The district obtained the lock and dam from the Army Corps of Engineers in 1985.

        Since then, the district's goal has been to use the property, including its structures.

        The problem was an old one: money.

        “It was just sitting there waiting for something to happen,” Mr. Clingman said. “But finding the funding was always the challenge.”

        The group was made eligible for the grant when Ohio River Trails Inc. worked to get U.S. 52 designated as a National Scenic Byway in 1998.

        The visitor center will include exhibits on the region's cultural history, navigational dams and locks, the river's place in the region's development and local archaeological sites.

        The Chilo lock and dam were built in the 1920s and operated by the Army Corps of Engineers until the early 1960s, when they were replaced by the Meldahl Dam. They were bought by the county parks district.

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