Old Town Canoe facts for kids
The Old Town Canoe Company is a famous company that makes canoes and kayaks. It started in Old Town, Maine, in 1898. The company began by making canoes out of wood covered with canvas. Later, it started using newer materials like fiberglass and plastic to stay competitive.
Old Town Canoe became the biggest and most well-known canoe maker in the United States. It was a world leader until other companies started using materials like aluminum after World War II. Old Town then began using fiberglass and plastic in the 1960s.
Contents
The Story of Old Town Canoes
How It All Began
The very first canoe from Old Town Canoe was built in 1898. It was made behind the Gray family's hardware store in Old Town, Maine. The Gray brothers, Herbert and George, were not canoe builders themselves. Instead, they hired skilled people to design and build their canoes. In 1901, the Grays and George Richardson bought a factory on Middle Street. This factory was run as a family business for many years, until 1974.
Early Canoe Makers in Maine
The idea of canvas-covered canoes started in Maine. Early canoe makers like E.H. Gerrish and B.N. Morris were important. The Carleton Canoe Company in Old Town also made boats. They were one of the first to switch from older boat styles to canvas canoes. Old Town Canoe Company later bought both Carleton and E.M. White's canoe companies.
Growing the Business
In 1910, Old Town bought the Carleton Boat and Canoe Company. When the Carleton factory burned down in 1911, all their canoe making moved to Old Town Canoe. Old Town kept selling Carleton canoes and printing their catalogs until the early 1940s. This helped them sell more canoes to more people.
In 1917, Old Town started making canoes for fishing. These canoes had a flat back for attaching small motors, which were becoming popular. By 1923, Old Town became the first company to sell Johnson outboard motors.
Changes Over Time
In the early 1970s, Old Town began using a new plastic material called Royalex for their canoes. This material was very strong and helped them compete with canoes made from aluminum and fiberglass. These new materials almost put the old wood and canvas canoe makers out of business.
In 1974, the company was sold to S.C. Johnson, a large company. Later, in 1984, Old Town bought White Canoe, another historic canoe company. In 2004, Old Town was bought by Johnson Outdoors. The company stayed in Maine, and they even started making paddles there too.
Old Town began making kayaks in 1995. By the year 2000, they were actually making more kayaks than canoes!
The Old Factory Buildings
The original factory buildings in Old Town, Maine, were left empty when the company moved out. It was too expensive to fix them up. So, the city decided to tear them down. Demolition of the old buildings began in March 2014.
There are a lot of Old Town Canoes out there, and they last forever. It is a part of our heritage. It will never go away.
Even though the main factory closed, Old Town's classic wood and canvas canoes are still made. Another company, Island Falls Canoe, now builds and takes care of these special wooden canoes for Old Town.
Most of the records for Old Town canoes built before 1976 still exist. You can find information about a canoe by its serial number. This number is usually found on the floor of the canoe at each end. These records show how each canoe was built, when it was shipped, and where it went.
Famous Old Town Canoes
- Seven 16-foot Guide Model Old Town canoes were used in the movie Deliverance.
- The canoe used by journalist Eric Sevareid and his friend Walter Port on their 2,250-mile adventure, described in the book Canoeing with the Cree, was an Old Town canoe.
- In 1935, environmentalist Sigurd F. Olson bought several Old Town Yankee Model canoes for his outdoor guiding business in Winton, Minnesota.
- The first Chief of the United States Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot, received an Old Town canoe in September 1922. It was a 15-foot Fifty Pound Model canoe.
