Old Town Canoe
Old Town Canoe Company is a historic maker of canoes in Old Town, Maine. It was established in 1898 in buildings constructed in 1890 for a shoe business, and incorporated in 1901. The company adopted more modern materials to maintain competitiveness in the later half of the 20th century. The company's plant was located along the Penobscot River.[1]
Old Town is the largest and best known American canoe manufacturer.[2] It was the leading manufacturer in the world before competitors pressured it by adopting aluminum for manufacture.[3] It adjusted by moving to using fiberglass and plastic in the 1960s.[3] Old Town also makes kayaks, and its newer production plant is also used to make paddles.
The Old Town Canoe Company "is one of the few Maine businesses to have achieved legendary status nationally". [4] Old Town was featured by the Discovery Channel for an episode of Some Assembly Required (TV series) in 2008.[5] In 1998 the company celebrated its 100th anniversary; with brass tacks and wood planks still used in the manufacture of its traditional lines of canoe.[6] The town of Old Town and surrounding communities have hosted a week-long Old Town Hullabaloo canoe festival.[7]
History
The first canoe built by the family behind Old Town was constructed in 1898 behind the Gray hardware store in Old Town, Maine. As it became more well established at the end of the 19th century, Old Town was incorporated in 1901[8] and was run as a family business for decades.[3] The origins of canvas canoes can traced to the area and early canoe maker E.M. White's brother-in-law, E.L. Hinckley, who became a working partner and provided the capital to open a large shop in nearby Old Town. The Carleton Boat and Canoe Company of Old Town built batteaux and bark canoes in the 1870s and "appears to be the only one of the batteaux and/or bark builders who switched to building canvas canoes and as such was the only one who brought any previous boat building experience to the industry." Carleton was later bought by the Old Town Canoe Company in the early 1920s.[9]
In 1905 a court dispute, Old Town Canoe v. William C. Chestnut, was heard over whether enticements to immigrate were given to skilled canoe laborers from Old Town who went to Canada's Chestnut Canoe Company.[10]
In 1910 Old Town acquired Carleton Canoe Company.
| “ | Carleton Boat and Canoe Company of Old Town built batteaux and bark canoes in the 1870s. Carleton appears to be the only one of the batteaux and/or bark builders who switched to building canvas canoes and as such was the only one who brought any previous boat building experience to the industry. Carleton was later bought by the Old Town Canoe Company in the early 1920s.[11] | ” |
In 1954 approximately 130 workers went on strike in a dispute over wages that topped out at about $1.08 an hour.[12]
In 1974 the company was sold to S.C. Johnson.[8]
In 1984 the company purchased White Canoe, named for its founder E. M. White[3] and founded in 1888.
In the late 1980s the company began using polyethylene (ABS plastic first called Oltonar, later Royalex) in canoe manufacture to compete with aluminum canoe makers that nearly put many of the handcrafted wood and canvas builders out of business.[13]
Old Town was acquired by Johnson Outdoors in 2004. It was kept in Maine after a $900,000 interest free loan and block grant were secured. Paddle manufacturing was added to the production facility as part of the parent company's consolidation and streamlining efforts.[14] Old Town was to gain 48 jobs as the parent company cut an estimated 90 in its hometown of Racine, Wisconsin.[15]
The company began making kayaks in 1995. In 2000 the company was making more kayaks than canoes.[16]
The original plant buildings were abandoned after the company moved out, leaving empty buildings lined with asbestos that are difficult to sell.[17] In the end, city officials decided the cost of rehabilitating the complex was too prohibitive and the decision was made to demolish the buildings. The city was awarded a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help move the project forward. An extensive photographic record will be sent to the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.[18] Demolition began in March, 2014.[19]
References
- ↑ Bangor Daily News - Google News Archive Search
- ↑ Tux Turkel "Course Correction" Maine Sunday Telegram (Portland, ME) September 7, 2003
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Old Town Canoe History September 11, 1990 Bangor Daily News
- ↑ OLD TOWN CANOE STORY TRACES RISE OF A CULTURE Maine Sunday Telegram (Portland, ME) December 27, 1998 Page 8E
- ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WBI9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=fy4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=3907,603706 Bangor Daily News - April 17, 2008
- ↑ Old Town Canoe Turns 100 Bangor Daily News - January 2, 1998
- ↑ Old Town canoe festival a success Bangor Daily News - July 20, 2004
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Old Town Canoe sold to Johnson Bangor Daily News - December 27, 1974
- ↑ The Wood and Canvas Canoe, by Jerry Stelmok and Rollin Thurlow, pp. 24-25, Harpswell Press, Gardiner, Maine, 1987, ISBN 0-88448-046-1
- ↑ Old Town Canoe Co. v. Chestnut St. John Daily Sun - June 2, 1905
- ↑ The Wood and Canvas Canoe, by Jerry Stelmok and Rollin Thurlow, pp. 24–25, Harpswell Press, Gardiner, Maine, 1987, ISBN 0-88448-046-1
- ↑ Old Town canoe workers strike Lewiston Evening Journal - March 23, 1954
- ↑ Canoe Builders on the Rebound September 19, 1987 Free Lance Star
- ↑ Governor visits canoe plant November 10, 2009 Nashua Telegraph
- ↑ Local News | Old Town to gain 48 jobs in consolidation | Seattle Times Newspaper
- ↑ Old Town's kayaks outsell canoes Bangor Daily News - August 8, 2000
- ↑ $200,000 Grant Could Be Awarded to Old Town - WABI TV5
- ↑ "City Prepares to Demolish Former Old Town Canoe Complex". Bangor Daily News. 26 February 2013.
- ↑ "Removal of Former Old Town Canoe Factory Gives City New Look". Bangor Daily News. 21 March 2014.
Further reading
- "The Old Town Canoe Company: Our First Hundred Years" by Susan T. Audette with David E. Baker (Tilbury House)
- Old Town Canoe Company corporate history