is an historic maker of canoes in old town maine . the company had its beginnings in 1898 in buildings constructed in 1890 for a shoe business and was incorporated in 1901 . old town entered the canoe market as a builder of canvas covered wooden canoes . in the latter half of the 20th century the company adopted more modern materials to maintain competitiveness . 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 such as grumman pressured it by adopting aluminum for manufacture 3 after world war ii . it adjusted by moving to using fiberglass and plastic in the 1960s . 3 old town also produces kayaks . 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 contents 1 history 2 notable old town canoes 3 references 4 further reading 5 external links history edit the first canoe built by old town canoe was constructed in 1898 behind the gray hardware store in old town maine . unlike the pioneering canoe businesses established by e.h. garrish b.n. morris and e.m. white the grays were not canoe builders themselves but were entrepreneurs who hired others to design and build their canoes . 8 as it became more well established at the end of the 19th century old town was incorporated in 1901 9 by brothers george and samuel gray and was run as a family business for decades . 3 the origins of canvas canoes can be traced to maine and early canoe makers such as e.h. gerrish and c.b. thatcher of bangor b.n. morris of veazie and g.e. carleton and e.m. white of old town maine . white s brother in law e.l. hinckley became his working partner and provided the capital to open a large shop in old town employing several men . the carleton 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 . in addition to white and carleton there were several smaller companies building canvas covered canoes in the town of old town when the old town company began its venture . carleton and white were later bought by the old town canoe company . 10 cover of 1921 old town catalog 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 . 11 in 1910 old town purchased the carleton boat and canoe company . when the carleton factory on south main street in old town burned on may 17 1911 all of their canoe building was consolidated with old town canoe . old town continued to print carleton catalogs and sell carleton canoes into the early 1940s 12 thus creating a dual system of distribution that permitted them to have more of their products in the marketplace . 13 old town canoe discoverer 150 in use on the river ure england in 1917 old town entered the sportfishing market with the introduction of a square sterned model for the detachable motor that was gaining popularity . by 1923 they became the first distributor of johnson outboard motors . 14 in 1954 approximately 130 workers went on strike in a dispute over wages that topped out at about 1.08 an hour . 15 in 1974 the company was sold to s.c. johnson . 9 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 an abs composite plastic first called oltonar later royalex in canoe manufacture to compete with aluminum and fibre glass canoe makers that nearly put many of the handcrafted wood and canvas builders out of business . 16 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 . 17 old town was to gain 48 jobs as the parent company cut an estimated 90 in its hometown of racine wisconsin . 18 the company began making kayaks in 1995 . in 2000 the company was making more kayaks than canoes . 19 the original plant buildings were abandoned after the company moved out leaving empty buildings lined with asbestos that are difficult to sell . 20 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 . 21 demolition began in march 2014 . 22 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 . 23 old town s trademark wood and canvas canoes have never gone out of production although they are no longer built at old town canoe . with the closing of the factory at old town maine the company contracted with island falls canoe owned by jerry stelmok of atkinson to build and maintain its wooden canoes . 24 most of the individual records for old town s canoes and boats built prior to 1976 still exist . information on serial numbers 210 999 or less has been scanned and can be accessed by providing the number either to wooden canoe heritage association volunteers online or by contacting the old town company . a serial number is located on the upper face of the stem on the floor of the canoe at each end . build records contain specific information regarding construction of each boat or canoe including the dates each part of the build process was accomplished the date it was shipped and its final destination . 25 benson gray a descendant of the founders of old town canoe leads a tour of canoes on the green at the annual assembly of the wooden canoe heritage association which featured old town s contributions to canoeing in 2012 . notable old town canoes edit seven 16 foot guide model old town canoes were used in production of the film deliverance . they were serial numbers 183635 184310 184314 184380 184432 184434 and 184739 . 26 the canoe that journalist eric sevareid and his friend walter port paddled on the 2 250 mile adventure described in sevareid s book canoeing with the cree was an old town of unspecified model . 27 in 1935 environmentalist sigurd f. olson purchased a number of old town yankee model canoes for his outfitting and livery business border lakes outfitters in winton minnesota . 28 the first chief of the united states forest service gifford pinchot received old town number 72176 in september 1922 . it is a 15 foot common sense grade fifty pound model canoe . 29 references edit old town design no. 4 on 1934 hw model wood canvas canoe bangor daily news google news archive search tux turkel course correction maine sunday telegram portland me september 7 2003 a b c d 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 https 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 audette susan t. with david e. baker the old town canoe company our first hundred years tilbury house 1998 . a b 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 wcha forums knowledgebase manufacturers carleton canoe company accessed september 17 2015 . 1 klos kathryn the morris canoe legacy of an american family createspace 2014 p. 139 . audette susan t. with david e. baker old town canoe our first hundred years tilbury house 1998 p. 67 . 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 . kelly grindle vice president for marine electronics and watercraft at johnson outdoors in an article by haskell meg old town canoe celebrates expansion move to new site bangor daily news november 10 2009 . haskell meg old town canoe celebrates expansion move to new site the bangor daily news november 10 2009 . 2 the old town canoe company build record archive project wooden canoe heritage association forums open forum deliverance canoe posted 12 06 2014 and accessed september 16 2015 . 3 sevareid eric canoeing with the cree borealis books an imprint of the minnesota historical society 2004 . old town build records on cd rom old town build records on cd rom further reading edit audette susan t. with david e. baker the old town canoe company our first hundred years tilbury house 1998 . old town canoe company corporate history external links edit official website gray benson and daniel miller editors the complete old town canoe company catalog collection on cd rom . 4 old town build records on cd rom . 5 old town canoe serial number search 6 the wood and canvas canoe old town hw with sponsons 7 creation of a canoe 1950s video featuring an old town canoe 8 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title old town canoe & oldid 740485774 categories old town mainecompanies based in penobscot county mainecompanies established in 1898canoe manufacturers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export 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