Old Town (canoe maker)
The Old Town Canoe Company (commonly referred to as " Old Town " for short ) is a traditional American canoe manufacturer from Old Town and today, in addition to Necky Kayaks and Ocean Kayak, part of Johnson Outdoors Inc. Old Town has 250 employees and an annual turnover of 30 million . US $ (2004). For a time, Old Town was the world's largest canoe manufacturer and mainly manufactures Canadians .
First generation
Old Town has been producing canoes since 1898, initially using the then innovative wood-and-canvas construction . The first boats were made behind the hardware store by company founder George Gray. After a short time, however, the move to an industrial building was necessary, where the canoe production of the " Indian Old Town Canoe Company " produced 250 boats a year. At the time, Old Town was only one of 16 canoe manufacturers in the vicinity.
The company was officially registered as a company in 1902 in cooperation with John Ralph Robertson as the "Robertson and Old Town Canoe Company". Robertson left the cooperation the following year, which is why the company was renamed "Old Town Canoe Company" . But he was still connected to Old Town, z. B. in later years in the development and construction of racing canoes.
In 1905 sales exceeded the $ 25,000 mark and between 200 and 400 canoes were manufactured per month. Distribution was a key to success as Old Town took advantage of rail transportation. Production increased to around 6,000 boats in 1914 and exports to Europe and South America until there was a temporary slump in sales as a result of the First World War .
Second and third generation
In 1927 sales reached $ 500,000 and increased in the following years by Sam Gray, who took over the company after the death of his father George. In 1931, due to the Great Depression, production dropped to 1,600 boats, roughly half of Maine's total canoe production.
In 1940 kayaks with the wood-and-canvas construction were added to the product range. After the Second World War , Old Town expanded its product range to include motor boats .
In 1961 Sam Gray died and his sons Braley and Deane continued the business in the third generation. Old Town's canoe construction was severely affected by competition from aluminum canoes made by Grumman . The numbers at Old Town dropped to 200 copies per year. Instead of switching to plywood like other suppliers, Old Town began producing GRP canoes, and from 1970 also PE - (Old Town name " Olthylen ") and Royalex - (" Oltonar ") canoes, and was thus able to regain market share.
Johnson era
In December 1974, Old Town was taken over by Johnson and the company structures were modernized. In 1979 Old Town took over the distribution of Lettmann and Prijon kayaks in the USA and temporarily stopped its own kayak production. In 1984 the new Discovery model series made of multilayer PE was introduced. When aluminum canoes went out of fashion in the second half of the 1980s, Old Town was the world's largest canoe manufacturer. With almost 17,000 m², the company had more production space than all other US competitors combined.
According to the Wall Street Journal , Old Town had a 25% market share in 1989 with 22,000 canoes sold. The main export countries were Canada , Germany and Japan .
In 1998, Old Town celebrated its centenary. Several wooden canoes from the first few years that are still in use were also presented. Throughout the company's history, the manufacture of wooden and wood-and-canvas canoes was a mainstay of the company. The identification of the company with its products is very high. So was z. B. the production of the canoes with the materials used, special features and buyers documented over decades and archived on several hundred thousand index cards. This archive is jointly managed by Johnson and the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association and made available to interested parties.
In 2004, the millionth Old Town canoe, an 18-foot wood-and-canvas Model A, was made.
Company milestones
Company acquisitions
- 1910: Carleton Canoe Company (merged with Old Town 1934)
- 1984: White Canoe Company
- 1990: Carlisle Paddles Inc.
- 1997: Plastiques LPA Ltd.
- 1998: Ocean Kayak and Leisure Life Ltd.
- 2000: Pacific Kayaks
Sales figures
- 1898: 250 canoes
- 1905: approx. 3600
- 1914: 6000
- 1931: 1600
- 1961: 200
- 1975: 5000
- 1989: 22000
Web links
- Johnson Outdoors company website
- Old Town company site
- WCHA , Wooden Canoe Heritage Association: Old Town Canoe Company Build Record Archive Project (English)
swell
Susan T. Audette, David E. Baker: The Old Town Canoe Company: Our First Hundred Years , Gardiner, Maine: Tilbury House, 1998