A canoe company put Old Town on the international sportsmen’s map

Celebrate Old Town Tab

“Someone wanted that canoe more than I did so, I sold it, built another, and another . . . and I’ve been at it ever since.”

This was E. M. White’s description of the birth of his canoe company in 1889. As early as 1906, White was building motor canoes.

A bit of advice offered December 1894 in the Old Town newspaper, “The Enterprise,” proved prophetic: “A canoe factory would pay well in Old Town. One that would turn out a hundred or so a month. Don’t let anyone make you believe that a sale of canoes cannot be created. There are hundreds of towns and cities in the U.S. with a lake or pond close by, and the canoe could be made popular in these places as the bicycle has been where good roads exist…”

Until 1900, canoes were made by several craftsmen. By this time, the Gray family already had a history of successful entrepreneural ventures. Brothers George and Herbert Gray learned the values of hard work and self-reliance from their father, Alexander, and each operated his own business.

At the turn of the century, Henry Wickett built canoes in a building behind 40 North Main St. in Old Town. George and Herbert Gray noticed his activities and decided to back him a canoe-manufacturing venture. The Grays initially limited their interests in the fledgling company to providing the financial muscle to get started.

That changed when George’s son, Samuel, graduated from Bowdoin College a few years later. He joined Old Town Canoe in 1903, the same year the company incorporated with Herbert Gray as its first president.

According to Old Town resident Ruth Gray, the daughter of Samuel Gray, Old Town Canoe set up shop in a former shoe factory at 58 Middle St. in 1904 or 1905. The company never moved from the site, which is across the street from the recently expanded Old Town Public Library.

In its early years, Old Town Canoe manufactured wood-canvas canoes, bateaux, and dinghies. A 1910 catalog detailed the “Canvas-covered Watercraft and Their Equipments” built on-site in a facility that had grown in size in a few years from less than 4,000 square feet to more than 40,000 square feet. Old Town Canoe now occupies about 190,000 square feet.

By 1912, Samuel Gray owned Old Town Canoe and made his name synonymous with the firm. His sons, Braley and Deane, worked with him for 10 years until his death in 1961. Braley Gray retired in 1964, but Deane Gray remained with Old Town Canoe until his retirement in 1978.

Samuel Gray’s leadership and emphasis on quality made Old Town Canoe the world’s leading canoe-building company. His son, Deane, tried to maintain the company’s wooden-canoe history, but economics forced Old Town Canoe to adopt a fiberglass-and-plastic technology in the early 1960s.

With a figerglass line, Old Town Canoe slowly began to increase sales and production. The introduction of Royalex canoes in the early 1970s accelerated the firm’s recovery. Johnson Diversified purchased Old Town Canoe in 1975; the company is now a part of Johnson Worldwide Associates Inc., a series of firms that manufacture recreational equipment such as Minnkota electric trolling motors and Eureka tents.

In 1984, Old Town Canoe purchased White Canoe, named for founder E.M. White. Old Town Canoe ships its canoes to Japan, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland and controls about 25 percent of the canoe market in North America.

Located at Old Town Canoe’s factory is a company store that sells canoes and canoeing accessories like paddles, life jackets, and car carriers.

Ruth O’Neil is a resident of Old Town. Brian Swartz is the NEWS