Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Adz, Caulk, and Rivets: A History of Ship Building along Ohio's Northern Shore, 1963, 2017, p. 80

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The development of Toledo ended any hope that Perrysburg or Maumee held to be centers of commerce. Toledo Toledo was incorporated in 1836. Prior to this, several small towns existed along the banks of the Maumee. Port Lawrence was the upper town. Originally Port Lawrence was a part of Monroe County, Michigan Territory and was organized at the home of Eli Hubbard on Ten Mile Creek, on May 27, 1827. It was transferred to the State of Ohio in compliance with an Act of Congress on July 11, 1836.108 Vistula composed the lower town. It was begun in 1833 in opposition to Port Lawrence, on the same side of the river (west side). Just above Port Lawrence was the settlement of Marengo, and just below Vistula was Manhattan. On the east bank of the river were Oregon, a short distance above Port Lawrence, Swan Creek, a little below Port Lawrence, and Lucas City, at the mouth of the river. About 1835, the small steamers Detroit and Don Quixote were built at Port Lawrence. In 1842 Fairbanks Church and Joseph Keating built the steamer Indiana. In 1845 John P. Arnold launched the schooner Ireland, followed the next year by the schooners Pearl and Andes. Launched in subsequent years were scows and schooners built by several individual boat builders. Among them were Charles Jameson, William Wilson, R. H. Chapin, George R. Rogers, George Fordham, Albert Little, Dennis Sullivan, Dave F. Edwards, George King, and Dan Monroe. Many tugs were also built along the banks of the Maumee. Again, they were largely built on an individual basis. Among them were the tugs Dart (1853 - John Purvis), Belle King (1863 - George Fordham), Messenger (1868 - Fred Lyon), Wave (1868 - Thomas Webb), Toledo (1869 - George Ricketts), Shoo Fly (1870 - James Navaugh), W. E. Rooney (1873 - Thomas Brace), and Hope (1875 - Clark). John F. Squires and Frederick Ketchum built the sidewheeler City of Toledo in 1865. The only established shipyard at Toledo prior to the 1860's, and thus far discovered, was operated by Abraham Gillmore. Gillmore was born on August 27, 1817, at County Kent, Ontario. In 1851, he and his two sons, David B. and Orford H., started a yard in the Dayton Lagoon, at the foot of Water Street. This would be south of Ottawa, between Ottawa and Broadway. They built a set of boxes which they called a floating dry dock. They did very little vessel construction at this location. In 1853 they launched the schooner Rebecca, and in 1856 the schooner Miami Belle. 67

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