DEARBORN, MI – Michigan has always been known as the automobile capital of the world, but the Great Lakes State boasts a similarly rich heritage in the development of boat building in America.

On Wednesday, February 15, Dearborn Public Library will host author Scott M. Peters for a presentation on Michigan’s boat building industry in the Henry Ford Centennial Library auditorium,16301 Michigan Ave. Registration is not required.

By the late nineteenth century, Michigan had emerged as the industry’s hub, drawing together the most talented designers, builders, and engine makers to produce some of the fastest and most innovative boats ever created. Within decades, gifted Michigan entrepreneurs like Christopher Columbus Smith, John L. Hacker, and Gar Wood established some of the nation’s top boat brands and brought the prospect of boat ownership within reach for American consumers from all ranges of income.

More than just revolutionizing recreational boating, Michigan boat builders also left their mark on history, from developing the speedy runabouts favored by illicit rum-runners during the Prohibition era, to creating the landing craft that carried Allied forces to shores in Europe and the Pacific in WWII.

In this presentation, Peters explores this intriguing story of people, processes, and products of an industry that evolved in Michigan but would change boating across the world.

Peters, a lifelong Great Lakes boater, is retired as Curator of Collections at the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing. Author of the book Making Waves: Michigan’s Boat-Building Industry, 1865-2000, and frequent contributor to Michigan History Magazine, he has been collecting information on the state’s boat building industry for the past 25 years.

More information can be found on the Library’s events calendar at dearbornlibrary.org or by calling 313-943-2330.

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