Chris-Craft:1874, The Beginning

From ClassicBoatWiki

The company that is now referred to as Chris-Craft, was started on Point du Chene, in Algonac, Michigan, a small town on the St. Clair River. It was here that Christopher Columbus Smith built his first boat in 1874 at age 13. These Smith-built boats were referred to as "punts" or "skiffs." With his reputation as a master boat builder on the grow, Chris joined with his brother Hank in 1881 to begin producing boats full time. As demand for their dependable hunting craft increased, the duo started building boats in rapid succession, perhaps laying the ground work for their future as builders of "standardized" runabouts.

[edit] References

• History of Chris-Craft Runabouts, by Tom Crew, former archivist of The Mariners’ Museum
• Chris Craft, The Essential Guide, by Jerry Conrad; Mariners' Museum
  • Type: Book; English
  • Publisher: Newport News, VA : Mariners' Museum, ©2002.
  • OCLC: 49780180
• Chris-Craft Boats, by Anthony S Mollica; Jack Savage
  • Type: Book : Biography; English
  • Publisher: St. Paul, MN : MBI Pub. Co., ©2001.
  • ISBN: 0760309205 9780760309209
  • OCLC: 48086949
• The Legend of Chris-Craft, by Jeffrey L Rodengen
  • Type: Book; English
  • Publisher: Fort Lauderdale, FL : Write Stuff Syndicate, ©1998.
  • Edition: 3rd ed | 3 Editions
  • ISBN: 0945903200 9780945903208
  • OCLC: 40002035
• Chris-Craft Corporation History