Old Town, Maine, was known for its watercraft even before loggers plied thePenobscot River with their wooden bateaux in the 1800s. The Old Town Canoe Company traces its origins to 1900, when it was formed to make a different type of boat, the wood-and-canvas canoe. This was evolved from the birch bark canoes of the local Penobscot Indians, a connection Old Town Canoe would feature in its advertising. According to one report, there were 15 other canoe factories nearby at the time.
Then called the Indian Old Town Canoe Company, the new enterprise was backed by members of the entrepreneurial Gray family, who had ventures in logging, hardware, and owned a wildly successful salve for horses called Bickmore's Gall Cure (the latter would also endure for more than 100 years). George and Herbert Gray hired Alfred E. Wickett to run the canoe operation (he left in 1914).
The first few canoes were made behind the Grays' hardware store, but within a few months fabrication moved into two floors of an industrial building. Strong demand prompted several other moves to increasingly larger facilities.
Old Town built about 250 canoes in its first year. The company aimed for a wide market from the beginning, advertising in recreation publications as well as producing an annual catalog. According to Susan Audette's thorough history of the company, the distribution network for the horse salve was easily tapped for canoe sales. Audette notes that ready access to rail service was another factor in the firm's success.