Photo provided Knox Boat Yard, Photos by S. Durward Hoag, viewed at Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library website.

One of Marietta’s enduring symbols is the steamboat. When building of sailing ships faded after 1807, a new shipbuilding tradition followed: steamboats. One of the first boats, the MECHANIC, was built on the Little Muskingum River. It was the ill-fated vessel that sank in the Ohio River while carrying General Marquis de Lafayette on his United States visit in 1825. Fortunately, all passengers survived.

The steamer RUFUS PUTNAM, built by Caleb Barstow, made the first steamboat trip up the Muskingum River (before any locks and dams were there) to Zanesville and back in January, 1824. It was risky — swift current could overwhelm the boat, steam engines could blow up, dangerous impediments in the water could puncture the hull. No problem: the partying passengers returned safely with many stories to tell.

William Knox, a homebuilder, started what became the Knox Boatyard in 1832.

More than 75 steamboats were built there over 50 years. The yard was located along today’s Virginia Street in Harmar. His descendants were active in the business; they also served as ships captains, and public servants. A grandson, Harry D. Knox, owned the iconic Anchorage mansion from 1895-1905 and gave it that enduring name.

The Knox boatyard was sold in 1903. Steamboat building ended in Marietta after an amazing run of 70 years.