FIRST - Successful Steamboat - Hartford, CT
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 41° 45.859 W 072° 40.971
18T E 692613 N 4626204
A pair of plaques commemorating the launch of the first successful steamboat and honoring its inventor, John Finch, is located in the first floor center hall of the Capitol Building in Hartford, CT.
Waymark Code: WMPJ0T
Location: Connecticut, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2015
Views: 3
John Finch designed the steamboat "Perseverance", which was successfully operated on the Delaware River on August 22, 1787. Fitch was issued a patent for the first steamboat on August 26, 1791. The "Perseverance" operated 20 years before the more famous Robert Fulton built the "Clermont", in 1807, which was the first steamship to become a commercially success.
A pair of bronze plaques in the Connecticut Capitol building commemorates the first successful steamship and the inventor John Fitch. The large upper plaque has a relief sculpture of the right profile of John Fitch and the following inscription:
THIS TABLET
ERECTED BY
THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT
COMMEMORATES THE
GENIUS PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE
OF
JOHN FITCH
A NATIVE OF THE TOWN OF WINDSOR
THE FIRST TO APPLY STEAM
SUCCESSFULLY TO THE
PROPULSION OF VESSELS
THROUGH WATER
Below, a smaller bronze plaque added in 1969 is inscribed:
THE PLAQUE ABOVE WAS PLACED IN 1887
FOR THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LAUNCHING
OF THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL STEAMBOAT,
AUGUST 22, 1787, BY JOHN FITCH
WHO WAS BORN IN WHAT IS NOW SOUTH WINDSOR
AND DIED IN 1798 AT BARDSTOWN, KENTUCKY
WHERE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN 1927
ERECTED A MONUMENT IN HIS HONOR
PLACED BY HARTFORD COUNCIL
NAVY LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES
1969
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