Celebrating 200 Years of Steamboating in Pawtucket, Rhode Island

From the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council ,640 George
Washington Hwy, Lincoln, Rhode Island 02865.

Historic and reproduction steamboats from the United States and
Canada converged on Pawtucket, Rhode Island this summer to take
part in the first International Steamboat Muster, August 21-23,
1992. The city celebrated 200 years of steamboating on the
Pawtucket Harbor along the Blackstone River Valley National
Heritage Corridor.

Celebrated was the ride along the Seekonk River to Pawtucket, in
the experimental steamboat built in 1792 by Elijah Ormsbee of
Providence, Rhode Island with the help of David Wilkinson of
Pawtucket, R.I. This event took place fifteen years prior to Robert
Fulton’s operating his steamboat to Clermont in the Hudson
River Valley, New York.

Thousands of residents and visitors lined the waterfront to view
the operating steam launches. The riverfront looked as it had in
the 1800s. Riverboat tours of the Pawtucket Harbor brought
passengers up close to the steam boats,

Waterfront activities took place Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to
6 p.m., and included an authentic Rhode Island shore dinner, ice
cream treats, Fine Arts and Traditional Crafts Fair, New England
Riverfront Music Festival with Country Dancing, special
commemorative postal stamp cancellation, and exposition tent with
exhibits and information booths.

During the week preceding the Muster, Pawtucket celebrated Steam
Days with a Steamboat Film Festival at the Public Library, Steam
Day at the Children’s Museum, and Art, Model and History of
Steam displays at the Slater Mill Historic Site.