John Fitch's Steamboat

John Fitch's Steamboat is a Pennsylvania historical marker in Warminster, Bucks County, dedicated 1947.

At Craven Hall, 573 Newtown Rd., near Street Rd., Warminster

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Fitch tested near here a model steamboat in 1785. Before his death in 1798, he built 4 mechanically successful steamboats. The first in the U.S., they proved financial failures, leaving final success of the idea to Robert Fulton.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1782 · Carte de la Pensylvanie et du Nouveau Jersey (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1792 · A Map Of The State Of Pennsylvania. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1794 · New Jersey. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1797 · New Jersey (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1807 · Armees Americaine et Britannique en 1776 et 1777 dans le Maryland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Carte de la Pensylvanie et du Nouveau Jersey, 1782, covering the location of John Fitch's Steamboat, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Carte de la Pensylvanie et du Nouveau Jersey, 1782, covering this location. Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Marker data: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission via data.pa.gov

More markers nearby

Johnsville Naval Air Development Centerunder 1 mi
Crooked Billet1 mi
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On the National Register nearby

Craven Hall120 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.