the beebe brothers, salsbury, johnny milot, and gar wood
Jack(John) Beebe and his brother were boat builders who not only ran their own businesses but also worked for Chris-Craft in the early days of the company. Jack(John) would go on to race boats, break records, and eventually become the chief engineer for C. Harold Wills. Wills was the chief engineer for Henry Ford and had tremendous input for the Model"T"'s success and also started his own automobile company in Marysville in 1921. Gar Wood was an inventor, racer, and record breaker who made a tremendous impact on may industries.
what can i see today?
You can learn about these pioneers as well various artifacts from the rich history of Marine City including additional boat and ship builders at the Marine City Pride and Heritage Museum. Address: 405 South Main St., Marine City, MI 48039 Phone: (810) 765-5446 Website: www.marinecitymuseum.com/
the story
Jack(John) Beebe and his brother began their careers in the marine industry at a young age. The family is shown to live in town as early as 1902. A firm called Beebe Brothers & Salsbury is seen here in 1905 and Jack's(John's) brother Martin was listed as the only partner in 1907. It appears their businesses and residence was at the same location...
In 1908 Jack(John) Beebe and Johnny Milot were already experimenting with engines and speed building this "Motor Ice Boat" and traveling 70 M.P.H. It most certainly was an early form of a snowmobile...
1910 Beebe teamed up with M.L. Baldwin in St. Clair to produce an automobile. The "Beebe" as it was to be known would have a new type of transmission and sell for about $500. It appears a prototype was built to produce orders but no other information is known...
Jack and his brother Martin both went to work at Chris-Craft in the early days. They were modifying Sterling engines and building boats for Chris Smith...
Photo Courtesy of the Algonac Maritime Musuem
Photos Courtesy of Antique Boat America
Jack landed a role as the riding mechanic on the Baby Speed Demon II and he and driver Bob Edgren won the Gold Cup for 1914. In 1915 he designed and built the Miss Detroit. Driver Johnny Milot got sick during the race and Beebe drove the boat to victory once again winning the Gold Cup. It was Beebe's victories that changed the capital of boat racing from New York to Detroit. Below is a photo of Beebe and Milot as well as Milot's boating license...
Beebe and Milot were in business together at some point as builders of speed boats, sail boats, row boats, launches, engine repair, and were sub-agents to sell the Maxwell automobile...
In 1916 the Beebe brothers left Chris Smith(Chris-Craft). Jack was summoned by C. Harold Wills to build him a boat. Wills had been Henry Ford's right-hand man and was greatly responsible for the design of the Model "T" including the planetary transmission. He also created the script that is on the present day Ford logo. The boat was to be called the Baby Marold...
The second floor of the McLouth Shipyard is where Beebe is said to have built the Baby Marold. The building was demolished around 2017 but the original office building(also pictured) still stands...
Beebe was the builder of the first 70 M.P.H. boat as reported in 1917...
Unfortunately Johnny Milot passed away on July 4th, 1918. He is shown here as a student in 1902...
Perhaps the biggest achievements of Jack Beebe's career was his position of chief engineer for the Wills Ste. Claire Motor Company. Wills was so fond of Beebe's skills he had Beebe design the engine among other parts for the vehicle. The company went out of business in 1927...
Photo Courtesy of the Henry Ford
Beebe owned a marina in town at one point as one of his many ventures...
Around 1928 Beebe opened up Beebe's Boatworks in Port Huron. It only stayed open for about a year before closing due to the start of the Great Depression...
gar wood
Gar Wood was an inventor, racer, and much more. He made his initial fortune designing the dump mechanism that is still used today in modern dump trucks...
Photo Courtesy of the Detroit Public Library
As a racer and record holder he won the Gold Cup from 1917 to 1921. He won the Harmsworth Trophy in 1920, 1921, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, and 1932. Gar also set world water speed records in 1920, 1921, 1928, 1931, and 1932
Miss America X is privately owned but is on display at the Packard Proving Grounds...
Marine City and the surrounding area were at the heart of much of what Gar Wood accomplished. This program is from the 1933 Harmsworth races...
Scenes from the 1933 race...
Not only was Wood racing but he was building boats in nearby Detroit, Marysville and Algonac...
The Gar Wood Bus was designed much like the Stout Scarab...
At one time he held more patents than any other living person. His patents included the modern mechanism for the dump truck as previously stated as well as the modern garbage truck mechanism...
Gar Wood produced boats until 1947 and retired in Florida. He continued to work on additional projects until his passing at age 91.
