Indian Lake Boat Company ~ Dart Boats Started in Lima Ohio 1920s

Cruising the lake in the Lucky Star, a Dart boat made by the Indian Boat Company.

A Shawnee Indian Princess Pin Up Girl graces the cover of this 1941 Indian Boats company brochure.

These great looking vintage advertising brochures are for the Indian Boat Company of Lima, Ohio. They made classic sleek wood speedboats and race boats that are highly coveted now, as they were then.

They had a line of several models, the Chum, Blackhawk, and Shawnee are just a few. While my ever owning a vintage Indian Boat is a boat is highly unlikely, I hope to someday acquire a pair of those seriously cool Sea Skis water skis.

Their most famous design was the Dart Runabout, which they started building in 1924.

The Indian Lake Boat Company sold the design rights for the DART to a Toledo business group, who formed their Dart Boats Inc. company in 1928.

The Indian Boat Company was still in business in 1941, as seen by the brochures, and this letter, signed by R.T. Leidner:

1925 Lima News article about the Indian Boat Company

1930 Lima News article with history of the Indian Lake Boat Co.

Indian Lake Community Church & Parsonage, Coon Lumber Co. building far right side, Russells Point, Indian Lake, Ohio

In my research, I found that the company is usually referred to as the Indian Lake Boat Company. Indian Lake, Ohio, is very near Lima, and is undoubtedly one place where they displayed and launched their demos. These brochures and the building clearly show the company name did not include the word LAKE. But the 1930 Lima News article says both names were used.

It appears they dropped the word Lake when they built the plant in Lima.

The articles say they started in 1922, as a one-man operation, affiliated with Nathan Coon's S.S. Coon Lumber Co. grounds in Russells Point/Indian Lake, then added a plant at 346 East High Street, Lima. I have yet to find any other mentions of Coon Lumber with Indian Boat Company. Nathan Coon died in 1970. His obituary does not mention Indian Boats.

A.E. Wheatley was president. No info on him. I do not know more about who started or ran the Indian Lake Boat Company.

But their creations are not mysteries...

Classic American Runabouts: Wood Boats 1915-1965

Dart Boats

• Dart Boats were first made by the Indian Boat Company, Inc. in Lima, Ohio 
• which licensed the Canadian boat builder, Greavette Boats Limited to make some of their designs and use their hardware. 
• Greavette made just 31 boats under this license and then changed to another runabout design.
• In 1928 the name and rights to Dart Boats were sold by Indian Boat Company to Dart Boats Incorporated in Toledo, Ohio which had Webb Hayes II, as its chief operating officer.

• Designer Irving “Hocky” Holler was retained from the Indian Boat Company
• The Toledo company ended production and closed in 1933.

The Great Depression devastated the company. Hayes tried to forestall liquidation, but by late 1933 the Dart Boat Company faded into history. Today, it is estimated that only 30 to 40 of the sleek, graceful Dart runabouts survive.

See video of the Hayes family on their Dart Boat.

And... They're baaack!

THE REBIRTH OF DART BOATS - 2010

Eighty-five years later, the iconic Dart boat models have resurfaced in Toledo. 

Within a few miles of the original [Toledo] Dart Boat Company factory, a skilled band of craftsmen are recreating the most beautiful of the original Dart models, as well as some interpretations of the originals.

The Ramsey Brothers have bought the name rights and now are making new Darts @ dartboatcompany.com (and they're on facebook).

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Bonus Facts

• RUM WAR!  The Coast Guard & Prohibition -- Dart boats were favorites of Rum Runners during Prohibition.
• ''Between 1928 and 1933 the Dart Boat Company built some of the finest, fastest and most elegant wooden boats in the country at their manufacturing facility in Toledo, Ohio. And because they were fast, Dart boats were popular with bootleggers who used them to transport illegal liquor across Lake Erie during the Prohibition years.'' - WoodyBoater 
• ''The Dart was a favorite of “bootleggers” who were “hauling the mail” across Lake Erie during the days of Prohibition. Even fully loaded (75 cases of liquor), the Dart could speed across the lake at night, outrunning any and every Coast Guard vessel.'' [Source]

• The Cowsills famous song, ''Indian Lake'' is, sadly, not about Indian Lake, Ohio but is about Indian Lake, Rhode Island. [Source]
• The Cowsills at Indian Lake Ohio -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrMu5MsRaYw
• Another video of the song - http://youtu.be/Qw7ubMgByYQ

• Indian Lake was a well known resort / camping spot, with an amusement park called Sandy Beach, and the speedboat races drew huge crowds. [Some local History]
• More history here -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Lake_(Ohio)
• Video of vintage restored wood boats on Indian Lake -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWGR3KMdLT0
  
  

Collecting Susie Cooper Art Deco Pottery

Susie Cooper had a long successful career, and her works are still greatly admired, desired, and collected.

Here's a biography article about Susie Cooper from a wonderful website devoted to her and her designs, The Susie Cooper Information Site.

Excerpt:

"... Susie Cooper was one of the United Kingdom's most prolific and successful ceramic designers. Her career spanned over seven decades and encompassed some of the iconic periods of the Twentieth Century. "

The site covers many aspects: her career, her designs, and collecting her wares, and much more, including showing some of her marks, and lots of photos.

A Google Search for Susie Cooper Pottery turns up many other interesting sites.

Off the Bandwagon and Leading the Thought Parade - The Political Evolution of Dr. Seuss

The blogosphere buzzed like crazy earlier this month years ago when news that the UCSD had unveiled their Dr. Seuss artwork digital image archive. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon, blogging, tweeting, facebook-posting their favorite images from the vast collection of Theodor Geisel's advertising art that he created before his famed and beloved children's books.

For those of us who aren't Seussiana scholars, it is a joy to see this trove of early advertising, full of wacky characters in a zany yet familiar world. It's almost as if there's a new Dr. Seuss book, just for grown-ups, and of special interest to us in the vintage/collectibles world.

When I saw Collectorsweekly.com's post on this same Dr. Seuss Library, I assumed it was just another entry in the growing parade. But, I was wrong. This one was written by Lisa Hix, who's the sort not to follow, but to lead her own parade, and she delved deeper into the socio-political aspects of Geisel's early political cartoons, and WWII work. Read it in full here:  When the Wild Imagination of Dr. Seuss Fueled Big Oil

And in tribute, here's a little poem by me (Marianne Dow)

Ahem...

Pay attention cried the bloggers.
Those internet bit-floggers.

Look at this they all bleeted.
Then the news was re-retweeted.

One link led to others, and more.
Dr. Seuss did ad art in his days of yore.
A zany parade of characters drawn, creative and fun.
That remind us of books read when we were young.

Now that's where most stopped writing.
Time to change bandwagons they said.
But seeing some things needed righting
Lisa Hix did something better instead.
Not one to just follow the band-leaders
She forged a new route for her net-readers.

Prejudice had surfaced in fair Seuss Land.
Someone must take the matter in hand.
Upon seeing imagery of the incorrect kind
Lisa learned the good doctor did change his mind.
By chatting with scholars of Geisel's art history
And using her noggin she solved the mystery.
Dr Seuss's brain did evolve, becoming aware
Of pre-conceived notions that shouldn't be there.

People can and do change. Geisel grew and learned that all people matter. His consciousness raised to new heights.

"A person's a person." -- Dr. Seuss

"...Geisel became a voice opposing racism..." -- Lisa Hix

“I think it’s a wonderful tribute to his sensibilities about being in the world that as time went on and these things became known, he changed. I mean ‘The Lorax’ is nothing if not a big environmental message. ‘The Grinch’ is anti-consumerism. ‘The Butter Battle Book’ is about the idiocies of nuclear war etc. If nothing else, he kept up with the times.”  --Lynda Claassen

[Lynda Claassen is Director of the UCSD Mandeville Library (The Dr. Seuss Collection is housed in the Mandeville Special Collections Library, located within Geisel Library.]

Today's Treasure: Jackie Coogan Uncle Fester Celluloid Doll Toy

Jackie Coogan Uncle Fester Celluloid Doll Toy 1930s Rare

Just wanted to share this fun item I listed on eBay years ago.

• Adorable little 5.5" tall celluloid doll/toy/figure showing Coogan as he appeared in 1921 Charlie Chaplin film "The Kid."
• Marked on back with the VISCOLOID mark -- info on Viscoloid mark from this helpful doll reference site. They show a pic of this same mark.
• They say: " 1901 -1930's Viscoloid Company, of Leominster, MA (USA). 1915 they were bought by DuPont., made celluloid dolls, one of their markings is: USA - VCO. "
• Jackie Coogan was born into a family of vaudevillians; his father was a dancer and his mother had been a child star. On the stage by age 4, Jackie was touring at age 5 with his family in Los Angeles, California. Google Search
• From playing THE KID with Charlie Chaplin, to the unforgettable lovable "creepy and ooky" Uncle Fester on THE ADDAMS FAMILY 1960s TV show, and in films & TV shows untill his death in 1984, his career spanned almost 65 years.
• See the list of his performances here on the Jackie Coogan page on Internet Movie Database.

Antique Bookplate Collecting with Expert Lewis Jaffe

I really enjoyed this Antique Week newspaper article on collecting bookplates by Barbara Beem. She interviewed an expert in the bookplate collecting field, Lewis Jaffe -- here's the link to read it online.

The variety of images and subjects pictured on book plates is fascinating. The article has several illustrations, and you can see many more, and learn more, on Lewis's wonderful blog, Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie.

For more info, links, and a look at eBay listings, check out COLLECTOR WEEKLY's Bookplate Page. Ya gotta love CW -- they cover so many collectible topics, and so well!

They even have an article on bookplate collecting written by -- guess who? Lewis Jaffe.

More Bookplate history is in this British Museum book [Amazon]: EX LIBRIS