The "More Than Just An Inventor!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading Volume 100, No. 1 of the Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society which I picked up at the book sale held yearly at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  The soft cover booklet is titled "The People of Lancaster County" and was edited by Jean Maysilles.  Stories about President James Buchanan, James Ross who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, organ builder David Tanneberger, Thaddeus Stevens and inventor Robert Fulton.  

Robert Fulton from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

As I read the short story about Mr. Fulton, I began to realize he was more than just the inventor of the steamship.  He was born in nearby Little Britain Township and moved with his family to the town of Lancaster the following year.  He was a young boy during the Revolutionary War when Lancaster housed quite a few war prisoners.  One such prisoner was British Major Andre who was granted certain freedoms in the town.  He happened to be an artist and gave drawing lessons to some of the young boys in Lancaster.  Robert Fulton was one of those boys.  In 1783, at the age of 17, he left Lancaster for Philadelphia where he began painting signs for taverns and shops.  

A drawing from 1807.

This led to drawing plans for carriages, buildings, machinery and buildings.  He also made maps and painted portraits and landscapes.  The leading artist at the time in Philadelphia was Charles Willson Peale who took Fulton under his wing.  Mr. Peale had studied in England under Benjamin West.  Wasn't long before young Fulton made a voyage to Europe where he met West who had attained great fame in London.  A few years later Fulton sent a letter to his mother that his artwork had been admitted to the Royal Academy.  

This sketch is dated 1813.

During Fulton's five year stay in England he made many important contacts and received commissions for portraitures and landscapes.  He gained the personal interest of the Duke of Bridgewater who was considered the father of the canal system.  Robert Fulton's life was changed due to the Duke when Fulton gained a love of science and mechanical arts.  Civil engineering became his chief concern.  Robert moved to France for study and experimentation and in 1799 was granted a patent by the French government to exhibit a panorama entitled "The Burning of Moscow".  The money he made from this gave him a chance to pursue his engineering experiments.  

An early photograph of his childhood home in Lancaster county.

In 1806 he returned to New York.  He used his talent in art to advance his mechanical projects.  It was the following year that Fulton took on paying passengers and freight on his steamboat the "Clermont."  In 1810, he and is partner built the steamship "New Orleans" in Pittsburgh and launched it a year later.  To Fulton, his art skills were a means to an end.  

A photo of his home I took a few years ago.

Originally it brought him money, but in the end it was his inventions and experimen- tation that led to his service to his country and mankind.  For me, to stand in front of his childhood home a few years ago and take photos, was a real thrill.  Through the lens I was able to imagine this young boy opening the door of not only his home, but of a lifetime of achievement to the world.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

A wooden sculpture by Hugh Cannon of Robert Fulton that stood at one time outside the Fulton Opera House in downtown Lancaster.  It how stands in a stairwell of  the famed opera house.