As the morning fog was just starting to clear along the Merrimack River, there was a forlorn whistle in the distance.
The youngsters playing marbles off North Main Street were brought to a stop, listening intently to see if their young active imaginations were keen or perhaps not. The game stopped for a full two minutes and there it was again, a whistle down by the river. They went off with their dog closely in pursuit to find the unknown source for this strange sound down by the river, all thoughts of the unfinished game of clay marbles lost.
It was June 23, 1815, and Concord was enjoying a warm Sunday after a cool evening. It was the day of Sabbath and obligations had been fulfilled early that morning and people were enjoying the one day without labor. With the audience at hand and many now alert they traveled as a crowd down to the bank of the Merrimack, to the source of this mysterious sound that was commanding their attention; who was it that dared to disturb the silence on this day of the Lord?
As the boys, the people of the small community in Concord and yes, even the minister, approached the bank of the river just east of Main Street they were met with an amazing sight. Before their eyes was the first steamboat ever seen in Concord, and it was loaded with freight. It had traveled from Boston, through the Middlesex Canal and arrived in Concord to the delight of the young and old.
Our ancestors had indeed heard about the steamboats, some had actually seen them for they were quite popular down near Boston, but it was very rare to see one in Concord. The crowds were simply delighted and the good captain certainly enjoyed the audience, his audience, as he repeatedly sounded the steam whistle down on the Merrimack.
This Sunday was a day that they would all remember and the story of the steamboat would echo to the next generation as well as the following.
It was only a few days prior to the appearance of this mystery ship on June 23, that the Merrimack Boating Company was incorporated. A few short years after incorporation, with the steam powered ships in demand for both freight and transportation, John L. Sullivan was given the right to run steamboats on the Merrimack River. Other legal partnerships formed quickly, for all believed this was the next great adventure with transportation and a very solid investment. On June 27, 1817, the Boston and Concord Boating Company was formed and the right was given to run steamboats all the way up to Plymouth.
There was a series of canals and locks built from Boston to the north and up the Merrimack to allow these steamboats safe passage and a way around the falls and rapids of the Merrimack River. People could board the passenger steamboat in Boston and arrive safely in Concord just four days later. They were amazed and the need for the dusty stagecoach lessened with the advent of the steamboat for a time. It was said that a 30-ton steamboat loaded with freight made it as far north as Webster’s Falls in Franklin, the forks of the Merrimack River.
The popularity of the steamboat continued for a period of years, with visits to Concord and other ports delivering people and freight and stimulating commerce. As the years turned to decades things began to change. All good things do end in time. The Boston & Lowell Railroad extended railroad tracks to Concord in 1842, reducing the travel time to and from Boston, from five days north and four days south in canals on the steamboat to a mere four hours each way by train. There were attempts to continue the steamboat business from Boston to Concord, as initially desired, but it could not be done.
The steamboat Merrimack was a beautiful vessel. She graced the Merrimack River here in Concord for years. She was 150 feet long and was a “sidewheeler.” The paddle scooped the water from the Merrimack River as she followed her course around the bend in our river, sounding that glorious steam whistle almost 200 years ago.
It was the good citizens of Concord, our ancestors, for a period of two weeks that summer that enjoyed a site to be seen.
John L. Sullivan, superintendent of the Concord Boating Company, invited the ladies, gentlemen and children of Concord to board his steamboat free of charge and travel swiftly over the waters of the Merrimack River. He was a decent man, quite affluent, and he cared about the people in Concord. Many people would never see the opportunity to ride a steamboat in their short lives.
I hope my great grandfather, then just a young lad, wandered down to the river bank that Sunday morning and was welcomed aboard as a passenger by Sullivan. I hope he spent the afternoon mesmerized by the sidewheel and the steam whistle, providing wonderful dreams for the remainder of his boyhood.
It might have been a short journey up the river for him, but I know it would have provided a memory that lasted until his final day.