B.N. Morris Canoe Company

The B.N. Morris Canoe Company of Veazie, Maine, produced wood and canvas canoes from 1891 until fire destroyed the factory late in 1919. The shapeliness, style, and workmanship of the Morris canoes and boats made some of the most picturesque craft that were ever built with this construction form.

The men behind the B.N. Morris Canoe Company were Bert Morris (24 June 1866 – 31 May 1940) and his older brother, Charles (10 February 1860 – 9 May 1928). Initially, canoes were built in a shop behind the Morris family home in Veazie, Maine. The building was four stories high, with a different aspect of canoe construction completed on each floor.

When the shop behind the family home became too small for the growing company, it was replaced by a large factory-complex consisting of nine buildings, each serving a step in the canoe-building process. Although Morris was not the first to market canvas-covered canoes, it was among the first to distribute through a system of dealerships. In the early years of the twentieth century, Morris began offering a less expensive factory-direct line of canoes under the name "Veazie Canoe Company". These canoes were identical to those carrying the B.N. Morris name with the exception of being trimmed in ash or maple rather than high grade mahogany.

The evening of December 15, 1919, a fire, described in The Bangor Daily News as "... very spectacular, lighting up the country for miles around", destroyed the B.N. Morris factory complex. Articles from The Bangor Daily News and The Bangor Daily Commercial contain accounts of the fire but contradict each other in regard to the possible location of the fire's start and the extent of loss. Both articles assure the public that the factory would be rebuilt, but it was not. The factory's office building survived the fire and is today the office of a Veazie motel known as The Stucco Lodge.

Initially offered in three grades, by the early twentieth century Morris advertised his canoes as being one grade only, the standard model being planked and ribbed in cedar, with spruce rails and decks, thwarts, and seat frames of mahogany. The canoe was offered in four models, much the same in appearance but with variations in depth and width. Customers could customize their canoe with longer decks and a fancy paint job.

Early in the twentieth century, Morris began to advertise that his canoes were "all one grade" mahogany-trimmed vessels, available worldwide through dealerships. A second company, the Veazie Canoe Company, was developed to offer a less expensive factory-direct model trimmed in hardwoods other than mahogany.

Models and types

B.N. Morris canoes were offered in a single grade, and are customarily found with mahogany decks, thwarts and seat frames. Rails may be spruce or mahogany. If outwales are mahogany, they are D-shaped. Open gunwales are mahogany with a D-outwale. The following "Types" were offered:

...
Wikipedia