Riverton Steamboat Landing

Riverton Steamboat Landing. . , The face of Riverton, then and now , In 1851, travel on rough dirt roads and primitive, sooty railroads was unpleasant - but steamboats on the river were fast and smooth., Riverton was laid out with the steamboat pier as the town's front door, the easiest way to travel to other river towns or to the City, where connections could be made for destinations near and far. Milk and produce were shipped out and goods were unloaded here., Today, the pier is still our focal point, the subject of thousands of photos each year. Wedding party photos, engagement photos, babies on blankets … or just cell photos of the best sunsets this side of Key West, the image of the Riverton Pier provides a happy, indelible memory for countless photo., Steamboat days , The summer of 1851 transformed this riverbank in a frenzy of workers, animals and materials. Though at the end of the winter it had been just farmland, by autumn the wealthy merchant Founders had completed ten "villas" … with a substantial new iron pie. They were still advertising for contractors at the end of May but by September, when the governor of New Jersey visited, he landed at the pier and was entertained in one of the new mansions., Steamboat service to downtown Philadelphia began soon thereafter, with a ten cent fare. A number of different boats called here over the years., Freight and package delivery could include anything, from beer to milk to burlap sacks of feed to barrels of nails. Because the steamers kept to a schedule, foot passengers had to dodge freight rumbling over the bangplank during the brief stop at the pier., The Columbia was a beloved member of the Riverton family for about 40 years. Right from her launch in the Centennial year 1876 in Wilmington, she was often the regular boat on this run and usually called at Riverton several times a day., There was a "wharf man" at the pier to help with docklines and freight. When he would see the steamboat leave the Torresdale wharf he would ring the "sight bell" to let the businessmen at home know it was time to brush off the breakfast crumbs and hurry down to the wharf., Columbia was big , 220 feet long , and her paddlewheels were turned slowly by a single cylinder engine with a piston over 4 feet in diameter. , Franklin) during the 1920s and burned in a shipyard fire in Kensington in 1932., Riverton Yacht Club , As a summer retreat, Riverton almost certainly saw recreational sailing from the start. By the Spring of 1865, with the Civil War at an end, Edward H. Ogden, of 503 Bank Ave., and some friends founded the Riverton Yacht Club. In 1880 they built the charming clubhouse, looking much as we see it today and including a waiting room for steamboat passengers., In the century-and-a-half since, thousands of children and adults have learned to sail here. Today RYC's sail camps for all ages are going strong. Many who started sailing here now race competitively and cruise widely., The club tallies champions in over 50 National, International and other significant races.