Warminster Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

John Fitch's Steamboat

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., July 2, 2009

1. John Fitch's Steamboat Marker

At original location

Inscription. Fitch tested near here a model steamboat in 1785. Before his death in 1798, he built 4 mechanically successful steamboats. The first in the U.S., they proved financial failures, leaving final success of the idea to Robert Fulton.

Adjacent, stone marker:
John Fitch here conceived the idea of the first steamboat. He ran a boat with side wheels by steam on a pond below Davisville, 1785.
Bucks County Historical Society 1902

Erected 1947 by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Waterways & Vessels. In addition, it is included in the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1785.

Location. 40° 11.476′ N, 75° 4.436′ W. Marker is near Warminster, Pennsylvania, in Bucks County. It is in Warminster Township. It is on Newtown Road south of Street Road (Pennsylvania Route 132), on the left when traveling south. Markers were relocated to the grounds of Craven Hall & the John Fitch Steamboat Museum. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 599 Newtown Road, Warminster PA 18974, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Southeast Pennsylvania and in Greater Philadelphia.

It is also in the American Northeast

and in the Mid-Atlantic.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy,

New Netherland,

and one of the original Thirteen Colonies.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow

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flies: Johnsville Naval Air Development Center (about 700 feet away, measured in a direct line); Warminster Community Park-Sandpiper (approx. ¼ mile away); The Battle of the Crooked Billet (approx. 0.9 miles away); Crooked Billet (approx. 1.4 miles away); a different marker also named Crooked Billet (approx. 1½ miles away); Rev. Alfred Earle (approx. 1½ miles away); Veterans Memorial (approx. 1.6 miles away); The Battle of Crooked Billet Monument (approx. 1.8 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Warminster.

More about this marker. The marker was formerly located near 40° 12.411′ N, 75° 5.966′ W, at the intersection of York Road (Pennsylvania Route 263) and Street Road (Pennsylvania Route 132), on the right when traveling north on York Road.

Also see . . .
1. James Fitch's Steamboat. ExplorePAHistory.com (Submitted on July 14, 2011, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.)

2. Craven Hall. (Submitted on April 14, 2019, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.)

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., July 2, 2009

2. John Fitch's Steamboat Marker

At original location

Photographed by Robert C. Goodyear, circa May 2010

3. John Fitch's Steamboat Marker

At original location

John Fitch's Steamboat Markers image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., July 2, 2009

4. John Fitch's Steamboat Markers

Original location, looking north along York Road.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., July 2, 2009

5. John Fitch's Steamboat Marker

Original location, looking south toward intersection of PA 132 and PA 263.

John Fitch's Steamboat Markers (Missing) image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., April 9, 2018

6. John Fitch's Steamboat Markers (Missing)

Original location