Stevens Family
Colonel John Stevens
1749—1838
Hoboken, NJ
The Stevens Family
of Hoboken, NJ
Steamboats of the Hudson River
The Early Years: 1807—1824
Commercial steamboating on the Hudson River began with Robert Fulton´s Steamboat successful run from New York to Albany on August 14th, 1807. As important as Fulton was in advancing steam navigation, the contributions of Colonel John Stevens and his family to steamboat and railroad development made the Stevens´ name prominent in steam engineering.
In 1804, while Fulton was in Europe, Stevens built a steamboat, 86 feet length, 14 feet beam, combining features of design that demonstrated talent as well as sound engineering knowledge. In 1807, Colonel John and his sons built Phoenix, which came after Fulton’s steamboat. Their steamboat was shut out of New York State waters by the monopoly New York granted Fulton and Livingston.
When the Fulton-Livingston monopoly had been swept aside, the Stevens family built the most successful steamboats to operate on the Hudson River. In the twenty years succeeding Fulton and Colonel John Stevens, the American riverboat and its steam engine were developed principally by Robert L. Stevens, the son of Colonel John Stevens. The inventions of the Stevens family and the devices they adopted were made standard practice in steamboat building. Transportation in America was advanced, and the development of the country quickened because of their genius.
Their memory is honored through the Stevens Institute of Technology, which they founded in 1871. The Stevens Institute of Technology open as the first institution dedicated to educating mechanical engineers.
The Stevens Family
From "Steamboat Days," by Fred Erving Dayton (1880 - ), Illustrated by John Wolcott Adams, Published: New York, Frederick A. Stokes, 1925
The inventions of the Stevens family and the devices they adopted made standard practice in steamboat building. Transportation in America was advanced, and the development of the country quickened because of their genius. Their memory is honored through the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, which they founded.The Stevens' Legacy
The Stevens Institute of Technology remains the principal public legacy of the Stevens family, whose heritage in enterprise and engineering was widespread and dates back to colonial times. Patriotism and civic duty, progress through science, pioneering entrepreneurship and inventiveness in mechanical and marine engineering have long been characteristic of both the Stevens family and the institute they founded. This web site is the story of the family and its technology.The Stevens' Steamboats
By 1806 when Colonel John started to build a 100' steamboat, the "Phoenix," designed for passenger and freight service, he had fallen out with Livingston who had teamed up with Robert Fulton to build a rival boat, the "Clermont." It was not the colonel who made the most of the innovative breakthroughs in ferries and their accessories. Colonel John was neither a mechanic nor a machinist, and many of his patented diagrams were sketchy. If he had failures and delays in his projects, it was because he had to rely on practical mechanics to implement concepts rarely detailed enough for direct execution. Thus, it was his son, Robert Livingston Stevens (1787-1856), who was the practical designer, innovator, and transportation entrepreneur in ferryboats and railroads.