By Dave "Fishguts" Hammett
Special thanks to researcher Evelyn Lasley, librarian at the Tell
City-Perry County Public Library
Cutter Boats, Inc. of Tell City, Indiana was the
Owens brother's short-lived foray into the rapidly growing late
1950's fiberglass sporting boat market. The Owens brothers (Charles,
Norman, John and William) were involved in various business ventures,
but were perhaps best known for the Owens Yacht Company, Inc. of
Baltimore, MD where they manufactured wooden pleasure boats. When
the Cutter line came into full production, however,
they stopped making wooden boats under 20'.
The Cutter factory was built in 1956-57 on State
Road 66 north of Tell City, Indiana. With much fanfare, a grand
opening was held on May 25 and 26 in 1957 and 2,700 people attended
the festivities. Bill Kennedy, chairman of the Tell City Chamber
of Commerce, presented company president E. Richard Verrill at the
opening ceremony.
Cutter Boats, Inc. was actually a subsidiary of
the Tell City Fiberglass Division of Owens Yacht Co., Inc. which
also manufactured fiberglass components such as cabin tops for wooden
Owens boats at the Tell City plant. Gene Casey was the resident
manager of this division and by 1958 had also become president of
Cutter Boats, Inc., evidently replacing Verrill.
The new plant did so well that the original building was expanded
in 1958 by an additional 14,000 square feet to 64,000 square feet.
In 1959 and at near peak production, 15-20 boats were being manufactured
per day and 176 people were employed. It was believed the plant
had enough capacity to produce as many as 800 boats per month.
It appears that full capacity was never required. In April of 1960,
after about 25 years in the business, the Owens brothers retired
from boat building and sold Owens Yacht Co., Inc. (including Cutter
Boats, Inc.) to the rapidly expanding sporting equipment
company, Brunswick Corporation. This was the beginning of the end
for Cutter boats.
Brunswick Corporation went on to acquire the Larson boat company
in August of 1960 and soon thereafter closed the Tell City Cutter
plant, moving the entire operation to Alliance, OH. This proved
to be an unprofitable decision, so after just one year at the new
location, Brunswick shut down the Alliance plant and discontinued
the Cutter line.
