The steamboat Franklin was launched at St. Albans Bay on this day in 1827. Just one year earlier, the Champlain Transportation Company had received its charter.

Competition in the steamboat business on Lake Champlain was intense. That’s why CTC ordered the construction of the Franklin. It was the largest steamboat to date, the most expensive, and, at ten miles per hour, the fastest.

The Franklin had 84 sleeping cabins, a ladies’ cabin on the main deck and a covered promenade deck for inclement weather. The Franklin’s run would last a decade, until it was dismantled and abandoned in Shelburne Harbor.

Photo courtesy the Vermont Historical Society.