Michigan will always be known as the automobile capital of the world, but the Great Lakes State boasts a similarly rich heritage in the development of boat building in America. By the late nineteenth century, Michigan had emerged as the industry’s hub, drawing together the most talented designers, builders, and engine makers to produce some of the fastest and most innovative boats ever created. In Making Waves, Scott M. Peters explores this intriguing story of people, processes, and products—of an industry that evolved in Michigan but would change boating across the world.

Scott M. Peters is Curator of Collections at the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing and a lifelong Great Lakes boater. A frequent contributor to Michigan History Magazine, he has been collecting information on the state’s boat-building industry for the past 25 years.