Perry's Shipyards
Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Perry's ships, the Lawrence, the Niagara, and the Ariel, were built in spring, 1813, at the foot of this street. His warehouses, blockhouse, and lookout station were also located there.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the spring of 1813, with the War of 1812 raging on the Great Lakes, American shipwrights raced to build a fleet at the foot of this street in Erie. The vessels launched here — among them the Lawrence, the Niagara, and the Ariel — carried Oliver Hazard Perry to his famous victory at the Battle of Lake Erie that September. Warehouses, a blockhouse, and a lookout once clustered along this shore to guard and supply the yard.
Why it matters
The ships built here won control of Lake Erie, a turning point that secured the American Northwest during the War of 1812.
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Related people
- · Oliver Hazard Perry
Related events
- · Battle of Lake Erie, 1813
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Erie County
Erie, PA · est. 1981
Erie County was carved from Allegheny County on March 12, 1800, taking its name from Lake Erie and, through it, from the Erie Indians who once lived along its shores. The county seat, laid out in 1795, grew into a bustling Great Lakes port and became a city in 1851. During the War of 1812, ships of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's fleet were built here before winning the decisive 1813 Battle of Lake Erie.
Captain Daniel Dobbins
Erie, PA · est. 2003
A merchant mariner turned naval officer, Daniel Dobbins carried the alarming news of the fall of Forts Mackinac and Detroit to Washington in the opening months of the War of 1812. Commissioned a sailing master, he returned to Erie to oversee the building of the very squadron that Oliver Hazard Perry would command to victory in the Battle of Lake Erie. Dobbins spent three decades in the Navy and Revenue Cutter Service.
Flagship Niagara
Erie, PA · est. 1948
During the War of 1812, control of Lake Erie was decisive for the fate of the American Northwest. On September 10, 1813, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry led a hastily built American squadron against the British fleet; when his first flagship, the Lawrence, was shot to pieces, Perry famously transferred to the Niagara and pressed the fight to victory. His terse report—"We have met the enemy and they are ours"—became one of the young republic's most quoted lines.
African American Sailors in the Battle of Lake Erie
Erie, PA · est. 1996
When Oliver Hazard Perry's squadron met and captured a British fleet on Lake Erie on September 10, 1813, African American sailors were among the skilled seamen who made the victory possible. Their labor and seamanship were critical to one of the young United States' most decisive naval triumphs in the War of 1812. This marker at Erie, where much of that fleet was built and based, restores their names to the record of that day.