The hometown of legendary aviator Charles Lindbergh has had a spirited love affair with the boating industry for 90 years. But the news this week that a Little Falls boat plant will be closing has left the central Minnesota community drowning in confusion -- and with 180 fewer jobs.
"It's devastating, a kick in the teeth," Little Falls Mayor Cathy Van Risseghem said Wednesday in response to Tuesday's announcement that Brunswick Corp. would be moving the production of Crestliner and Triton boats and pontoons to plants in Missouri, Indiana and New York Mills, Minn.
"This is what our heritage is," Van Risseghem said. "Four generations of Little Falls families have been in this industry. And now this ... just when we've gotten our hopes up."
The community of 8,000 has been riding waves of emotion for five years -- ever since Brunswick bought Crestliner from Irwin Jacobs' Genmar Holdings. Two years ago, Brunswick laid off 115 workers at plants in Little Falls and New York Mills.
Then came the announcement last month that the Jacobs-controlled JD Acquisitions had bought the Larson, Seaswirl and FinCraft boat brands and the Little Falls plant that builds those boats.
"That is a real sign of hope," Carol Anderson, community development chief for Morrison County, said Wednesday. "And we need to hang onto every bit of hope after the way this happened."
Crestliner began in 1942 as the Aluminum Boat Co., when William Morse Sr. developed the small craft with its trademark red lower hull that in time would become a Minnesota icon. In 1948, the company was renamed Larson Watercraft, and in 1955 it christened all of its boats "Crestliner.''
Its first fiberglass boat, the Comanche 17, was built in 1958, and in 1964 Crestliner produced its first all-welded aluminum boat, setting itself apart from the riveted aluminum hulls built by Alumacraft and Lund.
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