Robert Fulton was born in 1765 on a farm in Little Britain Township, in southern Lancaster County. The area is now Fulton Township, named for him. His family moved to Lancaster city when he was a boy, after the farm was lost.
Fulton showed early talent in art and mechanics. As a teenager he went to Philadelphia and painted miniature portraits for a living.
Europe
In the 1780s he went to London to study painting with Benjamin West. He turned to engineering instead, working on canals and then on a submarine, the Nautilus, which he tried to sell to France and Britain.
The Clermont
In Paris, Fulton met Robert Livingston, the American minister, who held rights to steamboat service in New York. They became partners. In August 1807 Fulton’s steamboat, known as the Clermont, made the trip from New York City to Albany in about 32 hours.
It was not the first steamboat, but it was the first to run as a reliable business, and steam travel spread quickly on American rivers.
The birthplace
Fulton died in 1815. His stone birthplace house in Fulton Township is preserved and operated as a small museum, open on a limited schedule. A statue of Fulton and the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster also carry his name.