Brief History of eckford

From the Eckford Township Website.

HENRY ECKFORD

Henry Eckford was a naval architect, born in Irvine, Scotland, March 12, 1773 who died in Constantinople (Turkey) on November 12, 1832. 

He was apprenticed as a shipbuilder in Quebec in 1791 and moved to New York in 1796 where he introduced important changes and took the lead in producing ships with strength and speed.  During the War of 1812 he was employed by the government to build ships-of- war on the Great Lakes.  Later he built the steamer Robert Fulton that, in 1822, became the first ship to make a successful voyage by steam to New Orleans and Havana.  After leaving the government, Henry built war vessels for European and South American nations.  At President Andrew Jackson’s request, Henry submitted a plan to reorganize the US Navy.  Henry was about to establish a professorship of naval architecture for Columbia College with a $20,000 gift when he lost his fortune.  In 1831 Henry went to Constantinople and built a sloop-of-war for the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, established a navy yard, and was about to become chief naval constructor when he died.  Oshea Wilder, for whom Wilder Creek was named, was a surveyor and the first resident of our township.  Wilder honored Henry Eckford, whom he had befriended in England, by naming the new township for his friend.