1959-1996: The Beginning

1959-1996: The Beginning

The dream began with fishing trips on the St. John's River in Astor, Florida. Two brothers, C.D. and Robert Crowe, along with C.D.'s son, Bill, would leave East Point, Georgia and head south to "Ormand's Jungle Den Fish Camp" in Astor, Florida. The men would take this trip twice a year. After several years of these fishing trips, C.D. Crowe approached the owner of Ormand's to buy one of his rental boats. The owner said, "You don't want to buy one of these beat-up boats. I will hook you up with the boat builder and let you buy one at my cost." The boat company happened to be Orlando Clipper. C.D. traveled to Orlando, Florida in the mid 1950s and bought one boat. The Orlando Clipper was intended for personal use by the Crowe family, and they kept it out in front of the Crowe Sign Company building in East Point, Georgia. One day a gentleman came along and was interested in buying that boat. C.D. sold him the boat and went back to Orlando to buy two more boats. Thus began the first generation of Crowes in the marine business.