A Legacy Like A Fine Wine

Do you want to know about pleasure boating? Just rub shoulders with the Pierce family, who has been orchestrating it on Lake Tippecanoe since 1925.

The history behind Tippecanoe Boat Company has aged like a fine wine, having been established exactly 90 years ago and just getting better as time sweeps on. Wooden boat era? The Pierces lived in it. Fiberglass revolution in the ‘60s? They aided it. Having been around from the Fageol 44 and the Homelite four-stroke days, witnessing the first V-4 Johnson and the molded plywood boat, and ushering in the deck-style boats and stern drives, yes, you can say the Pierce family knows boats.

Now that Tippecanoe Boat Company is brushing up on a century, the “fourth generation” ribbon was metaphorically cut when Hallie Pierce, the great-granddaughter of founder Bruce Pierce, first stepped through the front doors with an employee name badge of her own.

“It’s pretty neat. You don’t hear about that very often,” Hallie says as she smiles. Her father, Bruce (named after his grandfather), has been clocking in hours himself since he was a kid almost 60 years ago.

These two and the rest of the team offer sales, service and a large parts department to each visitor.

“We often have parts that no one else has because we’ve been here so long,” Hallie laughs. “We’ve got stuff going way back.”

One Stop Shopping

The full-service marina sells Sanpan, Aqua Patio and Sweetwater pontoons, Hurricane deck boats, and Lund fishing boats, as well as Paddle King paddle boats. The outboard lines they represent are Honda, Mercury and Yamaha.

The Pierces also own a separate company, Tippecanoe Boat Rental Corp., which is the only place in the area that will rent out speed boats and deliver them to other lakes. For the small lake area they’re in, they have an impressive fleet of 11 gorgeous rentals.     

“It’s a tough business, so we’re pretty proud,” Hallie adds.

With six full-time employees handling every part of the company, you could definitely say they’re a very small team that can handle a very large amount work. The three guys in the service department heroically take care of all the rentals as well as the customer service needs, for example.

Hallie says they consider themselves to be “very, very lucky” to have such an awesome and loyal group. Just a few years ago, one of their employees retired after 50 years and another after 38 years.

“We get people and they stay, and it’s just a nice place to be,” Hallie sums up.

History Lesson

So how did Tippecanoe Boat Company first get its feet wet? In 1925, founder Bruce Pierce was a successful grocery store owner near Jonesboro, Ind., with an itch to build a resort. Always loving to visit Tippecanoe Lake when he wasn’t wrapped up with his business, this was the year he decided to buy a large piece of lakefront property and go to work transforming it. Bringing out his old steam shovel, Bruce shoveled out a lagoon with a channel that led to Tippecanoe’s clear waters. He envisioned a trout pond and beautiful hotel area that he intended to create by hand to welcome folks to the northeast side of Tippecanoe Lake.

A boat would, of course, be necessary, and he thought to himself, “Well, I can get it for less if I buy three.”

So he did exactly that.

Sure, boats weren’t exactly up there with dry beans and gift cards on U.S. News’ list of top 15 things to buy in bulk, but then again Bruce wasn’t your ordinary kind of man.

The three boats arrived at the Leesburg, Ind., railroad station in wooden crates. They were then brought home on a flatbed trailer. Curious to see what he had bought, Bruce opened one of the crates to take a look. He and the other men then went back to work, leaving the new boat in the open.

By the end of the day, all three boats had been sold to curious visitors who just happened to pass by. So naturally the thought hit him that maybe he should sell boats. And thus was the beginning of Tippecanoe Boat Company and a family business that continues to progress side-by-side with pleasure boating through the unspooling of the years.

Same Welcoming Environment

In many ways, the marina looks much the same as its beginning—the lagoon and channel still sparkle in the sun, and Bruce’s original vision of welcoming people to such a beautiful lake is still carried out by family like cheerful Hallie and dedicated Bruce—albeit in a way nobody quite expected at first.

And now, having built a solid reputation for fair dealings, superior marine products, and an exceeds-expectations caliber of service, you can definitely say the Pierces continue to carry out Bruce Pierce’s dream as they share this message with every person who walks through their doors: Welcome to Lake Tippecanoe.   

Photography by the Tippecanoe Boat Company Staff