Tugboat Urger is floating museum, sharing canal history

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 October 2015 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Tugboat Urger, built in 1901, has spent the past week in Orleans County, first docking in Medina on Sept. 30 before coming to Albion on Friday. The vessel is heading to Holley today and will welcome Holley fourth-graders for a tour and educational program on Tuesday morning before departing for Brockport.

The tugboat was originally used as a fishing boat and commercial shipping vessel for its first two decades. In the early 1920s, the Urger was sold to New York and was used to haul machinery, dredges and scows on the canal system for 60 years until the boat was retired from services in the 1980s.

The tugboat, one of the oldest working vessels in the country, is pictured in Albion this morning with the Ingersoll Street lift bridge in back.

In 1991, the Urger got new life as a “Teaching Tug.” It visits canal communities from early May until late October, educating children and adults about the canal system, which opened in 1825.

For more on Urger, click here.