W. Armour & Company

W. Armour and Company was one of a few shipbuilders on the Great Lakes.

Opened in 1908, William Armour disappointed his father by going into shipbuilding instead of taking over the family's other business, Armour and Company, producer of Armour Hot Dogs. William, or "Big Shot Willy" as he was called by his friends, opted against working in the meat industry after visiting one of his families plants as a child. While he enjoy eating hot dogs like most children, he wanted nothing to do with them after seeing the manner in which they were made.

His grandfather on his mother's side, Reggie Orton, was an amateur boat builder and taught William everything he knew about building ships. With these skills in hand and only $147 to his name, he started building boats at an abandon warehouse near the shore of Lake Michigan in Port Washington, Wisconsin. His boats were made to a high standard, and he quickly received many orders.

He continued building boats until 1914 when he expanded his operations and began building ships capable of traveling the rougher waters of the Great Lakes. Up until this point, his boats were mostly used on area lakes, ponds and rivers.

W. Armour and Company continued operations in Port Washington until 1933 when they abruptly closed after William was offered a position by P.T. Barnum's grandson to join the circus as a clown. While this may seem like a dramatic career change, William had always dream of being in the circus since age five. He met his grandson after he ordered a ship from W. Armour and Company. William explained his desire to be a clown, and was told by Barnum to "finish my boat and then join the circus."

William Armour toured with the circus under his clown name "Big Shot Willy" until his untimely death in 1939 from a massive heart attack. He is buried along side his brother in their original home town of Cleveland, Wisconsin