This view is of the interior of the West Point Boat House in Akron, Ohio.It was taken some time prior to 1924.The proprietor, Edward L. Zautner, was born in New York in 1862. By 1899, Zautner had founded a livery in Akron called Zautner and Linney, with Robert Linney, which was located at the Guard Lock on the Ohio Canal. It was shortly thereafter renamed the City Boat and Canoe Livery, and by 1924, had been renamed again to West Point Boat House.
This photograph appeared in the 1924 catalog of the Gunderson Canoe Manufacturing Company of Hayward, Wisconsin.The caption under the photo in the catalog reads, “Mr.Zautner, who has been buying, selling and using canoes since 1880, knows canoes through and through, inside and out, afloat or ashore.HE BUYS GUNDERSON’S year after year.”
The West Point Boat House is listed in the 1941 Akron city directory, but World War 2 must have put an end to it; in 1945, the livery building was sold and converted into a movie screen factory.