Fountain history

When Goodrich shut down its pen unit circa 1890, Wilson and Betzler moved to Cincinnati to work for a manufacturer.

According to an 1892 article in the Beacon Journal, Betzler & Wilson laborers used Good­rich rubber for fountain pens.

Demand was so great and business was so prosperous that Betzler & Wilson began construction in late 1894 on a two-story factory on South Street near the railroad tracks.

1 1901 Opening of the San Pelligrino Bath House in San Pelligrino, Italy media/1901 Opening of the San Pelligrino Mineral Bath Houses.jpg plain

In 1905, Betzler patented a self-filling fountain pen with a bellows in the barrel that was designed not to leak or clog. “It fills itself,” the company advertised. “It cleans itself.

The company fell into receivership in 1908, owing Dollar Savings Bank about $4,300, but reorganized a year later, increasing its capital stock from $1,000 to $50,000.

In 1914, Betzler & Wilson bought O.E. Weid­lich, a Cincinnati pen company, and moved it to Akron.

Betzler worked a few more years before retiring from the business about 1918, bringing an end to Akron’s fountain pen empire.

In 1970 Fountain entered into professional competition and, one year later, was honored as the Outstanding New Driver at one of the most prestigious speedboat racing events of the time, the Lake Havasu World Championships.

One of the most admired and vaunted teams in speedboat racing, the Mercury Factory Team, asked him to drive with legends Bill Seebold and Earl Bentz, and by 1972 the three men had become the winningest team in the history of tunnel outboard racing.

In 1976 Fountain reached the top of his career in tunnel racing, when he won 15 out of 23 races, the most important including the famous St Louis OZ World Championships.

In 1978 the now legendary speedboat racer once again won the St Louis OZ World Championships, among numerous other prestigious races around the globe.

When he retired from active competition in 1979, Reggie Fountain had achieved a reputation and status in speedboat racing comparable to Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio in baseball and Mario Andretti in automobile racing.

In 1990, at the start of his return, Fountain overcame overwhelming odds and predictions to the contrary to beat the entire field of unusually designed catamarans operated both by professionals and celebrities.

In 1992 Fountain won the OPT World and National Championships in open V-bottom boats, as well as the APBA World Championship.

With the government's repeal of the luxury tax in 1993, Fountain Powerboats seemed poised for a financial recovery.

The year 1997 was a mixed one for Fountain Powerboats and its owner.

Sales exceeded $50 million in 1998 and showed no signs of slowing down.