From collection Collection
Born in in New York state in 1884, John E. Poole graduated from Union High School on Mackinac Island in 1901. A mechanical engineer by trade, he worked with the Emergency Fleet Corp. during World War I. He eventually taught at the high school level in Van Dyke, Michigan, and died on June 19, 1954 at age 70. Throughout his life, Poole amassed data on maritime issues to add to information he began compiling in 1898 while living on Mackinac Island. By the early 1950s he was a recognized historian of Great Lakes vessel design. He served as a consultant for the book “Ships that Never Die,” and other marine oriented research projects. His wife, Queen Poole, assisted in preserving the collection by donating it in 1956 to the Marine Historical Society of Detroit. He served as president of the MHSD from 1951-53. The John E. Poole Collection was donated to the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes at Bowling Green State University in 1989.
