Stephens Bros. Boat Builders

Over the years the company became famous for its elegantly designed pleasure craft, including sailboats, speedboats, cruisers and private yachts.

The brothers relocated their business to a partially submerged barge in the Stockton channel, giving them room to expand.

A sleek, quick craft was needed to transport commission merchants out to secure contracts with the farmers of the Delta islands west of Stockton.

Such high demand for a speedy vessel gave rise to a new Stephens Bros. design, sometimes referred to as “spud-boats”, since potatoes were a Stockton agricultural staple.

As the city of Stockton grew, the use for boats as a means of transportation throughout the Delta gave way to the increasingly popular automobile.

Needing to adapt, Stephens Bros. moved into the new field of pleasure craft as Americans became increasingly interested in boats for leisure activities.

Despite this setback, the company went on to build a number of luxury and racing sailboats including the 44-foot (13 m) Pajara, and a small fleet of 38-foot (12 m) auxiliary sloops known as Farallone Clippers.

After successfully managing the company following his brother’s death, Roy Stephens decided to retire at the end of World War II.

Stephens Bros. continued making semi-stock cruisers with their generic outside hulls and custom designed interiors.

By this time, Stephens Brothers had made such a name for themselves through build quality and level of craftsmanship that these yachts were reserved for wealthy clientele.

However, this short-lived transaction proved to be a poor financial investment so the brothers bought the company back just three years later.

With rising expenses and a slowing market, Stephens Bros. was no longer financially viable, and closed down in the spring of 1987.

A collection of Stephens Bros. documents, photographs and original drawings are available to the public in the archives of The Haggin Museum in the brothers’ hometown of Stockton, California.