Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 126630 is a 16 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, Otca model with open spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch thwarts, birch seats, a keel, outside stems, and a floor rack. It was built between February, 1939 and March, 1940. The original exterior paint color was similar to the one shown at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design37.gif which was known as the design number 37. Please attach some pictures if the original design is still showing. It shipped on March 26th, 1940 to Newark, New Jersey. A scan of this build record can be found below.
This scan and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at
http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See
https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and
https://www.woodencanoe.org/shop to donate or join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. The sail rig is not mentioned on the build record so that was probably added after it left the factory. This is not unusual. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson
