44. Francis W. Hagerty, Mary F. Hagerty

Francis W. Hagerty
1916–1977

Mary F. Hagerty
1920–2010

A graduate of MIT, Francis Hagerty began his Cohasset career by building light, fast, and durable rowing shells. The Cohasset Historical Society's Pratt Building has one on exhibit. He also built sailboat class 110s, widely used before the larger 210s were put into competitive use. During WWII, Hagerty developed and manufactured electronic devices used by the Army and Navy. After the war, he returned to boat building. His most successful product was a kit boat known as the Sea Shell.

By the 1960s, Hagerty and his wife, Mary had moved into the growing and popular furniture kit business with Cohasset Colonials. The company manufactured furniture kit reproductions for homeowners to build. It closed at the end of the 20th century. Cohasset Colonials was on Parker Avenue in a building that is now home to the Cohasset Maritime Institute, a community rowing organization, and the Cohasset Center for Student Coastal Research, an environmental studies facility for local youth (ccscr.org).