Grafton River Family Offers Towboat Delivery Services

A family with deep roots in the river community of Grafton, Ill., is expanding its business to bring food, supplies, package deliveries and crew changes to towboats. Grafton Towboat Services is a project that the family has been thinking about for 20 years, according to Joe DeSherlia.

The family—Joe, wife Jan, and sisters Jen Gibson, Mary Karen Wittman and Laura Stemm—have operated Grafton Harbor Marina for more than 20 years, along with a tour boat called Hakuna Matata that offers local cruises, a gift shop, boat rental and winery.

“We saw a need in our area and decided it was time to jump in,” Joe DeSherlia said.

Grafton has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. It has attracted new restaurants and tourist attractions, and its riverside events are bringing in visitors. Nearby Pere Marquette Park is noted for the nesting bald eagles it attracts, which have in turn attracted eagle-watchers.

Joe DeSherlia and his brothers are current captains, and his family has lived in the Grafton area “for generations,” he said. His father worked on the river as a game warden. His two grandfathers each owned a local business in Grafton.One ran the DeSherlia Fish Market, supplying catfish, spoonbill, buffalo and carp to local seafood markets, and the other owned Keller’s Steakhouse, a well-known local restaurant.

The business can also draw on the services of a community of retired captains to operate the pontoon boat the company uses to deliver groceries, packages and mail to vessel crews. Another family business is First Mate Boat Sales, managed by Stemm, that sells boats within but not limited to Pool 26. ‘We often use these same captains for sea trials and to deliver to various destinations,” Stemm said.

The family hopes to expand its fleet to increase the company’s delivery range still farther. The company will also make deliveries by van to vessels docked at Wood River, St. Louis Harbor and other destinations along the Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

Sinclair’s Food in nearby Jerseyville, Ill., which has been serving the area since 1940, supplies the groceries. Like Grafton Towboat Services, Sinclair’s is a family business. Gibson stresses the high quality of Sinclair’s meats.

“They cut their own steaks by hand and will custom-cut them at a boat’s request,” she said, offering significant value compared with bulk packages of supermarket meats—especially at today’s meat prices. Sinclair’s produce is fresh, locally sourced and stocked daily.

“Nothing has been sitting in a warehouse,” Wittman said. “The food is very fresh.” Thanks to the partnership with Dave Wittman at Sinclair’s, she said, “We charge shelf prices to towboats, with no markup” for groceries, only a straight delivery fee.

Gibson adds that the business has an ideal location, at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, and just above its confluence with the Missouri, above Lock and Dam 25. “Now that the lock is back open [after its gate repairs], it’s a good time for us,” Gibson said. Joe DeSherlia said the business hopes to add parts delivery soon.