In 1859, three brothers, Samuel, David and John Levingston, arrived in Orange from Ireland and purchased an existing shipyard, where they built wooden ships for more than thirty years. The son of Samuel Levingston, "Captain" George Levingston, established his own shipbuilding business in 1919-1920. In 1930, Levingston purchased five acres at Front and Mill Streets in Orange, enlarging his operation, and Levingston Shipbuilding Company operated from this location for the remainder of its existence. Incorporation in 1933 sustained the company during the slow economic times of the 1930s. Edward T. Malloy was hired in 1939 as a general manager and stayed with the company for thirty-seven years, becoming president when he bought the controlling interest in 1945. World War II brought a vast influx of business: the company had begun construction of military vessels before the United States entered the war and continued to be a major supplier for the Army and Navy during the conflict. Levingston Shipbuilding delivered its first vessel for the war effort, a 530-ton steel tugboat named Tuscarora, on December 13, 1941. Between 1941 and 1945, it built and delivered a total of 160 vessels for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army, including tugs, tankers, barges and ocean-going rescue tugs. After World War II, the company changed with the economic times and became a worldwide leader in the design, engineering and construction of offshore drilling rigs, jack-up platforms and self-propelled drilling ships. It was the only U.S. builder of all five types of offshore drilling rigs until it ceased operations in 1985.
