There are dozens of answers to this question, since there's evidence that ancient Egypt and Greece had steamboats. Leonardo da Vinci drew plans for steam engines.
However, most people say it was John Fitch or Robert Fulton. Click on each name to read their biographies.
These pages come from the 1856 book, Lloyd's Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters, recently reprinted by Jay Richiuso of Land Yacht Press. The Fitch and Fulton biographies are just a portion of the book's introduction. We highly recommend the book - it mainly consists of newspaper articles describing steamboat wrecks, including names of people who died. Great for genealogists.
Click here to see the book at Amazon.com.
There are many theories on who built the first boat before Fitch and Fulton. Believe me, I've heard from the lesser known inventors' descendents and there's a lot of controversy on this subject. In the interest of getting the truth out on the Internet, I have posted every letter I've received on the subject, along with more book titles, and more "first steamboat" theories. Click here for the All or Nothing Who Built the First Steamboat Page.
All or Nothing