The Edmund Fitzgerald was named for the then president and chairmen of the board of Northwestern Mutual, Edmund Fitzgerald. The vessel was built at Great Lakes Engineering Works of River Rouge and launched on 7 June 1958. At time of launch, the Fitzgerald was the first ship built to the maximum size of the St. Lawrence Seaway and was the longest ship on the Great Lakes until the launch of the Murray Bay in 1959. Edmund Fitzgerald is the most well known Great Lakes shipwreck disaster being immortalized in song. Sunk in 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald is the most recent Great Lakes shipwreck. It is not sunk in Wisconsin waters but on the Canadian side of Lake Superior.

Although the Edmund Fitzgerald had Milwaukee listed as it's homeport, the vessel only visited Milwaukee once during its career on 21 July 1959. A steelworker's strike had halted steel production nationwide forcing ore boats into port. Nearly every steel mill in the country was shut down. Columbia Transportation, which managed the Fitzgerald arranged for space at Jones Island in the Port of Milwaukee for the massive ship to ride out the strike. Two days after arriving, on 23 July the vessel was opened to the public for tours and more than 11,500 people came to visit the ship. The Fitzgerald was docked in Milwaukee for three months while awaiting a resolution for the steel strike.


On 9 November 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald departed Superior Wisconsin with a load of taconite pellets for Zug Island, Detroit.