Milwaukee Maritime Trails Marker
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Milwaukee Maritime Trails Marker
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Milwaukee Maritime Trails Marker on Summerfest Grounds
 
Details
Attraction
Location
Body of Water: Lake Michigan
Trail Name: Lower Lake Michigan
Year Built: 2006
Nearest Address: Henry Meier Festival Grounds 639 E Polk St
Nearest City: Milwaukee
County: Milwaukee
Zip Code: 53202
Latitude: N 43°01.92000'
Longitude: W -087°53.88300'
Attraction
Features
Open to public?: Yes
Mooring buoy?: No
Mooring buoy in place?: No
Snorkelable?: No
Dive guide?: No
Trails sign?: Yes
National Register?: No
Attraction
Description
The 338-foot railroad carferry SS Milwaukee was launched as the Manistique, Marquette and Northern #1 in 1903. She was designed by the famed marine architect Robert Logan and built in Cleveland by the American Shipbuilding Company. Acquired by the Grand Trunk Railroad in 1908, the Milwaukee shuttled freight cars between her namesake city and Grand Haven, Mich. Shipping freight cars across Lake Michigan bypassed the chokepoint of Chicago, sparing railroads time and expense. Carferries were the only ships on the Great Lakes built to operate year-round, and their crews were admired by vessel operators the world over for their rugged efficiency. Powered by twin steam engines, the SS Milwaukee could carry 25 to 30 loaded boxcars in her cavernous hold. She served her owners faithfully until October 29, 1929, when she departed Milwaukee harbor into the teeth of a ferocious nor'easter. She and her crew of 40 to 50 never reached their destination. Five days later, a note washed ashore near Grand Haven, Mich. The SS Milwaukee now rests in 125 feet of water four miles east of Whitefish Bay with her bow facing southwest, confirming the ship had turned back towards Milwaukee harbor, exposing her low stern to the worst of the tremendous seas reported in the purser's note. Stripped of her upperworks, the wreck is a tangle of exploded deck gear, hull plates, and rail cars. The damaged sea gate (a four-foot-high barrier designed to prevent a following sea from swamping the car deck) hangs wrenched from the stern, twisted in a crude 'W' shape.
 
Map
 
Nearby
Attractions (15)
Appomattox Buoy
Appomattox Maritime Trails Marker
Celebrating the Sturgeon Maritime Trails Marker - Lakeshore State Park
Denis Sullivan
Dredge No. 6 Buoy
Milwaukee Breakwater Lighthouse
Milwaukee Maritime Trails Marker
Milwaukee Pierhead Light
Milwaukee Public Library Marine Collection
Milwaukee Public Museum
North Point (Milwaukee) Lighthouse
Pier Wisconsin
Prins Willem V Buoy
Self-Unloaders Maritime Trails Marker - Lakeshore State Park
Tanner Maritime Trails Marker - Lakeshore State Park
Shipwrecks (85)
A.B.C.F.M. (American Baptist Council Foreign Mission) (1854)
A.W. Lawrence (1881)
Adell (1860)
Algomah (1861)
Alice E. Wilds (1883)
Alleghany (1849)
Appomattox (1896)
Ashtabula (1854)
Badger (1837)
Barbarian (1855)
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Shipwrecks (85)
A.B.C.F.M. (American Baptist Council Foreign Mission) (1854)
A.W. Lawrence (1881)
Adell (1860)
Algomah (1861)
Alice E. Wilds (1883)
Alleghany (1849)
Appomattox (1896)
Ashtabula (1854)
Badger (1837)
Barbarian (1855)
Black Hawk (1861)
Boston (1846)
Buckeye State (1852)
Buena Vista (1847)
C.C. Trowbridge (1838)
Cape Horn (1857)
Contest (1863)
Cumberland (1847)
E.M.B.A. (Employes' Mutual Benefit Association) (1890)
Edward E. Gillen (1872)
Edward E. Gillen (1908)
Elbe (1853)
Emily A. Roelofson (1854)
Evergreen (1864)
Fearless (1893)
Fitz Simons & Connell Dredge #6 (1912)
Freddie (1901)
Free Mason (1854)
George W. Westcott (1863)
Golden (1892)
Grace Grummond (1869)
Grayling (1876)
H. Marsh (1838)
Hiram R. Bond (1888)
Honest John (1849)
Hunter (1855)
Hurrah Boys (1872)
Ida H. Lee (1863)
J. Steinhart (1853)
J.P. Decoudres (1873)
John D. Dewar (1885)
John F. Porter (1840)
John V. Jones (1875)
Josephine (1874)
Kearsarge (1864)
Kenosha (1919)
Knight Templar (1890)
L.W. Perry (1870)
Laurina (1875)
Lavinda (1863)
Leo (1886)
Liberty (1835)
Lightship 57 (1891)
Lily E. (1869)
M.H. Stuart (1921)
M.J. Cummings (1874)
Maine (1852)
May Queen (1853)
Mayflower JR.(1913)
Milwaukee Fireboat #17 (1893)
Milwaukee Fireboat #23 (1896)
Nebraska (1849)
Nile (1843)
Norlond (1890)
Ole Bull (1853)
Orleans (1846)
Prins Willem V (1948)
Progress (1880)
Reliable (1880)
Rough Ready (1885)
Sailor Boy (1866)
Sebastopol (1855)
Sioux (1883)
Snow Drop (1853)
Solomon Juneau (1837)
Starke (1889)
Storm King (1856)
Sumatra (1874)
Tanner (1863)
Tempest (1854)
Thomas A. Scott (1869)
Toboggan (1886)
Transfer (1872)
Twin Brothers (1848)
Volunteer (1888)
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