Kewaunee Historic Waterfront (Car Ferries) Maritime Trails Marker
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Kewaunee Historic Waterfront Maritime Trails Marker
 
Details
Attraction
Description
Marker is located on the waterfront in Harbor Park just northeast of the Kewaunee Railroad Depot.
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Marker Narrative Text:
Wisconsin’s Maritime Trails
Historic Waterfront

Great Lakes Railroad Ferries
Driven by geography, economics, and transportation technology, the cross-lake railcar ferry service represents a unique chapter in U.S. maritime and railroad history. The Great Lakes presented a barrier for railroads. In the 1800’s, the “Big Three” ferry operators – the Ann Arbor Railroad, Pere Marquette/Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, and the Grand Trunk Western Railroad – developed plans to connect rail lines on opposite shores of Lake Michigan and drove economic growth in port cities.

In this era of technological change and rapid industrial and commercial expansion, cross-lake service created a shorter, faster connection between the resource-rich settlements of the “new” Northwest Territories (Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana, and Idaho) and the commercial and industrial centers of the Atlantic seaboard.

Kewaunee’s Railcar Ferry Service
Kewaunee was at the heart of this transporation revolution. The Kewaunee, Green Bay & Western Railroad extended a spur from Green Bay to Kewaunee in 1890. The first railroad cars to cross Lake Michigan aboard the Ann Arbor No. 1, departed Frankfort, Michigan on November 26, 1892, bound for Kewaunee with four railcars filled with coal. The following day, the Ann Arbor No. 1 departed Kewaunee loaded with 22 railcars bound east. Before this, cargo was unloaded and transferred to waiting ships, and reloaded aboard train cars on the opposite shore.

By the mid-1890s, ferries from the Ann Arbor and Pere Marquette (later Chesapeake & Ohio) railroads were making daily year-round trips between Kewaunee and the Michigan ports of Frankfort and Ludington. In July of 1983, the Michigan-Wisconsin Transportation Company acquired the Chesapeake & Ohio car ferry operation, and maintained service in Kewaunee until November of 1990, when the S.S. Badger made its final crossing with railcars out of Kewaunee’s harbor. The remains of the city’s two car ferry docks can be seen across the harbor on the narrow peninsula of land near the old Lifesaving Station, a reminder of Kewaunee’s rich maritime history, and the important role the city played in the railroad car ferry system.
Attraction
Location
Body of Water: Lake Michigan
Trail Name: Mid Lake Michigan
Year Built: 2019
Nearest Address: 400 Main St.
Nearest City: Kewaunee
County: Kewaunee
Zip Code: 54216
Latitude: N 44° 27.57467'
Longitude: W -87° 30.05317'
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
 
Map
 
Nearby
Attractions (8)
Dean's Pier / Carlton
Grimm's Pier
Kewaunee County Historical Museum
Kewaunee Historic Waterfront (Car Ferries) Maritime Trails Marker
Kewaunee Pierhead Light
Sandy Bay Pier
Sprague's Pier
Tug Ludington
Shipwrecks (10)
America (1873)
Buccaneer (1943)
Dawn (1888)
Edith H. Koyen (1890)
Ellen Pike (1855)
Iowa (1852)
Mount Vernon (1849)
Octavia (1849)
Rival (1861)
Thomas Spear (1880)
View 0 more
Shipwrecks (10)
America (1873)
Buccaneer (1943)
Dawn (1888)
Edith H. Koyen (1890)
Ellen Pike (1855)
Iowa (1852)
Mount Vernon (1849)
Octavia (1849)
Rival (1861)
Thomas Spear (1880)
View fewer
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