S.S. City of Milwaukee - National Historic Landmark

This year we will have a full day of speakers, entertainment and refreshments.

Our guests this year will be author Art Chavez speaking on the construction and

launching of the Spartan and the Badger. John Brandt will be speaking on the Hurtigruten

coastal ferry service in Norway, which has many similarities to the Lake Michigan car ferries.

Rich Brauer will be speaking about the sinking of the Hartzel.

Plus, come see the unveiling of the new exhibit created by 6th grade students from Manistee Middle School.

We will also have Marty Hopkins and the Time Machine providing our musical

entertainment and we will have the grill fired up for hamburgers and hot dogs available for a small cost.

"The End of an Era," carved by Pat Pointer-

just one of our special auction items.

Come find a treasure or a gift between the hours of 11am and 5pm. It's part of Manistee's

Forest Festival Weekend, so there's even more things to do in town that weekend.

We are also asking for items to be auctioned. Please contact us here at the

ship if you have an item to donate. 231-723-3587

Did you visit us but discover that you had no place in the cramped car for souvenirs? Were there complaints about bringing home too many brochures and t-shirts? Did you momentarily compare the amount of space required by a stack of new maritime books with that taken up by one of your children?

We understand, but the choices needn't be so difficult anymore.

The S.S. City of Milwaukee online gift shop is now open. With a few clicks, you can instantly order some of our products, including official S.S. City of Milwaukee t-shirts and sweatshirts. Plus, you can purchase the standard reference work on car ferries that all diehard fans quote from (when given the chance): George W. Hilton's The Great Lakes Carferries. We'll expand the items available as spring and summer arrive.

Also, our online gift shop will allow you and fellow car ferry history buffs to acquire membership status electronically, which will include access to our new online archives (coming soon). Articles, photos, bibliographies and more will be available for browsing, as a special benefit of membership. Watch this space for more details!

ARCHIVES SECTION features records, library holdings, and more!

updated July 8, 2007

Have you ever wondered exactly what those boxcars carried across Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes? Are you researching a project and need help identifying useful books?

The S.S. City of Milwaukee's Archive section now features some of this information, and will be regularly updated in order to provide online access to our holdings. Full access is now available with membership. If you'd like to take a glimpse, we offer sample archive pages. Simply click here to enter.

CARFERRY REUNION

We had a great time at the Carferry Reunion on May 26. Over 150 visitors came to the S.S. City of Milwaukee, including ferry workers, enthusiasts and supporters. We even had many people who simply saw the festivities from the road and came to see what the whole thing was about!

With help from state Representative for the 101st District, David Palsrok, we officially opened our new Boxcar Museum, featuring a display designed and constructed by Manistee Middle School students. Additionally, we had speakers including car ferry historian Art Chavez, former car handler Pat Brandon, and shipwreck divers Valerie Olson and Jack van Heest. In between programs, visitors had a chance to see Roxy Wienand's car ferry collection, as well as intricate models of ships, engines and gears.

Musician David H.B. Drake closed the evening with songs of the sea.

Were you able to be here? If not, plan on coming for Reunion 2008. Whether you're a longtime carferry enthusiast, or just discovering Great Lakes history, this event provides a chance to interact with people who were there, and ask questions while aboard an actual Lake Michigan carferry.

We'll have pictures coming soon. In the meantime, tack a note up on the wall: the Carferry Reunion, coming again in May 2008.