Lots of Milwaukeeans can remember when the Milwaukee Clipper made its regular run across Lake Michigan, carrying passengers and cars to Muskegon, Mich.
Although service ended in 1970, the Clipper could still be seen on the western shores of the lake until recently. A Windy City businessman bought the ship in 1977 and moored it at Navy Pier and, later, on the Chicago River, alongside the Michigan Avenue bridge.
Now, it's back in Muskegon where there are plans to moor it permanently and open it for overnight stays, tours and special events. The project is just one of a number relating to ships with Milwaukee ties.
The SS City of Milwaukee and LST 393 are also on Lake Michigan's eastern shore, awaiting restoration.
THE MILWAUKEE CLIPPER
The Milwaukee Clipper is actually an updated version of the Juniata, a 361-ft. ship with a wood superstructure, built in Cleveland in 1905. New safety requirements beached the Juniata in 1937, but three years later, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company replaced the ship's wooden superstructure with an all-steel structure that was the first design of its kind in the world.
The new fireproof ship -- which featured air conditioned staterooms, a children's playroom, movie theatre and live entertainment -- was launched on June 3, 1941 with its new name, the SS Milwaukee Clipper.
For the next few years, the Clipper sailed from Milwaukee to Chicago during the week and between Brew City and Muskegon on weekends. The Chicago service was discontinued at the end of the war and service to Muskegon was curtailed in 1964, when it only sailed in summer. In 1970, this Milwaukee (and Muskegon) institution was discontinued. Thirteen years later, the Clipper was listed on the National Register of Historic Sites and in 1989 was designated a National Historic Landmark.
After a brief stay in Hammond, Ind., the Great Lakes Clipper Preservation Association was formed to preserve the steamer. The group bought the ship in 1997 and the Milwaukee Clipper returned to Muskegon after an absence of 20 years.
Now, volunteers are restoring the Clipper and turning it into a living museum of the Great Lakes. The association hopes to turn it into a bed and breakfast and banquet facility, as well as a learning center for the Great Lakes passenger trade.
To lend your support or to learn more, visit the SS Milwaukee Clipper Web site at www.milwaukeeclipper.org. Or write to SS Milwaukee Clipper Preservation, Inc., P.O. Box 1370, Muskegon, Michigan 49443-1370.
SS CITY OF MILWAUKEE
The SS City of Milwaukee -- one of six sister ships built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company -- is the last surviving Great Lakes passenger and train ferry. Built in 1930 and launched in 1931, the 348-ft. SS City of Milwaukee was constructed to replace the SS Milwaukee, which foundered during a 1929 storm. The ship was operable when it was retired from service in 1981.
The Society for the Preservation of the SS City of Milwaukee is working to preserve and maintain the railroad car ferry in Manistee, Mich. The group plans to make the ship an educational and historical artifact and hopes to collect and preserve objects relating to the Great Lakes maritime industry for educational and historical purposes.
The ship is currently open to the public. For more information, visit their Web site at www.carferry.com or write to SS City of Milwaukee, 51 9th Street, Manistee, MI 49660.
USS LST 393
The USS LST (Landing Ship Tank) 393 is also currently undergoing restoration in Muskegon. The former MV Highway 16, which served Milwaukee and Muskegon as a ferry from 1946-73, participated in the D-Day invasion at Normandy and was awarded battle stars for the Sicilian occupation, the Salerno landings and Normandy.
During the war, the ship transported hundreds of thousands of vehicles and troops, ferried casualties to safety and carried prisoners of war to detention sites. She weighed anchor in more than 30 ports in Europe and Africa. LST 393 was decommissioned in New Orleans in 1946 and sold to the Wisconsin and Michigan Steamship Company in Milwaukee.
Plans are to restore the ship to operational condition as an LST and US Navy veterans memorial. For more on the LST 393, visit www.silversides.org or write to USS LST 393, Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum, 1346 Bluff, Muskegon, MI 49441. Follow the restoration progress at www.uslst.org/lst393.htm.
Click here to read our story on the SS Badger.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
