Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company

The Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company was a railway transportation subsidiary associated with the Grand Trunk Western Railroad and the wider Grand Trunk Railway system. It operated train ferries across Lake Michigan, carrying loaded railroad cars between Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and ports on Michigan’s western shore. Its service allowed railroads to move freight between Michigan and Wisconsin without routing every car through the congested rail network around Chicago. The company was incorporated in Milwaukee on November 10, 1905. It succeeded the earlier Grand Trunk Car Ferry Line, which had been created through an operating agreement between the Grand Trunk Railway and Crosby Transportation Company. That earlier venture began developing ferry facilities at Milwaukee and Grand Haven, Michigan, and introduced the SS Grand Haven, but it dissolved after defaulting on its bonds. The newly formed Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company acquired the Grand Haven from receivers and continued the Lake Michigan operation under a more direct corporate structure. During its early years, the company connected Grand Trunk Western rail traffic with several rail carriers serving Milwaukee, including the Chicago and North Western Railway, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad commonly known as the Milwaukee Road, and the Wisconsin Central Railway. The ferries transferred rail cars between the Michigan railroad network and Wisconsin connections, providing an alternative to a longer overland movement through Chicago. The company’s Michigan terminal was relocated from Grand Haven to Muskegon in 1933. Muskegon Rail & Navigation Company built and operated the terminal facilities there, while the Grand Haven slip remained available for auxiliary or emergency use. The fleet developed through purchases, new construction, charters, and replacement. The original SS Grand Haven was joined in 1908 by the former Manistique, Marquette & Northern No. 1, renamed SS Milwaukee. In the 1920s, the company supplemented its own vessels with ferries chartered from the Pere Marquette and Ann Arbor systems. New purpose-built vessels included SS Grand Rapids, completed in 1926, and SS Madison, completed in 1927. After SS Milwaukee sank in Lake Michigan in October 1929, the company obtained a replacement, City of Milwaukee, which was built in 1931. The vessels also carried passengers and had sixteen cabins, but passenger service became increasingly marginal. By 1970, the Grand Trunk Western ferries were no longer carrying passengers because they could not satisfy contemporary United States Coast Guard passenger-vessel safety requirements. Their accommodations were also less competitive than those of larger and more luxurious ferries operated by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway between Milwaukee and Ludington, Michigan. By the 1970s, the car-ferry operation had become too expensive to maintain relative to its railroad value. Grand Trunk Western applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1975 for permission to abandon the service. Approval was granted three years later, and the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company ended operations in 1978. Several vessels were later scrapped or lost, while the City of Milwaukee survived as a preserved ship in Manistee, Michigan. The company is therefore principally remembered for its role in the development of cross-Lake Michigan railroad logistics and the history of North American railway car ferries.

Grand Trunk’s involvement in Lake Michigan car-ferry transportation developed from the practical need to move railroad cars between Michigan and Wisconsin without sending them through Chicago. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Michigan railroads used ferries to carry entire railroad cars across the lake. This provided a waterborne connection between rail systems on the lake’s eastern and western shores and reduced dependence on congested inland routes. The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada entered the business through an operating agreement with Crosby Transportation Company. The arrangement created the Grand Trunk Car Ferry Line and led to the development of docking slips in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Grand Haven, Michigan. Its first vessel, SS Grand Haven, was built in 1903 by Craig Shipbuilding Company of Toledo, Ohio. The initial company, however, defaulted on its bonds and dissolved in 1905. Receivers subsequently held the Grand Haven, which was acquired by a replacement corporate entity. The Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company was incorporated in Milwaukee on November 10, 1905. It assumed responsibility for the Lake Michigan ferry business and acquired the Grand Haven from the receivers. The company functioned as a subsidiary of Grand Trunk Western Railroad, itself part of the Grand Trunk railway system. Its ferries carried rail cars and exchanged traffic in Milwaukee with the Chicago and North Western Railway, the Milwaukee Road, and Wisconsin Central Railway. This interchange function made the company a specialized bridge between Michigan rail lines and railroads serving Wisconsin and points beyond. The company expanded and changed its fleet over time. In 1908, it purchased Manistique, Marquette & Northern No. 1, a vessel built in 1902, and renamed it SS Milwaukee. During the middle 1920s, it also chartered vessels from the Pere Marquette and Ann Arbor systems. The company then added SS Grand Rapids in 1926 and SS Madison in 1927, both built at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. These ships were designed for the demanding work of loading and transporting railroad cars across an often rough and seasonally difficult lake route. A major loss occurred on October 22, 1929, when SS Milwaukee sank. Wreckage was located two days later near Racine, Wisconsin. The vessel was replaced by City of Milwaukee, built at Manitowoc in 1931. City of Milwaukee became one of the company’s best-known vessels and is the principal surviving physical reminder of the operation. In 1933, Grand Trunk Western moved its Michigan dock from Grand Haven to Muskegon. Muskegon Rail & Navigation Company constructed and operated the rail terminal there. The former Grand Haven facility was not completely abandoned, since it remained available for auxiliary or emergency purposes. The relocation reflected the continuing effort to organize terminal operations around the company’s principal freight route. The vessels had passenger cabins, reportedly numbering sixteen per ship, but passengers were secondary to railroad freight. By 1970, the Grand Trunk Western car ferries no longer carried passengers because their arrangements did not meet Coast Guard safety requirements for passenger ships. Fire-safety concerns involving wood paneling in the staterooms were among the limitations. The vessels were also slower and less luxurious than Chesapeake & Ohio ferries serving the Milwaukee–Ludington route. By the 1970s, operating the ferry service had become cost prohibitive. Grand Trunk Western filed an abandonment application with the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1975. The application was approved in 1978, and the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company ended its Lake Michigan operations. The fleet subsequently followed different paths: Grand Haven was eventually scrapped after later service and deterioration, Milwaukee had already been lost, Grand Rapids and Madison were scrapped after periods of disuse, and City of Milwaukee survived as a preserved vessel in Manistee, Michigan. The company’s historical significance lies in its contribution to railroad integration around Lake Michigan and in the role of car ferries before improved land routes and changing railroad economics made the service unsustainable.

• 1978

  Operations discontinued

  [1]Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Following approval of Grand Trunk Western’s abandonment application, the company ended its Lake Michigan car-ferry service.

• 1970

  Passenger service ended

  [1]Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The ferries no longer carried passengers by this period because they could not meet Coast Guard passenger-vessel safety requirements.

• 1933

  Muskegon became the principal Michigan terminal

  [1]Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Grand Trunk Western shifted its Michigan dock from Grand Haven to Muskegon, with terminal work handled by Muskegon Rail & Navigation Company.

• 1931

  City of Milwaukee entered service

  [1]Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Companyen.wikipedia.org

  A replacement ferry, City of Milwaukee, was built at Manitowoc after the loss of SS Milwaukee.

• 1929

  SS Milwaukee sank

  [1]Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Companyen.wikipedia.org

  SS Milwaukee sank on October 22, 1929, near the Wisconsin shore of Lake Michigan. Its wreckage was located two days later near Racine.

• 1927

  SS Madison completed

  [1]Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company completed Madison, another purpose-built ferry for the Grand Trunk operation.

• 1926

  SS Grand Rapids completed

  [1]Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Companyen.wikipedia.org

  A new car ferry named Grand Rapids was built at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, expanding the company’s dedicated fleet.

• 1908

  SS Milwaukee acquired

  [1]Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The company purchased Manistique, Marquette & Northern No. 1 and renamed it SS Milwaukee.

• 1905

  Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company incorporated

  [1]Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The company was incorporated in Milwaukee on November 10, 1905, and took over the ferry operation after the earlier Grand Trunk Car Ferry Line dissolved.

• 1903

  SS Grand Haven entered the initial Grand Trunk ferry venture

  [1]Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Craig Shipbuilding Company built SS Grand Haven for the earlier Grand Trunk Car Ferry Line, the predecessor operation that connected the Grand Trunk system with Lake Michigan ferry transportation.

Specialized railroad logistics provider using car ferries to bypass Chicago-area rail congestion and connect Michigan freight with Wisconsin rail networks.

• Railway logistics · 1905

  Lake Michigan railroad car-ferry service

  The company transported loaded railroad cars across Lake Michigan between Milwaukee and Michigan ports. The service connected Grand Trunk Western traffic with Wisconsin railroads and offered an alternative to routing cars through Chicago, where rail congestion could delay or complicate movements.

• Passenger transport

  Passenger accommodation

  The company’s ferries included passenger cabins and historically carried travelers in addition to railroad cars. Passenger operations became untenable as vessels fell short of updated Coast Guard safety requirements, and passenger carriage had ceased by about 1970.

• Railway interchange · 1905

  Interchange with Milwaukee railroads

  At Milwaukee, the ferry operation exchanged Grand Trunk Western rail traffic with the Chicago and North Western Railway, Milwaukee Road, and Wisconsin Central Railway. This interchange role extended the ferry beyond a simple water crossing and made it part of a broader freight-routing network.

• 1975

  Application to abandon car-ferry serviceStrategy

  Background

  By the 1970s, the ferry service had become cost prohibitive for Grand Trunk Western.

  Action taken

  Grand Trunk Western applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission for authority to discontinue the operation.

  Aftermath

  The application was approved three years later, leading to the end of service in 1978.

  Source

• 1933

  Relocation of the Michigan terminal to MuskegonStrategy

  Background

  Grand Trunk Western reassessed the location of its Michigan-side ferry facilities after operating from Grand Haven.

  Action taken

  The principal dock was moved to Muskegon, while the Grand Haven slip was retained for auxiliary or emergency use. Muskegon Rail & Navigation Company built and operated the new terminal facilities.

  Aftermath

  Muskegon became the main Michigan base for the company’s remaining Lake Michigan ferry operation.

  Source

1. 1Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Companyen.wikipedia.org