The S.S. City of Milwaukee is the last remaining traditional Great Lakes passenger/railroad car ferry. Beginning in 1923, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company designed and built six sister ships which are considered to represent the "aesthetic pinnacle of car ferry design." The first two ships were built for the Pere Marquette Railroad, the third for the Ann Arbor Railroad and the final three for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad. The last of these sisters, the S.S. City of Milwaukee was launched on November 25, 1930. It was built to replace the S.S. Milwaukee, which foundered during a severe storm in 1929.
This vessel measures 360 feet in length with a 56-foot beam and 19-foot draft. It is powered by four scotch fire tube boilers developing 185 working psi. The triple expansion engines are 1,400 horsepower each. This power combined with the two 12-foot diameter iron propellers can drive the ship 14 mph or break through three feet of solid ice. The freight deck can accommodate an entire freight train (32 boxcars on four tracks), and 300 passengers on the cabin deck. The vessel sailed under the Grand Trunk Western Railroad the majority of its career, but was leased and operated by other railroads around Lake Michigan over the decades. It was purchased by the State of Michigan to operate as an Ann Arbor Railroad vessel in 1979. The ship was retired in operable condition in 1981 when the State of Michigan shut down its cross-lake ferry system.


The Northwest Michigan Maritime Museum and residents of Frankfort, Michigan petitioned the state and saved the vessel from the scrappers in 1983. In 1985 a separate non-profit membership corporation was established to manage the ship, then called the Society for the Preservation of the S.S. City of Milwaukee. In 1990 the ship was declared a National Historic Landmark. The ship also qualified as a member of the Historic Naval Ships Association, having served a role in supporting the Second World War. Unable to procure a mooring site on or around the historic Ann Arbor Railroad Marine Terminal in Frankfort harbor, the ship was towed to Manistee, Michigan in January of 2000.
On May 18, 2004, the ship was moved to the northwest end of Manistee Lake along the US-31 Highway at the Moonlite Motel and Marina. This new mooring location will now serve as the ship's permanent dock.


Information from official website.