Willis B Boyer Museum Ship

On July 1st, 1911 just before noon, hundreds of onlookers stood along the shores, and aboard the vessels of an Ecorse, Michigan shipyard in the shadow of steel and supremacy. Whether attired in long, pastel-colored dresses, and broad brimmed flowery hats or the finest business suit of the day, women and men alike, had come to the Great Lakes Engineering Works to witness history. In the sultry heat of a summer afternoon, anticipation sat on the shoulders of the audience as did a ship, the COL. JAMES M. SCHOONMAKER, on her ways.

With the drop of a bottle, breaking of glass, and mist of cold champagne against warm steel, Gretchen V. Schoonmaker christened the vessel that had been named to honor her distinguished father, Colonel James M. Schoonmaker, Civil War hero, and railroad industry innovator. Sliding sideways down the ways, the steel leviathan smashed into the water with a mammoth splash officially becoming the "world's largest bulk freighter" - the new "queen of the lakes".

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