“S. S. Badger”/Manitowoc and the Car Ferries
Lake Michigan Carferry Dock, 700 S. Lakeview Dr., Manitowoc, Manitowoc County
In the first five decades of the 20th century, Lake Michigan railroad car ferry service aided national defense and the regional economy by providing a key transportation alternative to the railroad bottleneck in Chicago. At the Port of Manitowoc, where car ferries were the major cargo carriers, Manitowoc shipbuilders constructed eleven car ferries and maintained, repaired, and remodeled many more. Five of these ships were built for the Pere Marquette Line, which later evolved into the Lake Michigan Carferry Service.
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[Source: McBride, Sarah Davis. History Just Ahead (Madison:WHS, 1999).]