(Note: birth date given as "ca. 1826".) Great Lakes shipping owner, b. Buffalo, N.Y. He worked for a time for various shipping interests in Michigan, and moved to Chicago about 1854. In 1855 Goodrich entered the Great Lakes shipping business when he started a freight and passenger service between Chicago and Milwaukee, as well as Green Bay and other Wisconsin ports. The business expanded steadily, and in 1868 the Goodrich interests were incorporated as the Goodrich Transportation Co., of which Goodrich was president until his death. Although he lived permanently in Chicago and was never a resident of Wisconsin, Goodrich maintained extensive headquarters in Manitowoc where many of the company's ships were built, and for a time the Goodrich lines were one of the most important factors in Great Lakes commerce. Inland Seas, 1 (1945); Chicago Daily News, Sept. 14, 1885; Milwaukee Sentinel, Sept. 15, 1885; WPA field notes.Learn More
Dictionary of Wisconsin History
Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.
[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]
