By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
MANISTEE — Frank E. Kirby designed some of the most influential vessels in Great Lakes history, helping usher in the transition from wooden ships to iron and steel while laying the foundation for the rail car ferry industry that would transform ports such as Ludington and Frankfort.
Author Richard Gebhart will discuss Kirby’s legacy on Friday, June 20, when he serves as keynote speaker during the Society for the Preservation of the S.S. City of Milwaukee’s annual fundraiser aboard the historic rail car ferry, turned museum, in Manistee. Gebhart’s presentation will be based on his new book, “The Great Lakes Ships of Frank E. Kirby” (Michigan State University Press, $29.95).
While Kirby’s name is familiar to maritime historians, Gebhart said surprisingly little has been written about the naval architect whose work touched nearly every corner of Great Lakes shipping.
“I was struck by the fact that there was really no biography of the man,” Gebhart said. “That’s when I knew right away that I had to do it.”
For Ludington-area readers, Kirby’s importance extends directly to the origins of cross-lake rail ferry service.
Among his notable designs were F&PM No. 1 and F&PM No. 2, built for the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway in the early 1800s. The vessels served as predecessors to the rail car ferries that later made Ludington one of the most important transportation ports on the Great Lakes.
Kirby also designed the tugboat Sport, recognized as the first steel vessel built on the Great Lakes, demonstrating the advantages of steel construction during a period when wooden ships still dominated regional fleets. The tugboat served the Port of Ludington for several years in the late 1800s.
Another significant chapter in Kirby’s career involved transportation entrepreneur Albert E. Goodrich, who commissioned him to build the steamers Wisconsin and Michigan, which served the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway from Ludington to Wisconsin ports. The vessels were among the early iron-hulled ships operating on the Great Lakes and reflected the industry’s rapid technological evolution.
“Anytime you would research anything relative to the Great Lakes and Detroit shipbuilding, Kirby’s name always came up,” Gebhart said. “It was ubiquitous.”
Kirby’s influence stretched beyond Ludington. He designed Ann Arbor No. 1 and Ann Arbor No. 2, the first rail car ferries to operate on Lake Michigan from Frankfort. Their success demonstrated the practicality of transporting railroad cars across the lake and helped establish a transportation system that would expand throughout the region.
His work also included the Straits ferries St. Ignace and Chief Wawatam, the river ferries Lansdowne and Pere Marquette 14, the excursion steamer Tashmoo and vessels for the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co.
Among the best-known Kirby designs were the Bob-Lo steamers Columbia and Ste. Claire, the Milwaukee Clipper and the passenger liner City of Detroit III, considered one of the finest passenger vessels ever built for the Great Lakes.
Today, only three Kirby-designed passenger vessels survive. The SS Milwaukee Clipper, preserved as a museum ship in Muskegon, welcomes visitors aboard one of the last remaining examples of Kirby’s work. The SS Columbia is undergoing restoration in Buffalo, N.Y., while preservation efforts continue for the SS Ste. Claire in Detroit.
“The thing that I’m most amazed about is that it’s taken so long for somebody to write about him,” Gebhart said. “The entire light he shone on Great Lakes shipping history over a half-century is just astonishing.”
Gebhart, who lives in Cochrane Township along the St. Clair River, said the book grew from years of researching Great Lakes history and repeatedly encountering Kirby’s name in shipbuilding records and maritime archives.
While conducting research at the Burton Historical Collection in Detroit, Gebhart examined Kirby’s surviving scrapbooks, correspondence and business records. During the project, he was also contacted by Kirby’s great-grandson, Nick Kirby, who shared family documents and interviews conducted with the naval architect before his death in 1929.
“I was floored,” Gebhart said. “It was really emotional. It was like we had blood that we didn’t know.”
Gebhart said he deliberately avoided writing a traditional vessel history and instead focused on the people, business relationships and technological innovations that defined Kirby’s career.
“I knew from the get-go that it was not going to be a book dedicated to vessel histories,” he said. “The story was the guy himself.”
That approach will also shape his June 20 presentation aboard the City of Milwaukee. Rather than relying primarily on photographs of ships, Gebhart plans to share rare archival documents, correspondence and materials that illustrate Kirby’s relationships with railroad executives, financiers and industrialists who helped shape Great Lakes transportation.
Among the items will be a rare invitation to the 1892 launch of Ann Arbor No. 1 and documents connected to the development of rail ferry service on Lake Michigan.
“I know I’m going to have things that people have never seen before,” Gebhart said.
For Gebhart, the book is long-overdue recognition for a man whose designs carried generations of Great Lakes travelers and freight while helping define maritime transportation in Michigan and beyond.
“This story had to be told,” he said. “This guy was phenomenal. Just how many lives and vessels that he touched — it had to be done.”
Gebhart’s presentation will begin at 5:15 p.m. aboard the S.S. City of Milwaukee during the Society for the Preservation of the S.S. City of Milwaukee’s annual fundraiser on Friday, June 20. The event is open to the public and includes the Anchors & Axles Car Show, ship tours, maritime exhibits, a silent auction and the premiere of the documentary “Railroad on Water: The Legend of the S.S. Badger,” by Drayton Blackgrove.
Admission to the presentation is included with event activities. Lunch and documentary tickets are available separately. Attendees are encouraged to RSVP through the organization’s website.
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