0:07
imagine you're in Detroit in July
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1930 on the city's steam wararf at the
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foot of Wayne Street the new sidewheeler
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city of Detroit three groans as it
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settles deeper in the water a crowd
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gathers for her maiden voyage to
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Cleveland steam ships like this one and
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her sister ship City of Cleveland III
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were the pride of the Detroit and
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Cleveland navigation company a Great
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Lakes line that for decades linked
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beyond 63 years of service boast the
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newspaper headline for the 1931 season
0:43
indeed since the company's post civil
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war beginnings generations of
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Michiganders had relied on the D and C
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line families boarded for weekend trips
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to Putin in Bay Island or longhaul
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crossings to Buffalo railroad offices
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advertised their trips alongside the
1:00
ships by the early 1900s Detroit and
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Cleveland ran an impressive fleet of
1:06
sidewheers there was the city of Detroit
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1889 renamed City of Detroit 2 after
1:12
1911 and eventually rebuilt into the
1:15
excursion boat in 1924
1:18
its Lake Eerie counterpart was the city
1:21
of Cleveland built in 1880 later renamed
1:24
Alpena and then the state of Ohio
1:27
1929 a second city of Cleveland joined
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the fleet in 1886 later St ignes and
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finally Keystone which was destroyed by
1:37
1932 these paddle wheelers were more
1:40
than ships they were floating palaces
1:42
their upper decks sparkled with
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varnished wood and brass children leaned
1:47
over the railing to wave at fairies
1:48
while gamblers hid in the smoke-filled
1:51
saloon one Detroit passenger remembered
1:54
hurrying aboard we dined in the Grand
1:57
Salon danced in the prominade and by
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morning Detroit was far behind us a
2:02
testament to the romance of overnight
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travel in 1924 DNC launched its largest
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steamer ever the Greater Detroit over
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6,000 tons of steel and teak with
2:14
Broadway style neon signs and a beer
2:18
aft people came to witness the
2:20
christening and to watch her thunder
2:22
into the river for a decade she was the
2:26
fleet but the 1930s brought new
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challenges the Great Depression led to a
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decline in travel and cars began to
2:34
dominate Michigan roads the D and Sea
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line trimmed its schedules its proud new
2:40
ships still sailed the lakes but by
2:42
World War II the business was
2:44
fading the excursion steamer Goodtime X
2:47
City of Detroit 2 was retired in 1941
2:51
and the city's downtown depots started
2:53
to empty after 1945 there was simply
2:57
less demand for overnight lake service
3:01
the city of Cleveland III limped on
3:03
until 1950 when she was sold for scrap
3:06
only to sink in a storm off Pennsylvania
3:10
Breakers the city of Detroit Third made
3:13
her final Detroit run in 1954 and by
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1956 her cabins had been torn out and
3:20
the paddle wheels were sold for scrap
3:23
imagine a child running alongside the
3:25
rails as the Detroit 3 slipped into the
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Detroit River the last time a large
3:30
passenger sidewheeler ever left this
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dock by then the roar of car engines had
3:36
drowned out the ship's whistle today the
3:39
DNC Navigation Company lives on in
3:42
memory maritime historians have scoured
3:45
old company logs and museum archives to
3:48
piece together its story we know now
3:51
that the proud sidewheers of the DNC
3:54
were the last of their kind on these
3:57
and though today's travelers race
3:59
between Detroit and Cleveland on
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freeways the line's century of service
4:03
is a testament to Michigan's maritime
4:06
heritage on Bell Isle the Dawson Great
4:09
Lakes Museum keeps a physical memory the
4:12
Gothic Room from the city of Detroit 3
4:15
painstakingly reassembled from the
4:17
dismantled steamer every polished panel
4:20
there whispers "Welcome aboard."
4:24
For many Michiganders those words once
4:26
meant more than a journey they meant an
4:29
adventure the Detroit and Cleveland
4:31
Navigation Company was more than a ferry
4:34
line it was a symbol of an era when end
4:36
of the road meant boarding a steam ship
4:39
not a highway and though its last ship
4:42
sailed away over half a century ago that
4:45
epical crossing of Great Lakes waters
4:47
remains etched in Michigan's story as
4:50
vivid as a steamer's wake under a summer
