2021.87.96

END OF AN ERA 1912 The Anna C. Wilson was built by Captain William P. Wilson, a decade after the golden era of Saugatuck shipbuilding had come to an end. Ninety one feet long, she was the last large boat built on the banks of the Kalamazoo until Broward Marine came to town some sixty years later. Wilson needed a companion to the John A. Aliber (see previous feature) for charter excursion work, the fall fruit business and general cargo hauling. The two vessels would comprise the successful East Shore Line. Launching a boat was an occasion for celebration and the Wilson slid down the ways – well, almost slid down – amidst much hoopla. The Commercial Record noted: “The ceremonies appropriate to the launching of a ship were carried out on the Wilson dock Saturday afternoon when the boat which Capt. W. P. Wilson and Henry have been building the past winter, was christened. .. Rev. L. A. Lash made a few remarks before the tug Walter S..took the line to pull the craft into the water. She was started twice, the second time just as she was about to go into the river, Miss Mary Randall broke the bottle and proclaimed her Anna C. Wilson, in honor of Capt. Wilson’s mother of Ganges who was present at the ceremony and as much surprised by learning the name as anyone. It was unfortunate that the tug pulled a little upstream and the ways slid sideways so the craft fell over partly on her side, which made it necessary to have her raised before she could finally be launched. The job was finished Tuesday at about noon.” For the next eight years the Wilson and the Aliber operated out of Saugatuck. The Company’s terminal was the old skating rink building, located on the present site of Wicks Park. In 1920 Captain Wilson retired and the Wilson was sold to the Morgan Company to be used to carry cider apples in the Traverse City area. In the early 1930s she was still in service as an excursion boat between Michigan City, Indiana and downtown Chicago. I thank Kit Lane for her vast knowledge of local boat building history. Her book “Built on the Banks of the Kalamazoo” is a wonderful and invaluable resource on the builders and the boats they built here. By Jack Sheridan

Remembering When

Winthers, Sally

01/02/2022

11/18/2023