1910: In a Ceremony-Free Launch, an Excursion Steamer Slides into the Waters of Lake Erie

May 7, 1910

The steamship SS Ste. Claire was launched at the yards of the Toledo Shipbuilding Company along Lake Erie. The vessel was built by that company for the Detroit, Belle Isle, & Windsor Ferry Company (DBI&W), which had been established in 1881.

DBI&W used its fleet of vessels to transport tourists and commuters alike to and from Detroit (including that city’s island park of Belle Isle) and the city of Windsor in the Canadian province of Ontario. Starting in 1898, the company also provided ferry service to Bois Blanc Island (popularly known as “Bob-Lo”) in the part of the Detroit River that is on the Canadian side of the border. Ste. Claire was constructed as one of the excursion steamers for those destinations. This vessel was designed for DBI&W by renowned naval architect Frank E. Kirby.

A couple of months or so before the launch of the steamer, a contest was held to give her a name. Detroit resident Emma McTavish won the contest by suggesting that the new vessel be named after Lake St. Clair between Michigan and Ontario. In 1679, French explorer René Robert Cavelier had given that freshwater lake its present-day appellation after first seeing it on what happened to be the feast day of Saint Clare of Assisi. (Her name is sometimes spelled as Claire; Ste. is the abbreviation for “Sainte,” the French word for “Saint.”) McTavish received ten dollars for her winning submission.

The launch of the steamer Ste. Claire on a Saturday was decidedly low-key. “There was no ceremony connected with the launch,” confirmed the Windsor Star. Those attending the event included DBI&W president Walter E. Campbell, his wife Edna V.W. Campbell, and their teenage daughter Esther Campbell. Esther was the one who broke a bottle of wine on the bow of Ste. Claire as the steamer slid into the waters of Lake Erie.

“New D.B.I. & W. Pleasure Boat is a Beauty,” announced the Windsor Star in a headline accompanying the newspaper’s article about the launch. The Detroit Free Press was similarly effusive when reporting on this vessel. “In point of decorative finish and equipment the Ste. Claire will in some ways surpass any of the other ships of the Detroit river fleet,” stated that newspaper.

Ste. Claire became one of the last propeller-driven excursion steamers to travel on the Great Lakes. She remained in service in this region until 1991. This steamer is still around today, despite falling into a state of major disrepair over the decades and – while docked on the Detroit River in 2018 – being engulfed in a widespread fire that destroyed the vessel’s upper decks. Ste. Claire had been added to the National Register of Historic Places (NHRP) in 1979 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992. In the time since that devastating 2018 fire, however, the steamer has been removed from NHRP and delisted as a National Historic Landmark.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

For more information on SS Ste. Claire, please check out    https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/ste-claire and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ste._Claire

Additional information on Frank E. Kirby is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_E._Kirby