On this day, January 29, 1910, the JOHN P. REISS was launched at Lorain, Ohio. The 504 ft. long steel bulk cargo steamer was built by the American Ship Building Co. originally for John J. Barlum but sold during construction to the Wisconsin Transportation Co. of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Barlum then purchased a large block of stock in the Wisconsin Transportation Co.
The REISS was named for John P. Reiss, vice president of the C. Reiss Coal Company and the secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Wisconsin Transportation Co. The REISS was a namesake and treated as a treasured family member and promoter of Sheboygan’s quality manufacturing.
A very large launching party was well attended by a large delegation of Sheboygan residents. In late February, Mr. & Mrs. John P. Reiss left Sheboygan for Cleveland to personally select the furnishings for the luxurious passenger quarters. In May, Mr. John P. Reiss presented a Sheboygan made mahogany S. W. Miller Player Piano for the delightful listening pleasure of those privileged guests on the flagship of the Sheboygan fleet. “A high compliment to the Sheboygan industry showing again that good things can be found at home as elsewhere” as stated in the Sheboygan Daily Press of May 4, 1910.
The REISS entered service on April 15th, clearing Lorain, Ohio, loaded with coal for Escanaba, Michigan. She did the Reiss family proud and sailed for many years with several companies always under her original name. In 1913 she was transferred to the North American Steamship Co.; 1920 to Reiss Steamship Co.; 1969 to American Steamship Co.; 1971 to Kinsman Marine Transit Co.; and in 1972 sold to A. J. Frank & Son as scrap who resold her to Spanish shipbreakers. She cleared Quebec on June 29, 1973, paired with the steamer CITY OF SAGINAW 31, for Castellon, Spain.
The JOHN P. REISS still sails today in the Humanities Room of the Milwaukee Public Library’s Central Library. This history is preserved under glass as a mahogany model donated to the Great Lakes Marine Collection in 1972 by Ruth Reiss, the daughter-in-law of John P. Reiss.
Suzette Lopez
Photo credit: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society and Milwaukee Public Library.
