On this day March 31, 1906, the passenger steamer THEODORE ROOSEVELT was launched at Toledo by the Toledo Ship Building Co. Her owners, the Indiana Transportation Company, requested permission from the President to give his name to their new vessel. Permission was granted and after her successful launch a message was sent to the President, “The steamer THEODORE ROOSEVELT, just launched, sends greetings to the president, for whom it is named.”
The steamer had a top speed of 24 mph making her one of the fastest and she started her career sailing between Chicago and Michigan City. She had limited cabin accommodations as she was built for day service but was finished throughout in mahogany.
The THEODORE ROOSEVELT sailing for the Chicago Roosevelt SS Co.
As the article below from Marine Review of April 5, 1906 notes, her launching included the top of maritime society from around the Lakes.
“The steel passenger steamer THEODORE ROOSEVELT, building for the Indiana Transportation co., of Chicago, was launched at the yard of the Toledo Ship Building Co., Toledo, at eleven o’clock Saturday morning. The steamer was christened by Miss Genevieve Mott, the daughter of John G. Mott, one of the directors of the company. As soon as the vessel had taken the successfully, general manager Greenbaum sent the following message to President Roosevelt:
“The steamer THEODORE ROOSEVELT, just launched, sends greetings to the president, for whom it is named.”
“Following the launch, which was successful in every way, luncheon was served in the mold loft. Those present were:
“From Michigan City, Ind., S. W. Larsen, G. Boeckling, Albert Ohming, I. I. Spiro, F. H. Willson and wife, John Faulknor (Michigan City Dispatch), W. B. Manny (director Monon railway), Dr. A. Tillotson and wife, Oscar Numer and wife, Bismarck Numer and wife, Phillip Zorm and niece, A. Meisner (News), Mayor E. Schultz, Miss E. Ludlow, B. Burkhardt, George Staiger, Herm Ziese and wife, Captain O. E. Parks and wife, W. Brinkman, L. Wolf and wife, H. Krouze and brother.
“From Chicago, M. S. Greenebaum, W. K. Greenebaum, John Greenville Mott and wife, Miss Genevieve Mott, Oscar Romel and wife, Harry Cohen (Dunkley Williams Co.), H. B. Senton (Dunkley Williams Co.), G. Biggio, W. J. Wood (naval architect), Joseph Berolzheim (Manitou S. S. Co.), T. Prindiville, J. Jones, E. J. Flemming and wife, Joseph Wintharbothom & Son, W. Boyle.
“From Laporte, Ind., Dr. A. Graves, A. R. Brown.
“From Detroit, George W. Fowle, Captain C. H. Wescott, Hon. W. C. Mayburry, Captain Alfred E. Eade, Captain T. Lemay, Frank Jeffrey (Detroit Ship Building Co.), T. P. O’Connor, F. F. Burtless, Mrs. Mary I. Grandy, Miss Etta A. Grandy.
“From Dayton, R. C. Finch, Joseph Parker (National Cash Register Co.)
“From Cleveland, J. W. Sturtevande and H. N. Herriman.
“From Oberlin, H. J. Marsh.
“From Oak Park, Ill., Thomas W. Winder and son.
“From Toledo, R. A. Bartley, C. F. M. Niles, Edwin Jackson, Clark A. Browning, I. E. Knisely, Miss Mary Howland, Miss Ida Eckert Lawrence, George L. Craig and wife, C. B. Calder and wife, E. Hopkins, A. Black, H. N. Shepherd, Charles Warwick and wife, Capt. Donald McLean.
“The THEODORE ROOSEVELT is 270 feet keel, 40 ft. beam and 16 ft. deep. She is equipped with quadruple expansion engines with cylinders 30, 48, 56 and 56 in. diameters by 40 in. stroke, supplied with steam from two Scotch boilers, 11 ft. 6 in. by 11 ft., allowed 200 lbs. pressure. The hull is subdivided into seven compartments and is practically unsinkable. She is the largest passenger steamer that has been built at Toledo. She will be a speedy boat and will make the distance from Chicago to Michigan City in two hours, making two round trips five days in the week and three round trips on Saturdays and Sundays. She will be sailed by Capt. Donald McLean and her chief engineer will be Charles Warwick.”
The ROOSEVELT sailing for Bob-Lo Excursions
The ROOSEVELT had a successful career which included service in the US Navy during 1918-1920. In August of 1929 she rescued three men and made headlines for reuniting the captain with his boyhood friend as stated in the following Milwaukee Journal article.
“Steamer Saves Three in Lake and Captain through Rescue Meets a Boyhood Friend
“A Lake Michigan ship captain met a boyhood friend for the first time in years Sunday when the friend was boosted over the rail of the captain’s ship after having been pulled out of the storm swept waters three miles off shore.
“As the Goodrich liner THEODORE ROOSEVELT was approaching Milwaukee, two miles south of South point at 4:30 a.m., a lookout sighted three men hanging to an overturned motorboat. A lifeboat commanded by First Officer Thomas Griffith went to the rescue.
“When the men were taken aboard the ship Capt. M. D. Mackey found that one of them was a playmate of his childhood, Raymond Prescott, 65, of Chicago. The others were Mr. Prescott’s sons, H. L. Prescott, 22, and R. C. Prescott, 23.
“The three had left Chicago Saturday night for Sturgeon Bay. Their boat capsized an hour and a half before they were rescued, and the father was so exhausted that he could not have held on much longer.“
The ROOSEVELT stuck at the dock at Toledo in 1942
In early 1950, the ROOSEVELT was sold to the Cream City Wrecking Company for scrap. She was towed to Milwaukee to be cut up.
Her owners included the Indiana Transportation Company, the Peninsula & Northern Navigation Company, Goodrich Transit, the Chicago-Roosevelt Steamship Company, Bob Lo Excursion Company, the Cleveland-Cedar Point Steamship Company, and finally the Cleveland and Buffalo Steamship Company.
The THEODORE ROOSEVELT tied up at Jones Island, Milwaukee, being scrapped in 1950
With the ROOSEVELT being scrapped, only the MILWAUKEE CLIPPER and CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS remained as the US passenger excursion vessels.
Suzette Lopez
Photo Credit: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
