CHRONOLOGY OF CHICAGO MARITIME HISTORY Compiled by Philip R. Elmes and the Chicago Maritime Society
					Year Events 1834      The port of Chicago is opened up as a sandbar is rammed by the steamer Michigan. 1835 The little sloop Clarissa is the first boat built in Chicago. 1843 The iron warship Michigan begins its 106 year patrol of the Lakes. 1847 Steamer Phoenix burns near Sheboygan with approximately 200 Netherlanders. 1848 First canal boat, General Fry, reaches Bridgeport, Illinois. 1849 The Great Flood of March 12 dams the river with wrecked shipping. 1850 Lodner Darvonitis Phillips tests his submarine in the Chicago River. 1851 Centennial birthday of longest living lake sturgeon. 1856 Dean Richmond is first vessel from Britain to Chicago. 1857 Madeira Pet, first direct vessel, arrives in Chicago from Liverpool.   Mayor "Long John" Wentworth burns down "the sands,"--our sailortown." 1859 The Chicago Harbor lighthouse is built in Eiffel iron style.   1860 Chicago Seaman's Mutual Benefit Society is founded. Lady Elgin is lost off of Evanston.   1871 Chicago's Great Fire.   William Wallace Bates, builder of fast schooners, starts up business in Chicago. 1878 Local lifesavers are united into the U.S. Lifesaving Service. 1879 The Lake Michigan fishery takes 3.8 million pounds of lake sturgeon. 1882 City sees 26,000 vessels here—more than all New York, New Orleans and 'Frisco. 1883 Loss of the three masted schooner Wells Burt off of Evanston with eleven crew. 1886 Steamer Reutan is grounded, and audacious Captain Streeter holds that ground. 1888 Captain Alexander McDougall launches an era of "whaleback" cargo ships. World's Fair brings the whaleback passenger boat Christopher Columbus. Minnehaha, four- masted schooner, wrecked off of Arcadia, Michigan. 1889 Biggest lake schooner, David Dows, is wrecked off South Chicago, in an ice storm. 1898 Loss of the Christmas tree schooner S. Thal with Captain August Schuenemann. 1900 The Chicago River flow is permanently reversed. 1903 Small steamer Erie L. Hackley capsizes off Door County. 1908 Fireboats quench the "Great Blaze" between 12th to 16th Streets. 1911 William Baum and his schooner yacht Amorita set a stormy record to Mackinac. Great Lakes Boat Building--later our Grebe shipyard--starts up in Milwaukee. S.S. Eastland disaster kills over 800 people at foot of LaSalle Street. 1912 Loss of Christmas tree schooner Rouse Simmons with Cap Herman Schueneman. 1915 Passenger steamer Iowa is crushed in ice near the river's mouth—all saved. The Revenue Marine and the Lifesaving Service unite into the U.S. Coast Guard. 1916 The Eastland hulk is privately rebuilt into training ship U.S.S. Wilmette. Launching of the S.S. LeMoyne, then largest laker at 633 feet, in Midland, Ontario. 1926 Peak year in Great Lakes passenger traffic:  28 million passengers. 1927 The commuter boat Favorite capsizes in a storm off Navy Pier with 27 lives lost 1928 The Chicago River's south branch is straightened. Start of oldest U.S. model ship club-the Nautical Research and Model Society of Chicago. 1929 Car ferry Wisconsin  sinks at the same time as the stock market, October 29. Steam tug Tacoma sinks near Chicago—later becomes a popular scuba site. The Lake Michigan commercial sturgeon fishery is closed by decline. 1933 The Illinois Ship Canal opens for barge traffic from the Lakes to the Gulf. The Norwegian Fjell Line starts scheduled service between Chicago and overseas. The World's Fair brings numerous historical ships to the lakefront. Italo Balbo leads his squadron of 23 seaplanes from Italy to Chicago.   Dancer Sally Rand is rescued from a motorboating mishap. 1934 Burning of the showboat Cotton Blossom near Diversey Avenue bridge. 1936 Loss of the Material Service near Calumet Harbor by unknown causes, killing 15. 1937 Only 26 overnight passenger vessels are left on the Lakes. 1938 Chicago River locks begin controlling entrance of lake water into river system. 1939 U.S. Lighthouse Service joins the United States Coast Guard. 1940 The whaleback era in the ore trade ends with new cargo handling systems. 1941 Six schooners are still registered on the upper Lakes. 1942 Aircraft carrier U.S.S.. Wolverine, former Seeandbee. begins lake training. 1943 Record lake sturgeon dies in St. Joseph River:  310 pounds and 7' l1" long!. 1944 Grebe-built, Yard Mine Sweeper (YMS) 409  and all hands, lost in hurricane. 1945 Grebe-built YMS 421, is lost in typhoon off Okinawa just after the war's end.. Grebe-built YMS 84 hits floating mine off Balikpapan, Borneo. All saved. 1946-1947 U.S.S. Wilmette, ex Eastland, is scrapped and made into railroad cars. 1949 Lamprey eels win the Darwinian struggle for our Lake Michigan trout fishery. 1950 Pollution now means that sailors no longer drink directly from the lake. 1951 Loss of Coast Guard boat out of Wilmette with two crew.   Never found. 1953 Catch of oldest known lake sturgeon at 215 pounds. 1954 The captured U505 is hauled out at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. 1954-1958 Construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. 1954 A seiche eight feet high and twenty-five miles wide kills eight on the lakefront. 1958 Launch of. Edmund Fitzgerald, then largest laker, at 729 feet. 1970 Henry C. Grebe & Co. ends production with the aluminum yacht Karen J. 1973 Re-enactment of the Jolliet-Marquette expedition. 1975 Loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald,  with 29 men on November 10th. 1982 Our Chicago Maritime Society begins serious organization of lake lore. 1989 Dedication of the Eastland disaster memorial marker near the site. 1997 A "mind-boggling" UFO over the lake is seen by Reverend Dee of Door County. 1998 Tall Ship Festival 2004 Tall Ship Festival Chicago Maritime Festival.