National Museum of the Great Lakes celebrates 10th year in Toledo

TOLEDO — Little did anyone know that Treecie Schoonmaker's act of smashing a champagne bottle against a handrail exactly 10 years ago Thursday would signal more than just the rebirth of the historic S.S. Col.James M. Schoonmaker museum ship, previously the S.S. Willis B. Boyer. To Chris Gillcrist, the National Museum of the Great Lakes' executive director, that symbolic re-christening at International Park helped mark the beginning of a new era for East Toledo and for northwest Ohio's broader efforts to infuse new life along the Maumee River shoreline. "People are seeing the east bank of the river and the river itself now as a place where activity can occur," Mr. Gillcrist said. "The re-christening and (the Schoonmaker's) restoration can be viewed as a jumping-off point, at least for us." At the time, the century-old freighter — originally christened for its first launch in 1911 by Mr. Schoonmaker's daughter, Gretchen Schoonmaker, who was a child at the time — was anchored at International Park. The woman who re-christened it there was the wife of the late James "Ding" Schoonmaker II, Colonel Schoonmaker's grandson. It had been saved from the scrapyard — barely — after the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority took possession of it from the city of Toledo a few years earlier to lead a successful preservation project. The ship had fallen into such a dilapidated condition under the city's ownership years earlier that some public officials leery of major investments had mockingly referred to it as "a bucket of rust," Gillcristre called. "It really was an incredible effort to keep that boat from going to the scrapyard," he said. Since that re-christening, a lot has happened in that part of Toledo itself. The National Museum of the Great Lakes opened in 2014, three years after the re-christening and after a long effort to bring it over from its original home in Vermilion. And in 2012, two years before the museum opened, the Schoonmaker was towed from International Park to the museum's current site at 1701 Front St. But far bigger changes have occurred with Phase 1 of Metroparks Toledo's Glass City Metropark being completed last year, and Phase 2 beginning this month. The $50 million housing and retail development known as Marina Lofts Toledo has opened, ending years of speculation over what would happen to the prominent and valuable waterfront property once known as the Marina District. Metroparks Toledo plans to invest some $200 million into the shoreline, between its Glass City Metropark, its upcoming five-mile Glass City Riverwalk, and related projects. Even International Park is getting a face lift. And the park district hopes to build even more interest in the shoreline by someday offering camping in its new Metropark, near the National Museum of the Great Lakes. All of this is pretty amazing to Gillcrist, who sees a great future unfolding now for that museum. He said it's important for people to know there "are no guarantees" when new museums open, because many have failed. "There were a lot of sleepless nights between 2010 and 2014 about whether we could pull this off," Gillcrist said. The Schoonmaker wasn't just a big artifact waiting for museum staff, either. It's one of the big reasons the National Museum of the Great Lakes moved to Toledo, Gillcrist said. The strategy seemed to work, if some of the people visiting the ship on Thursday are any indication. They included Napoleon residents Jesus Vera; his wife, Edith Vera; their sons, Gael Vera, 10, and one-year-old baby Ian Vera, and the children's grandmother, Trinidad Vargas. Jesus Vera said they didn't know the maritime museum existed until reading about a news conference Gov. Mike DeWine held there a few weeks ago. He and his wife decided to check it out, then came back a second time Thursday with Grandma. "They did an excellent job," Vera said aboard the Schoonmaker with other relatives. "I hope more people can come to visit here." Edith Vera said she could tell the Schoonmaker crew "were like a family" just by how the ship's quarters look, and imagined what it would be like aboard such a vessel for months at a time. "I think it's amazing," she said. "You can see how workers were living here and almost know what happened." Every bit as impressed as his parents was 10-year-old Gael Vera, who got a lot out of the history and enormousness of the ship. "I think it's pretty cool how we as a new generation can see how hard people had to work back then," Gael Vera said. Others impressed included Ed and Mary Hutter, a retired couple from Fort Wayne, Ind., who said they make occasional day trips to Toledo destinations, such as the Toledo Museum of Art. This time was their first aboard the Schoonmaker, and Hutter — who served in the Navy during the 1950s — said the vessel "looks like it's in good shape." Gillcrist said he expected 200 to 300 people to tour the ship Thursday, which was designated Ding Schoonmaker Day in honor of Colonel Schoonmaker's grandson, who died in January. Free, one-day-only admissions aboard the freighter were offered to those who bought regular museum tickets. Ding Schoonmaker Day also included a specially priced "History Happy Hour" in the evening for those who wanted to tour the vessel with beer or wine. The Col. James M. Schoonmaker was built at the Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ecorse, Mich. for the Shenango Furnace Co., and when launched was the largest ship operating on the Great Lakes — a status it held until April 14, 1914. After being donated by Cleveland-Cliffs, its final operator, the retired lake freighter has moored in Toledo since 1986. Colonel Schoonmaker's grandson donated the first $100,000 toward the its restoration. ___ (c)2021 The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) Visit The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) at www.toledoblade.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.