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Georgian Bay Line O.P.Co. Syracuse China Plate December 1942
Offered for you consideration is this beautiful Georgian Bay Line plate. It measures 6-7/8" across and has a dat code of W-12, December 1942.
TheGeorgian Bay Lineis the popular name of theChicago, Duluth and Georgian Bay Transit Company. From 1913 until 1967, the Georgian Bay Line (GBL) provided transit service and cruise voyages to passengers on North America's Great Lakes.
The company was founded by Robert Chenault Davis, who for many years was employed by the Goodrich Line in Chicago. Mr. Davis envisioned a fleet of ships dedicated exclusively to passengers rather than the passenger and freight ships that plied the Great Lakes. The initial board consisted of Mr. Davis and four other Chicagoans: Charles Bour of President Northern Railways Advertising Company; Joseph M. Wile of Wile, Loeb & Gutman, Insurance; Dr. James Whitney Hall of the Chicago Railways Company; and Sam G. Goss, Vice President of Goss Printing Press Company.
The Georgian Bay Line began operation in 1913 with theSS North American, which was launched on January 16, 1913. Due to a very profitable first season, the company launched theSS South Americanon February 21, 1914. Built of steel, these ships were almost sister ships. The North American had an overall length of 280 feet (85 m) while the South American was 321 feet. They carried passengers betweenChicago,Mackinac Island,Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan,Duluth,Georgian Bay,Detroit,Cleveland, andBuffalo, and sometimes intermediate ports. In the 1940s, the Georgian Bay Line acquired a third vessel,SS Alabama, a refugee from the bankruptGoodrich Transit Companywhere Mr. Davis had begun his career. The three ships tied up at the foot of 16th Street in Holland, Michigan, each winter and until they were permanently assigned elsewhere.
Up untilWorld War IIvessels like those operated by the Georgian Bay Line were an essential part of the transportation infrastructure of the Great Lakes. The line sold large quantities ofpoint-to-pointtickets to revenue passengers who paid publicly tariffed rates to be moved from one port to another. After the war, with increasingly inexpensive motor fuel and reliable, paved roads, point-to-point passenger volume declined and the Georgian Bay Line shifted its emphasis to thecruise shiptrade.
Both vessels advertised weeklong cruises through the upper Great Lakes, with theSouth Americantraditionally visitingLake Superiorand theNorth Americantaking theLake Michiganrun. Mackinac Island, in theStraits of Mackinac, was the division point where the Y-shaped arms of the Georgian Bay Line's service territory came together.
The line shut down in 1967 after its final run.
You may wish to consider adding this lovely piece of historyto your hotel silver, silver soldered, heavyweight type steamship, hotel silver, railroad, or restaurant ware collection.
