When the first settlers arrived in the Sheboygan area early in the 1830s, they were awed by the seemingly endless verdant pine forests and stands of hardwood that covered the county. With lake transportation the very lifeblood of the early community, and a nearly endless supply of timber, it was inevitable that a ship building industry would spring up in the Sheybogan area.
At various times, over a period of 45 years, ten different shipyards functioned along the banks of the Sheboygan River. These included Rieboldt and Walters, the largest, which was located on the present Reiss Coal Company site, and the Olsen Roths dock, Olsen Sheboygan Chair Company dock, Johnson dock, Huntley Tannery dock, Phoenix dock, the gas company dock, Madewell Chair Company dock, and Crocker A dock.
The shipyards offered employment to thousands of skilled craftsmen and laborers. Ships of all types, from small sailing crafts to large steamers, were constructed here.
Milwaukee's first fire boat, the Cataract, was built at the Rieboldt and Walters shipyard, Sheboygan, in 1889. In later years the Rieboldt and Walters shipyard relocated its operations to the Sturgeon Bay area.
By the late 1890s the number of ships on the Great Lakes had begun to decline somewhat, and the age of the wooden ship was nearly over. The vast forests of central Wisconsin were depleted, and the supply of timber was ever farther north. Iron and steel were becoming the preferred construction materials for shipbuilding. One by one the shipyards closed, some moving to other cities which could better accommodate the construction of metal hulls.
During the mid- to late 1800s the shipyards of Sheboygan turned out over a hundred ships of all types, to sail and steam throughout the Great Lakes. Today all of Sheboygan's shipyards are gone.
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