KEWAUNEE COUNTY, Wis. – The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Margaret A. Muir Shipwreck in the National Register of Historic Places on June 23, 2025. The schooner is located in Lake Michigan, in Kewaunee County.
Margaret A. Muir was built by Master Builder Hans Scove in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in 1872. The vessel operated in the Great Lakes grain, lumber and other bulk cargo trades throughout its career. Margaret A. Muir experienced groundings and collisions that required repair; however, its hull lines remained the same throughout its service history. On September 29, 1893, Margaret A. Muir was sailing to Chicago, Illinois, from Bay City when it encountered a gale. The crew battled the storm throughout the night until an enormous wave broke over the deck and it sank in 57 feet of water, but the crew survived. The vessel was declared a danger to navigation the following year, and it was dynamited to flatten the hazard. At the bottom of the lakebed, the deck has lifted, and the ship’s sides have opened, exposing the interior structural components and allowing researchers to examine its construction. The deck gear, including handpumps, windlass, capstan and two large anchors remain on the site.
On May 12, 2024, the Margaret A. Muir site was located during an intentional search conducted by members of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association (WUAA). The site, which was documented by Wisconsin Historical Society archaeologists and volunteers in 2024, has not been visited by divers outside of the survey.
State and federal laws protect this shipwreck. Divers may not remove artifacts or structures when visiting this site. Removing, defacing, displacing, or destroying artifacts or sites is a crime. More information on Wisconsin’s historic shipwrecks may be found by visiting Wisconsin’s Great Lakes Shipwrecks website: Wisconsin Shipwrecks.
Additional information for the Margaret A. Muir Shipwreck is available at: Address Restricted | National or State Registers Record | Wisconsin Historical Society
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: https://wisconsinhistory.org/hp/register/
About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.
