RACINE COUNTY, Wis. – The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Thomas H. Smith (Steambarge) Shipwreck in the National Register of Historic Places on June 15, 2026. The steambarge is located in Lake Michigan near the Village of Caledonia, in Racine County.
The steambarge Thomas H. Smith is located on the bottom Lake Michigan. It was documented by Wisconsin Historical Society maritime archaeologists and volunteers in June 2024 and May 2025. The hull is broken with most of its components present or beneath the sand. The deck is lifted and the sides have opened, exposing the interior structural components. The engineering spaces, including the boiler and steeple-compound engine, remain upright and intact. The ship’s deck gear including windlass and a large anchor remains on site. As an early wooden steambarge in Wisconsin waters, Thomas H. Smith provides historians and archaeologists with the opportunity to study wood steambarge construction and adaptations needed for work in the Great Lakes towing and wrecking trade.
Thomas H. Smith was constructed at the shipyard of Rand & Burger in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in 1881 for towing and freighting along the west shore of Lake Michigan between Menominee, Michigan, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and Chicago. On November 11, 1893, Thomas H. Smith was steaming north in a dense fog with the schooner William Aldrich in tow. The steel steamer Arthur Orr appeared out of the fog and struck Thomas H. Smith three feet into the port side. Thomas H. Smith’s crew was taken aboard the Arthur Orr, and the damaged vessel slipped beneath the waves within 45 minutes. The ship was valued at $18,000, but the owners insured the ship for fire damage only. After a lengthy lawsuit, the owners of the Arthur Orr were ordered to pay $10,000 to Leathem & Smith Towing and Wrecking, owners of the Thomas H. Smith.
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.
Additional information for the Thomas H. Smith Shipwreck is available here.
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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 www.wisconsinhistory.org.
