American Ship Building Company

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The American Ship Building Company was the dominant shipbuilder on the Great Lakes before the Second World War. It started as Cleveland Shipbuilding in Cleveland, Ohio in 1888 and opened the yard in Lorain, Ohio in 1898. It changed its name to the American Ship Building Company in 1900, when it acquired Superior Shipbuilding, in Superior, Wisconsin, Toledo Shipbuilding, in Toledo, Ohio, and West Bay Shipbuilding, in West Bay City, Michigan. With the coming of the First World War, the company also acquired Buffalo Dry Dock, in Buffalo, New York, Chicago Shipbuilding, in Chicago, Illinois, and Detroit Shipbuilding, in Wyandotte, Michigan.

[edit] The Lorain Yard

The Lorain, Ohio Yard served as the main facility of the company after World War II and to this day five of the 13 separate 1,000 ft ore carriers on the Great Lakes were built in Lorain, including the M/V Paul R. Tregurtha which is the largest vessel on the Great Lakes (1,013'06" feet long). Built in 1898, the Lorain Yard quickly grew in size and importance. The facilities eventually included two dry docks over 1,000 feet long built to handle the largest of the Great Lakes ore carriers. The Lorain Yard closed in 1984 after a series of labor disputes. The land is now being redeveloped as an upscale housing development.