BAILEYS HARBOR, Wis. – The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Peoria Shipwreck (Schooner) on the State Register of Historic Places. The shipwreck is located just over 0.15 miles northeast of the Baileys Harbor marina entrance in the town of Baileys Harbor, in Door County. State Historic Preservation Officer Daina Penkiunas presented the certificate of registration to maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen.
The schooner Peoria lies seven feet below the water’s surface in the sandy bottom of the bay of Baileys Harbor. The ship sits upright and is mostly intact; the vessel’s bow and stern remain buried beneath the sand. As an early wooden schooner in Wisconsin waters, Peoria provides historians and archaeologists the rare chance to study wooden schooner construction and the grain, lumber and other bulk cargo trades.
Peoria was built in Ohio over the winter of 1853 and 1854. The vessel operated in the Great Lakes’ bulk cargo trade throughout its career. Peoria experienced many groundings and had to be repaired multiple times; however, its ship lines remained the same. In November of 1901, Peoria came into Baileys Harbor with a cargo of lumber to wait out a storm. In the night, the anchors slipped, and the vessel was pushed far up into shallow water in front of the Baileys Harbor Range Lights, settling quickly into the sand. The crew of six was rescued, the cargo was salvaged, and—without insurance—the vessel was rendered a total loss.
The State Register is Wisconsin’s official list of state properties determined to be significant to Wisconsin’s heritage. The State Historic Preservation Office at the Wisconsin Historical Society administers both the State Register and the National Register in Wisconsin.
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: https://www.
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.
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.
