Deep Draft Commercial Harbor Live Cam

• Maple Street Bridge First Street Beach Fifth Avenue Beach

All of this is located in some of the most Beautiful and Gorgeous Scenery in all of Michigan!

Deep Water Port, Great Lakes Shipping, Rail Access, Commercial Airport, Tax incentives, Employee Training, Proximity to some of the nation's largest markets, New Industrial Parks in Renaissance Zones, Quality Education, Home-town Environment, Outstanding Community Volunteerism, Progressive medical facility, a Healthy Growing Downtown District.

It's not a dream. It's Manistee County, and we want you to come and be a part of our Renaissance, as we build our economic future to face the realities and challenges of the 21st Century.

The Manistee County Economic Development Office continues to work closely with the Michigan Jobs Commission and local governments to offer the best incentive packages for new or expanding industries, including strong and effective tax incentives, financial planning, assistance in the hiring and training of employees. The new City Renaissance Industrial Park, and Kaleva Renaissance Industrial Park have sites available.

Manistee County, on the west coast of Lake Michigan, World class fishing, rivers, streams, white sandy beaches and the Manistee National Forest are features of the county. After business is done, you can live and play in nature's playground, Manistee County.

Ship Building in the Victorian Port City

Part of the maritime heritage of Manistee, the Victorian Port City is shipbuilding: over the past 140 years at least a dozen large vessels and many hundreds of smaller boats have been built here.

Perhaps the first large vessel built here was the schooner/barge D.L. FILER launched on May 15, 1871, by local mill owners, Tyson & Robinson, with great fanfare. ...It was followed within weeks by two more nearly identical vessels, the EMMA S. TYSON and the EVA S. ROBINSON.

Louis Sands built his schooner ISABELLA SANDS at his Eastlake Mill in 1874.

A small steam barge, the WILLIAM CRIPPEN was built in 1873 with all of her machinery also built in Manistee. Her owners quickly ran into financial difficulties and eventually Louis Sands purchased the vessel and renamed it MAGGIE MARSHALL. As such it served in his fleet for over 40 years.

In the early part of this century, the Manistee Iron Works brought an old drydock across Lake Michigan from Manitowoc. This was used across the river from their plant for rebuilding, lengthening, and repairing boats. The first contract was for the re-fitting of the NEOSHO as a barge which became the NORTHERN #33. The three masts for the "33" were shipped by rail from Oregon. Each spar was 86 ft. long and 24 in. in diameter. When this was completed, construction of two large ocean-going barges rigged as schooners were started. Each barge was 260 ft. long with a beam of 43-1/2 ft. This size barge was the largest size that could be squeezed through the Welland Canal around Niagara Falls.

The NORTHERN #34 was completed and launched on July 15, 1919. About a year later on May 13, 1920 the NORTHERN #35 was launched. This time the Retail Merchants Committee voted to close their stores early so they and their employees could view the launching. This resulted in something over 3,000 people attending the launching. A band was on hand to entertain the spectators and flags, pennants, and banners flapped gaily from the three masts...After the "big splash" all the steam whistles in Manistee sounded in unison to announce the successful launching.

During World War I, the United States Government had contracted for the building of a great many boats for freighting supplies to Europe. By 1920, this resulted in too many boats for peace time services. Because of the surplus, the next 20 years were difficult ones for shipbuilders and the Manistee shipyard ceased operations with the completion of NORTHERN #35.