It looked like a fish out of water. Gleaming amid the dingy buildings and cluttered waterfront of the city’s Downtown in 1946, the Milwaukee Clipper stood out boldly in the urban landscape, a pint-sized ocean liner tied up at its humble home dock near the Water Street bridge.

Although it had the sleek lines of a cruiser, the Clipper first hit the water as a less glamorous craft. It was launched in 1904 as the Juniata, a steamship that provided regular freight and passenger service between Buffalo and Duluth for more than 30 years. The Juniata rarely saw Lake Michigan in its first incarnation.

The ship was forced out of service by new safety requirements in 1937, but three years later, with a refurbished hull and a streamlined steel superstructure, the Juniata was reborn as the Milwaukee

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