Rouse Simmons

The Rouse Simmons was a three-masted schooner famous for having sunk in a violent storm on Lake Michigan in 1912. The ship was bound for Chicago with a cargo of Christmas trees when it foundered off the coast of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, killing all on board.

The legacy of the schooner lives on in the area, with frequent ghost sightings and tourist attractions whereby its final route is traced. It was known as "The Christmas Tree Ship" and was one of many schooners to transport Christmas trees across the lake. However, with railroads, highways, and tree farms proving much more economical, the tree-shipping industry was on a steep decline and they had stopped sailing by 1920.

History

The Rouse Simmons was built in Milwaukee in 1868 by Allan, McClelland, & Company, and named after a Kenosha businessman Rouse Simmons. The schooner was soon purchased by wealthy lumber magnate Charles H. Hackley of Muskegon, Michigan and joined his sizeable fleet. Hackley's ships served across most of Lake Michigan's coastline, and the Rouse Simmons became a workhorse, shipping lumber from company mills to several ports around the lake for around 20 years. At its peak the schooner was making almost weekly runs between Grand Haven and Chicago.

Rouse Simmons (Wisconsin politician)

Rouse Simmons (September 10, 1832 September 10, 1897) was an American politician and businessman.

Background

Born in Marcy, New York, Simmons moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1849. He was a merchant and was in the insurance and real estate business. His brother was Zalmon G. Simmons. Simmons served on the Kenosha County, Wisconsin Board of Supervisors. In 1875, Simmons served in the Wisconsin State Assembly as a Republican. He died in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Legacy

The schooner Rouse Simmons was named after Simmons.

Notes


Podcasts:

developed with YouTube
PLAYLIST TIME:

Latest News for: rouse simmons

Edit

Texas high school boys soccer: 35 Austin-area players to watch this season

Austin American-Statesman 09 Jan 2025
The Austin-area high school boys soccer season is underway with teams in the thick of nondistrict and tournament play before district schedules start at varying points from mid-January to early February ... Roger Amador, Northeast ... Grant Simmons, Rouse.
Edit

Vintage Chicago Tribune: It’s not the holiday season without …

Chicago Tribune 19 Dec 2024
Snow and ice coat the Rouse Simmons and its cargo of Christmas trees in 1910, two years before it sank near Wisconsin ... In 1912, a Christmas tradition in Chicago turned from joy to grief when the Rouse ...
Edit

Coast Guard retraces doomed Christmas Tree Ship route, brings 1,200 trees from Michigan to Chicago

Michigan Live 10 Dec 2024
... and comparing it with the Rouse Simmons’ location today, the WHS deduced that the Two Rivers lifeboat completely encircled the Rouse Simmons and was never more than a few miles from where she lies.
Edit

Más de 1,000 árboles llegan a Navy Pier para familias necesitadas

Chicago Sun-Times 09 Dec 2024
En noviembre de 1912, el capitán Herman Schuenemann del Rouse Simmons y su tripulación supuestamente se hundieron cerca de Ahnapee, Wisconsin, con árboles a bordo que se suponía que llegaron a Chicago.
Edit

'Christmas Tree Ship' delivers more than 1,000 trees at Navy Pier for families in need

Chicago Sun-Times 07 Dec 2024
Herman Schuenemann of the Rouse Simmons and his crew reportedly went down near Ahnapee, Wisconsin, with trees on board that were supposed to make it to Chicago ... the Rouse Simmons, which sank in 1912.
Edit

Christmas Ship marks 25 years delivering holiday cheer from Michigan to Chicago

Detroit news 06 Dec 2024
Herman Schuenemann had become a well-established Christmas tree merchant, owning both an evergreen nursery in northern Michigan and his ship, the Rouse Simmons, which he used to transport trees to Chicago each year.
Edit

U.S. Coast Guard, students load Christmas Tree Ship with holiday cargo in Cheboygan

Cheboygan Daily Tribune 28 Nov 2024
The Christmas Tree Ship nickname dates back to the Rouse Simmons, a three-masted schooner that sunk in a storm on Lake Michigan in 1912 with a cargo of Christmas trees.
Edit

Their fans are missing at Nissan Stadium, and Tennessee Titans can't blame them | Estes

Oakridger 21 Nov 2024
On Sunday, Minnesota Vikings fans occupied Nissan Stadium in impressive numbers, dominating the atmosphere, cheering before, during and after a 23-13 victory that was punctuated by a rousing "Skol" cheer. Did all this bother Jeffery Simmons?.
Edit

Vintage Chicago Tribune: Thanksgiving Parade turns 90

Chicago Tribune 21 Nov 2024
The Rouse Simmons, known as the “Christmas Tree Ship,” vanished in a storm on Lake Michigan during its trip from Michigan to Chicago ... A diver found the well-preserved remains of the Rouse Simmons in ...
Edit

Chamber puts out call for cards to send with the Christmas Tree Ship

Cheboygan Daily Tribune 13 Nov 2024
The seasonal shipment aboard the USCGC Mackinaw turns the cutter into the “Christmas Tree Ship.” The Christmas Tree Ship nickname dates back to the Rouse Simmons, a three-masted schooner that sunk in ...
Edit

The Upper Peninsula’s Great Lakes Shipwrecks: Heroic Stories, Boat Tours and Dive Sites

Knoxville Daily Sun 10 Nov 2024
SS ROUSE SIMMONS. Best known as the “Christmas Tree Ship,” the SS Rouse Simmons sank in Lake Michigan near Two Rivers, Wisconsin, in November 1912 ... 2, to read the historical marker for the SS Rouse ...
Edit

Lecture on the mystery of the Christmas tree ship

Toledo Blade 07 Nov 2024
A maritime archaeologist will discuss the mystery of the Rouse Simmons, a three-masted schooner that disappeared in Lake Michigan in 1912, during a lecture at the National Museum of the Great Lakes on Wednesday ... .
Edit

November is the deadliest month on the Great Lakes – and it’s not just about ...

Michigan Live 01 Nov 2024
ALPENA, MI – November is the deadliest month for shipwrecks on the Great Lakes, from Edmund Fitzgerald to Daniel J. Morrell and Rouse Simmons – and many others ... “The stakes were higher. That money really made a difference. It was a bit of a gamble.” ... ....
Edit

David Truitt, lawyer who co-founded Olive-Harvey College and revived Chicago ‘Christmas Ship,’ dies at 90

Chicago Tribune 08 Oct 2024
One of Truitt’s more colorful ventures revived the Chicago Christmas Ship, an annual charitable event that harked back to the Rouse Simmons schooner, which from 1887 until 1912 sailed to Chicago ...

Most Viewed

×