The Claflin Point Site near Claflin Point County Park in the waters of the bay of Green Bay, Door County, Wisconsin. The property, comprised of 6.16 acres, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on 18 January 2000. With additional scholarship and information gathered from resources unavailable at the time of nomination, the shipwreck described in the original documentation has been determined to be the City of Kalamazoo, a passenger steamer built in 1892 to carry passengers from South Haven, Michigan to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893. It was used for passengers and freight from 1892-1911. The vessel was recovered following burning to its waterline and sinking in Manistee Lake in November 1911 and in 1912 raised and through adaptive reuse, converted to a barge for the Sturgeon Bay stone trade where it was used from 1914-1922.

The City of Kalamazoo was launched 22 October 1892. The steamer was built by Master shipbuilder Captain John B. Martelle at his unimproved yard in South Haven, Michigan. The City of Kalamazoo was used as a passenger-packet vessel between South Haven and Chicago. Beginning in 1893 it provided service for the World's Columbian Exposition and after the event continued on this route, with the occasional private excursions until 1911. On the night of 11 November 1911, the vessel was tied up in winter quarters at its dock on Manistee Lake when it mysteriously caught fire, burned to the waterline and sank. It was refloated in 1912 and rebuilt as a barge in 1914 for use in the Sturgeon Bay stone trade. Although burned and rebuilt, it retained the same hull lines throughout its service career.

State and federal laws protect this shipwreck. Divers may not remove artifacts or structure 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.

Wisconsin Shipwrecks