In 1896 two-hundred acres of land was bought by American Ship Building Company south of the road bridge. Construction started almost immediately and on January 27, 1898, the big steel steamer "Sir William Fairborn" was floated into the dry dock. On April 13, 1898, the first launching of the "Superior City" was a gala occasion and attended by hundreds of spectators and honored guests. This is a picture of a variety of different ships on the Black River during the early 1900s.