Name/Title
Edmund FitzgeraldContext
October 1, 2025–December 1, 2025: Find Edmund Lewandowski's "Edmund Fitzgerald" on exhibit at the MSOE Grohmann Museum as part of "The Legend Lives On – 50 Years Later," an exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was designed and built for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company by the Great Lakes Engineering Works at River Rouge, MI, in late 1957 and early 1958. Instead of construction from keel up, the Fitzgerald was built on the ground in prefabricated hull sections. 900 people worked on the Fitzgerald, and an estimated 10,000 people witnessed her launching and christening on June 7, 1958. She was operated for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. by Oglebay Norton Corporation and upon her launch became the flagship of its Columbia Transportation fleet. The Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship ever launched on the Great Lakes at that time, 13 feet longer than her nearest competitor.
From the 5/21/1959 MS: "Lewandowski made six or seven trips to River Rouge during the construction of the Fitzgerald. He was on board during her shakedown run, so that he might achieve understanding of her structure and a feel for her quality."
The ship sank on the evening of November 10, 1975 in Lake Superior, 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, MI. All 29 crew members died. The 729-foot-long, 75-foot-wide ship was carrying 26,216 tons of taconite pellets from Superior, WI to Detroit, MI. From the U.S. Coast Guard's Marine Board of Investigation report: "[T]he most probable cause of the sinking was the loss of buoyancy resulting from massive flooding of the cargo hold. This flooding most likely took place through ineffective hatch closures. As the boarding seas rolled over the spar deck, the flooding was probably concentrated forward. The vessel dove into a wall of water and never recovered, with the breaking up of the ship occurring as it plunged or as the ship struck the bottom. The sinking was so rapid and unexpected that no one was able to successfully abandon ship."
The wreckage is located at the bottom of Lake Superior in Canadian waters over 500 feet deep.
Edmund Fitzgerald was a founder and first president of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.Collection
Wisconsin Art Collection, Artwork Collection, Marine CollectionAcquisition
Accession
1982.1Source or Donor
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance CompanyAcquisition Method
GiftMade/Created
Artist
Edmund D LewandowskiDate made
1959Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
Signature and DateLocation
Lower rightTranscription
"Edmund D. Lewandowski 1959"Dimensions
Dimension Description
Framed SizeHeight
31-1/2 inWidth
41-3/4 inDimension Description
Image SizeHeight
25-1/2 inWidth
35-1/2 inRelationships
Related Publications
Notes
MPL holds related materials.
A life ring and champagne bottle used during the christening of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald in 1958 are on display in the 2nd floor corridor Humanities display cases.
A model of the Edmund Fitzgerald given to Edmund Fitzgerald by employees of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company on his 65th birthday is in the Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society, on display in the Humanities Room. The model was bequeathed by Edmund B. Fitzgerald in 2013.
There is a file for the Edmund Fitzgerald in the Marine Collection Vessel Files.
The Milwaukee Public Library Collection includes other work by Edmund Lewandowski.
Other resources may also be available by searching CountyCat.Provenance
Notes
"[O]ne of three paintings that NML [Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance] commissioned of the ship when it was under construction." (See documentation in accession record at 1982.1 and appraisal report at De Lind 2020).Research Notes
Notes
This painting is pictured in James Kieselburg's "Midwestern Images of Labor," Journal of the Society for Industrial Archaeology 34, nos. 1-2 (2008), p. 147.