Shipwreck · Lake Michigan · Fire
Niagara (1856)
A passenger-cargo steamboat built in 1845, lost on Lake Michigan in 1856. The record: “Caught fire and sank, September 24, 1856.” The wreck is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The vessel
On the record
- Type
- Passenger-cargo steamboat
- Builder
- Bidwell & Banta, Buffalo, NY
- Launched
- 6 June 1845
- Completed
- 1845
- Length
- 230 ft (70 m)
- Beam
- 34 ft (10 m)
- Propulsion
- Sidewheels
- Fate
- Caught fire and sank, September 24, 1856
- Wreck site
- One mile off Belgium, Wisconsin
- National Register
- Listed December 16, 1996 · ref. 96001456
- Lake
- Lake Michigan
- Coordinates
- 43.2383° N, 87.8453° W
On the bottom nearby
Nearest Michigan wrecks
- SS J. M. Allmendinger2.8 mi · lost 1895
- Northerner5.4 mi · lost 1868
- Tennie and Laura6.1 mi · lost 1903
- SS Milwaukee (1929)7.1 mi · lost 1929
- SS Appomattox10 mi · lost 1905
- SS Senator15 mi · lost 1929
Straight-line distance between published positions.
By boat
Closest launches
- Port Washington - Lake Michigan10 mi
- McKinley Park Marina13 mi
- River Front Launching Site15 mi
- South Shore Park Boat Ramp17 mi
On the horizon
Nearest lights
Source
Vessel facts on this page come from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Niagara (steamboat), retrieved 2026-10-11. We print the fields as recorded and add nothing; a missing field means the record is silent. Tonnage and dimensions were often measured more than one way in their day, so they can differ between sources.
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