CLEVELAND — For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, the William G. Mather is open for a full season at the Great Lakes Science Center.
The Mather, built by Great Lakes Engineering Works in Ecorse, Michigan, and launched in 1925, was the flagship of the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company. The freighter turned museum is now permanently moored at North Coast Harbor and offers guests a chance to see what life was like on board a working Great Lakes freighter.
“The Mather's a hidden Gem in Cleveland, not many people know about it,” said Andy Pallotta, the public programs specialist for the Great Lakes Science Center. “People will say ‘I’m from this area and I've lived here for 20 years. I didn't know this was here.’”
The ship, with a length of 618 feet and a capacity of 14,000 tons, was at one time one of the largest ships on the Great Lakes. It carried ore, coal, stone, and grain around the Great Lake in its 55 years of service.
“They would take something like coal or grain from the Cleveland area up to Duluth Minnesota, or Superior Wisconsin and pick up Iron Ore for the Steel Mills,” Pallotta said.
The Mather was coal powered from the time it launched until it was retrofitted to run on oil. The renovations allowed her to make the seven-day round drop up to 30 times per year. Her workload helped coin the nickname “the ship that built Cleveland.”
“It could have single-handedly supplied enough iron ore to build all of the skyscrapers in this area,” Pallotta said.
One of the earliest ships in the region to be outfitted with radar, the Mather faithfully traversed the Great Lakes until 1980 when she retired. Cleveland-Cliffs it to the Great Lakes Historical Society where it underwent a full restoration.
“The rooms have been restored in a way that echoes different time periods,” Pallotta said. “The pilot house resembles what it looked like in 1925 when the Mather first launched. The upper lounge was left the way it was in 1980, so we get two different time periods. It’s a really nice time capsule in a sense.”
When the Great Lakes Science Center officially took over the vessel in 2006, it was moved to its current location situated behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Mather is a popular attraction for both Guests of the science center and for visitors of North Coast Harbor.
A separate ticket is required to tour the Mather from the science center for less than $10, allowing guests to tour the ship from stem to stern and see its huge cargo holds, brass and oak pilot house, elegant guest quarters, and four-story engine room.
“The Mather is about 32 feet tall. And the waves can get over the deck like they can wash over. You can get the boat tilting in absolutely ridiculous ways,” Pallotta said. “It’s entirely made of riveted plate and the boat can actually twist and bend.”
Mather hours from June through August are Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. From September through October the hours are Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.
