We are just three weeks past the 110th anniversary of the Francis Hinton’s sinking in Lake Michigan. The Francis Hinton, a 115-foot long wooden steam-powered vessel which sank in November 1909, was carrying a large load of lumber when it went down in a gale between Manitowoc and Two Rivers. It went undiscovered for over 75 years until it was discovered by local divers in 1987.

Can you picture a 400-foot balloon train parading down Washington Street in Two Rivers? That’s exactly what occurred during the 1951 holiday parade held on November 21.

Take a walk through Pioneer’s Rest cemetery in Two Rivers and you’ll find a monument that shows the good a community can do when people come together after a tragedy. In the fall of 1887 the people of Two Rivers took up a collection to pay for a wonderful memorial to honor the victims of the steamer Vernon.

"In accordance with public anticipation, we this day issue the first number of the first newspaper ever published in this county. ... When we agreed to hazard the undertaking, we had never set foot on the soil of Manitowoc, or even seen an inhabitant of the county. We did so from reliable representations of its past history, present position, business advantages and prospective advancement." Those words were written by C.W. Fitch, the first editor and printer of the Weekly Herald, considered the first newspaper of the growing Manitowoc community.

“From Two Creeks to Two Rivers, the woods are burning. Heavy rain is our only salvation. All the roads are impassible and the worst is not yet known,” wrote Henry Marshall of Milwaukee on October 5, 1871. Marshall was traveling to Two Rivers and boarded the steamer Sheboygan to escape the fire. The days that followed, October 7 and 8, would bring the Peshtigo Fire and the Great Chicago Fire, destroying communities, livelihoods, and families.