WORLD SHIP SOCIETY

There was a time when the Detroit Waterfront was home to the fleets of several maritime transportation companies, like the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company, the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Company, the Georgian Bay Lines and the Canada Steamship Lines. The ships of these organizations were large, comfortable, and efficiently carried passengers all over the Great Lakes. In addition, they operated cruises that allowed inhabitants of the states around the Great Lakes an opportunity to experience their region from a new, watery perspective. Explore the fascinating world of steamship travel on the Great Lakes with author and architect Bruce Allen Kopytek – who will tell the story of the companies, their crews, their passengers, and their ships, all of them marvels of the Marine Architect’s art.

Hamtramck, Michigan born Bruce Allen Kopytek nurtured a love of history while achieving two degrees in Architecture from the University of Detroit. He built a career that lasted forty-five years and designed a number of significant buildings spread throughout the world. In retirement, Bruce launched Editions BK, LLC to publish books on topics that have fascinated him throughout his life, remembering the values bestowed upon him by his parents, who taught faith, education, accomplishment, and culture above most everything else. After writing several books for a publisher, this book, his second self-published work, comes after the wild success of his Hudson’s: Detroit’s World Famous Department Store, now in its third printing. His wife Carole has been his partner in all these endeavors and so much more to boot!

(Image: Bruce Kopytek)