Amelia Earhart Briefly Visits Manitowoc in 1936

Aviation afficionados know that Amelia Earhart disappeared 84 years ago on July 2, 1937 over the Pacific Ocean en route to Howland Island from Lae, New Guinea. But many historians and local residents are probably unaware that nine months prior to her ill-fated attempt at becoming the first female to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe, the popular American aviator and her sport car arrived in Manitowoc aboard the Ann Arbor No. 6 carferry on Friday, October 9, 1936 enroute from Frankfort, Michigan to a speaking engagement in Wausau, Wisconsin. News of her brief visit and her picture appeared on the front page of the Manitowoc Herald-Times.

According to the local paper, Earhart’s presence at the carferry slip in Frankfort soon became known and scores of residents and travelers kept her busy signing autographs. The paper reported she was traveling alone after giving a lecture at Petoskey, Michigan, had an early breakfast and spoke freely with Capt. B. H. Hanson before docking at Manitowoc at seven o’clock that morning. The paper noted, the ‘first lady of aviation in the world “was on her way before most citizens arose from their breakfast tables.”

Before leaving Manitowoc, Earhart inquired as to the direct route to Wausau.  After signing her name for some of the ship’s officers, she climbed into her big cream-colored sport car, which had been wheeled off the ship at the Soo slip, and traveled west on Highway 10 to speak on “Aviation Adventures” before the Central Wisconsin Teachers’ Association that night.

After speaking in Wausau, Earhart’s Midwest lecture tour that month took her to Dubuque and Ottumwa, Iowa; LaSalle, Edwardsville and Winnetka, Illinois; Bloomington, Indiana; and Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. In 1932, she became the first female to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland, receiving the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross and Gold Medal from the National Geographic Society for the feat. In 1935, she became the first aviator to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, California. During the 1930s she set many other records and wrote best-selling books. Following her Pacific flight, she devoted most of her time to lecturing.

At the time of her Manitowoc visit and disappearance, Amelia Earhart (who kept her own name) was married to publicist George P. Putnam.

There has been considerable speculation on what happened to Amelia Earhart and her flight navigator Fred Noonan despite a massive air and sea search by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and other attempts to find them and account for the circumstances surrounding their disappearance. Amelia Earhart was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939. An 8¢ U.S. air mail postal stamp honoring Earhart was issued in 1963.