SS Keewatin is the Museum Ship of the Year for 2025

The SS Keewatin at Kingston’s Great Lakes Museum has been selected as the Museum Ship of the Year for 2025 by the Steamship Historical Society of America.

Located at the Kingston Dry Dock National Historic Site, the Great Lakes Museum (GLM) is home to the SS Keewatin, the world’s oldest surviving Edwardian-era passenger steamship. With a mission to inspire lasting connections to Kingston’s maritime heritage and the Great Lakes, the museum offers seasonal tours of the ship along with family-friendly programs. The Steamship Historical Society of America (SHSA) presented the award at a ceremony held at the Museum on Saturday, Jul. 26, 2025. The prestigious recognition was determined through a nomination process by SHSA members, with the final selection made by their Awards Committee. The SS Keewatin received this honour for its distinguished accomplishments and significant contributions to preserving the historical importance of engine-powered vessels.

The SHSA is a non-profit organization founded in 1935, with thousands of members worldwide. SHSA’s mission is to record, preserve, and disseminate the history of engine-powered vessels for education, information, and research purposes. SHSA maintains one of the most extensive archives and libraries in North America devoted exclusively to maritime heritage, with several hundred thousand images, artifacts, and memorabilia archived in hundreds of collections.

Patrick Dacey, SHSA President, was on hand to present the award. “There's no more deserving organization than both the Keewatin and the Great Lakes Museum,” he said. He went on to thank those in attendance, including several SHSA members who travelled to Kingston for the award ceremony.

“I just want to say that we're giving the plaque and award to the Keewatin, but it's really to the museum," he said. "It's for the staff. It's for the board. It's for the visitors. It's for everyone who made this happen. The acquisition of the ship, which we know took a long time, involved a lot of work and involved everyone from docents to museum personnel, city managers, and even members of Parliament who have supported the organization. "

Dacey presented a commemorative plaque to Great Lakes Museum Board Chair Kelly Pope-Wiley. It reads as follows.

“We are pleased to accept this award on behalf of the volunteers and staff that have made this possible,” said Pope-Wiley. “[SS Keewatin] was cared for for years by a group of dedicated volunteers, and that legacy continues at the Great Lakes Museum. The hours of work are countless and may never end, but the reward is the joy we see in the faces of thousands of people who visit her. We get the privilege of sharing her remarkable history every day with our visitors.”

Great Lakes Museum Executive Director Bep Schippers called the recognition from the SHSA "a testament to the incredible efforts of our volunteer and staff teams and the support of our community. The SS Keewatin represents an extraordinary piece of maritime history, and we are committed to preserving and sharing her legacy for generations to come.”

Daniel Rose, Great Lakes Museum Programs and Collections Coordinator, gave an enthusiastic and informative tour of Keewatin for the visiting dignitaries.

Eric Conroy, former President and CEO of Friends of Keewatin, Port McNicoll, attended the ceremony and was extremely pleased. He presented the SHSA contingent with a commemorative coin of the ship and a deluxe edition of the Keewatin Memorabilia Album.

Conroy, who worked on the Keewatin when he was a teenager, said it now looks more like he remembered it at 17 than it did when he took over stewardship in Port McNicoll.

"I'm really happy," he beamed.

Conroy called the refurbishments to the ship done by the GLM “just amazing... The Kee was never going to have a long life where it was, but there were a whole bunch of things that happened that worked out really well."