Permanent claim record · Ludington, Michigan

The SS Badger and its sister Great Lakes car ferries sat idle until Ludington native Charles F. Conrad bought all three in 1991 for $1.5 million and relaunched the Badger as a passenger/auto ferry in 1992 — its first season drew 115,000 passengers against a hoped-for 80,000.

Verified\u00b7 1992-01-01

Raw value (vault-stripped)

{"tags":["ss-badger","ferry","maritime"],"text":"The SS Badger and its sister Great Lakes car ferries sat idle until Ludington native Charles F. Conrad bought all three in 1991 for $1.5 million and relaunched the Badger as a passenger/auto ferry in 1992 — its first season drew 115,000 passengers against a hoped-for 80,000.","as_of":"1992-01-01","category":"history"}

Predicate	trivia.fact
Subject	Ludington, Michigan (place)
As of	1992-01-01
Status	Verified
Source	Michigan Famous Foods, Iconic Spots & Uniquely Michigan Experiences — Perplexity Deep Research (March 2026) (trust 6.5/10)
Reference	—
Document hash	pending evidence-pack link
Provenance chain
Claim ID	6ccee38a-4829-48f7-ba06-4e997c96531d