Built in 1939 by Sturgeon Bay Boat Works for William Seliman Fisheries of Manistique, Michigan, Evelyn S was a typical wooden gill net fish tug of its era, sheathed in steel to protect against winter ice. A commercial fishing company in Frankfort, Michigan, bought the tug in 1943 and operated it until 1952, when it was sold to the Muskegon Towing Company. In 1979, the Michigan Maritime Museum acquired Evelyn S as an on-water exhibit because it represented a dwindling part of the region’s diverse maritime economy. After nearly 40 years working on Lake Michigan, bringing in catches that helped communities such as South Haven flourish, the vessel became an educational tool that also illustrates changing uses over time, from commercial fishing to maritime trade to cultural heritage. It also preserves examples of Great Lakes commercial fishing technology, including a Kahlenburg engine, mechanical gill-net equipment, steel sheathing, and an enclosed deck that protected the crew from weather. In the early 1980s, after sinking at the dock, Evelyn S was restored as a land-based exhibit, and in 2015 additional grant-funded and locally matched restoration helped place it in its permanent home on the museum campus.