Learn about 150 years of Great Lakes’ Iconic Bulk Freighters at a free presentation at 7 p.m. tonight at Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, 500 W. Fletcher St., Alpena.

Association of Lifelong Learners will attend this presentation, which is part of the GLMHC’s Sanctuary Lecture Series. The public is welcome to attend as well.

Maritime Historian C. Patrick Labadie will discuss how Great Lakes Freighters revolutionized commerce on the Great Lakes and enabled the development of agriculture and industries in ways no one could have imagined in the mid-1800s.

The commerce of the American Midwest has always been closely linked with the efficiency of Great Lakes transportation. Eighteenth-century fur trade, 19th century agriculture, lumbering and mining were all dependent upon the developing Great Lakes shipping industry for their fast-growing success.

It was with the introduction of bulk freight steamers in 1869, however, that those industries grew as never before, and brought unprecedented growth to the region. Labadie describes the introduction and subsequent development of these iconic Great Lakes vessels, and their effect on the Midwest.