Salesman of the Great Lakes—A 100-Year-Old History
Published: Tuesday, March 1, 2022 12:00 pm
By: Michael Albert, Detroit Yacht Club
THREE TIMES A COMMODORE
“Salesman of the Great Lakes”
Commodore Arnold Augustus Schantz – Detroit Yacht Club 1918 -1919 -1924
The Man Behind the Building of DYC’s Fourth Clubhouse
100 Years Ago
His is a story of hard work and the American dream. Born in Galion, Ohio, on April 10th, 1861 to German immigrant parents, he left school at 14 years of age to earn a living. He worked for newspapers, general stores, before landing the job as an agent for a steamship company in 1880. Within a few years, he became the advertising agent producing posters and printed material that glamorized passenger transportation on the Great Lakes. His lithographs began to increase passenger traffic and so did his influence and territory. During the summer season, he ranged as far west as St. Louis pushing his steamship line and during the winter he located in Detroit and published booklets, pamphlets, flyers, etc. all that promoted the Great Lakes. Soon, he was an innovator creating 10 sheet posters that glamorized the ships of the line in color long before the Union Pacific was creating Grand Canyon Posters that glamorized rail tourism. By the turn of the century, Schantz was going to Manhattan, gathering influential citizens, booking passage for them to demonstrate how Great Lakes travel worked. In a classic article in the New York Times around the turn of the century, Schantz is noted for gathering a group of 20 plus in the Big Apple, taking them on an elaborate tour of Buffalo and Detroit with travel via Rail & Steamship all in 72 hours. This was all 60 years before the Jet Set. Read the article for yourself. This was June 1902, a tallyho was a fast horse-drawn stagecoach…. Go figure?
Commodore “Gus” Schantz saw something magical. He saw the glamour and romance of the Great Lakes. His was in an era where the Detroit River, Cuyahoga River, and the Buffalo Rivers were heavily industrialized gritty
Commodore Schantz worked his social connections to perfection, a member of the Players Club, The Detroit Golf Club, The Detroit Athletic Club, a 33rd Degree Mason, President of the Detroit Chamber of Commerce, The Port Huron Hunting and Fishing Club, The Miami Anglers Club, just to name a few. He was a dynamic force for the development of navigation, industrial, and transportation interests in a rapidly growing Motor City. Besides his presidency of the D & C Line, he was a Director of the White Star Line, Vice President of the Detroit Creamery, Director of Monarch Steel Castings Company, and numerous other positions all held at the same time. He was the DYC member that had the vision to negotiate the lease with the City of Detroit that allowed the construction of the island that our historic Club House rests on. He married in 1887 and had a daughter Maxica. First Lady Capitola passed away in 1900.
Commodore Schantz was the leader for the plans to create an “ISLAND” just off the shore of the great island park Belle Isle. The same vision that created the color posters of Great Lakes Steamers came to bear on a manmade island just off America’s great island park. He was equal with the great icons of an industry that helped make the dream of our current clubhouse come true. He was the Master of Ceremonies on April 22, 1922, when the cornerstone for the DYC Clubhouse was laid by Commodore Gar Wood. The spectacular Clubhouse had endured for 100 years and is a vibrant and healthy home for 700+ members.
It was Gus Schantz’s vision, (Go Big or Go Home) that the Great Lakes were a recreational resource, not just a shipping channel, that helped to form and make things on a giant scale for personal and family use. A giant yachting clubhouse, the Detroit Yacht Club (unequaled to this day in size and grandeur), ships that were over 530’’ long with a beam of 96’ that carried over 2000 passengers, and 130 cars in luxury and comfort. This luxury went hand in hand with the grit of the industrial giants. The industrialists made their money on automobiles but spent their money and recreational time on boats and around the water. 
Commodore Schantz took all of the ingredients: the Great Lakes, the evolving industrialization of Cleveland, Buffalo, and Detroit, the new discretionary income, and the need for elegant transportation and blended them in a manner that has morphed into what we all know, The Detroit Yacht Club, a resort in the City on an international waterway surrounded by industry.
On January 29, 1934, Schantz's photo in his Commodore’s uniform was on the front page of the Detroit Free Press with a by-line – Dean of Lakes Yachtsmen, Commodore Schantz Dies.
Michael Alberts, Detroit Yacht Club
tags: Great Lakes, History, Michigan
