Manufacturer: Scammell China
User: Detroit & Cleveland Line (D&C)
Pattern name: D&C-4 Frog Pattern
Distributor: Osborne, Boynton & Osborne, Detroit
Date of plate: 1918 – 1924

Notes: Originating in 1849, the Detroit & Cleveland Line was known as "The Grand Fleet of the Great Lakes." The D&C main route lay diagonally across the lake where railroad tracks could never run parallel. Its primary routes were between Detroit, MI and Cleveland, OH, and other routes lead to Buffalo, NY. Charters and day-trips were also offered. Most scheduled sailings were overnight sailings, landing in the morning after departure.

In 1949, the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company had seven ships in operation. The fleet consisted of massive, multi-funneled, tall-stemmed, steel-hulled sidewheelers, complete with grand salons and galleried dining rooms. The company's name was familiar in states throughout the lower Great Lakes region for nearly a century until its cessation in 1950. The D&C logo was widely seen in newspaper advertisements and billboards of the time.

The frog prominently displayed in the logo is explained on the Historic Detroit website.     In writing about the City of Detroit III and its lavish trappings, there is this: "The room [wine cellar] was covered in Pewabic tiles and fashioned with massive, hand-hewn oak beams with a large oak bar at one end. Behind the bar was a mural of a gnome painting a frog. The little critters were the D&C's mascot."

Lamberton China white body with a frog sitting center on water lillies, peering through a reed telescope. The D&C logo appears beneath the image, with joined script letters "D" and "C" centered on an ampersand. There is an ornamental border on the plate with artichoke leaves, stems and flowers in shades of brown, light blue and peach.

For related info:
Detroit & Cleveland Line (D&C) 2 by Scammell China