The Toledo Shipbuilding Company of Toledo, Ohio, built "Ann Arbor No. 5" in 1910. Both the "Ann Arbor No. 5" and her sister ship "Ann Arbor No. 4" were owned by the Ann Arbor Railroad and used on Lake Michigan to carry railcars, passengers, and autos to ports in Michigan and Wisconsin. On March 2, 1924, both ships battled ice in Sturgeon Bay, taking 58 hours to make a 26-mile journey.