A historic coast guard icebreaker that worked the Great Lakes for decades after being built in Thunder Bay, Ont., is set to call the Lakehead home again.

The Alexander Henry was built by the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company and was commissioned in 1959. It worked the Great Lakes until the mid-1980s, when the current breaker, the Samuel Risley, came into service. Recently, it's been facing an uncertain future in the Kingston, Ont., area.

On Monday, city councillors in Thunder Bay voted to back a proposal by the Lakehead Transportation Museum Society for the city to spend up to $125,000 to have the Alexander Henry towed from southern Ontario to the city. The society would own and operate the ship.

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Council already approved the idea in principle in April.

"Along with our forestry industry, our mining industry, our transportation industry, these are all integral parts in what make Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay," Coun. Andrew Foulds said on Monday in support of the move. "I don't think we do a very job in remembering that history."

Transportation museum officials said the current plan is to dock the Alexander Henry at the Kam River Heritage Park with plans to eventually move the vessel to the old Pool 6 site on the waterfront.

They said they hope to have the icebreaker open to the public by August.