Learn Something New, Day Two: The Belle Of Louisville

 

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

 

One of the festivities leading up to the Kentucky Derby is the Great Steamboat Race between The Belle of Louisville and The Delta Queen.  This competition has been going on now for 44 years.  After the victory of The Belle today (May 2), the current record stands at 23 wins for The Belle, and 21 wins for The Queen.

 

Living in Jeffersonville Indiana for 16 years, I have learned a bit about steamboats.  Three generations of the Howard Family of Jeffersonville owned and operated a shipbuilding yard for 107 years.  In 1939 Jeffersonville Boat and Marine began building LSTs, subchasers, and other ocean-going vessels on the site of the former Howard Shipbuilding yard.  In 1957 the name of the company was changed to Jeffboat, and is now owned by Amercial Commercial Lines, Inc.  The Belle was extensively rebuilt in 1968 at Jeffboat.  I have visited The Howard Steamboat Museum many times; Eler Beth and I usually visit a few times every summer, just because we love the house.  And we usually attend the Chautauqua on the grounds of the Howard Mansion every May.  If you visit the museum website, be sure to check out the photo album to get an idea of what the rooms look like.  It is one of our favorite places to go in town.

 

I decided that on this day I would try to learn something new about steamboats in general or about The Belle of Louisville in particular.  I did some research and reading on steamboats, but found that I have already learned quite a bit about James Watts, John Fitch and Robert Fulton and about steamboats over the years.  So I did a little reading about The Belle of Louisville and did learn a few NEW things.

 

I learned that:

 

• The Belle of Louisville was originally named Idlewild, when she was built in 1914
• As The Idlewild, she operated primarily as a ferry between Memphis, TN and Hopefield, AR
• In 1931 she took over the duties of The America, which had been destroyed by fire, ferrying Louisville passengers downstream to the Fountain Ferry amusement park and upstream to Rose Island Park
• During World War II, The Belle did her patriotic duty by towing oil and coal barges to factories on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers
• She was renamed Avalon in 1948
• Her hull was widened two feet so her decks could be enclosed and her cruising period extended, and she was converted from coal to diesal fuel
• For the next 10 years she was known as the most widely traveled river steamboat in the US (19 states and over 130 towns)
• She became The Belle of Lousiville in 1962 when County Judge Executive Marlow Cook and the Jefferson County Fiscal Court (Louisville, KY) bought her, over objections from some taxpayers
• Cook rescued the steamer from a Cincinnati scrapyard, purchasing her for $35,000
• Although she has been modified to meet modern governmental requirments, most of The Belle's original construction survives and modifications made for safety and accommodation do not detract from her integrity.
• The Belle lost the first race she ran against The Delta Queen

I believe a cruise on The Belle this summer is in order for me and Eler Beth, and I will be sure to take lots of pictures to share.

 

I have learned something new every day, and will try to get back this afternoon to do Days Three and Four.

Tags: Steamboats, The Belle of Louisville, Howard Steamboat Museum