| Belle of Louisville | |
|---|---|
| (U.S. National Historic Landmark) | |
 |
|
| Location: | Louisville, Kentucky |
| Coordinates: | |
| Built/Founded: | 1914 |
| Architect: | Rees,James & Sons |
| Added to NRHP: | April 10, 1972 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 72000535 [1] |
| Governing body: | Louisville Metro |
The Belle of Louisville is a steamboat owned and operated by the city of Louisville, Kentucky and moored at its downtown wharf next to the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere during its annual operational period. Originally named the Idlewild, she was built by James Rees & Sons Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the West Memphis Packet Company in 1914 and was first put into service on the Allegheny River. Constructed with an all-steel superstructure and asphalt main deck, the steamboat is said to hold the all-time record in her class for miles traveled, years in operation, and number of places visited. The Belle's offices are located within the Mayor Andrew Broaddus, also a National Historic Landmark.
Contents |
History
The Idlewild operated as a passenger ferry between Memphis, Tennessee and West Memphis, Arkansas. She also hauled cargo such as cotton, lumber and grain. She then came to Louisville in 1931 and ran trips between the Fontaine Ferry amusement park near downtown Louisville and Rose Island, a resort about 14 miles upriver from Louisville. In 1934, she operated a regular excursion schedule through World War II. During the war, she was outfitted with special equipment to push oil barges along the river. She also served as a floating USO nightclub for troops stationed at military bases along the Mississippi River. After the war, in 1947, she was sold to J. Herod Gorsage, and the name was changed to Avalon. Over the next few years, the Avalon visited ports all along the Mississippi, Missouri, St. Croix, Illinois, Kanawha, Ohio and Cumberland Rivers. Her many stops included Omaha, Nebraska; Stillwater, Minnesota; Montgomery, West Virginia; and Nashville, Tennessee. By 1962, the Avalon fell into disrepair, and might have seen the end of its days, until Jefferson County Judge Marlow Cook bought her at an auction for $34,000. She came to Louisville and was re-christened the Belle of Louisville.
Restoration
The restoration of the boat was supervised by marine architect Alan L. Bates (now Captain Bates), whose book, "Str. Belle of Louisville," (1964) remains a primary source on the history of the boat and the crews who worked on her. Prior to the auction, the boat's hull had been condemned as unfit by the U. S. Coast Guard: concrete patches had added much weight to the oft-damaged hull, as had generations of accumulated modifications to the decks and fittings within her superstructure. These were stripped and repaired in dry dock or removed by volunteers. What remained was cleaned, surface prepared, supplied with new finish carpentry, and painted in a style consistent with the boat's early 20th century beginnings. Of these, Capt. Clarke "Doc" Hawley, who had worked aboard the boat during her Avalon days, had salvaged the brass nameplates from the ends of the two massive cylinders, in order to prevent them from being sold for scrap, and now returned them to the boat. Hawley had also, before the auction, at his own cost hired an assistant to drain the boat's water-filled fittings for winter, so that they would not freeze and burst. This meant that the mechanical restoration of the boat was now possible, at far less cost than had extensive refitting of ruined pipe work been necessary. Various of her workings, though not her engine and drive train, had been stripped and sold in separate lots at auction, including the boat's original steam calliope. Volunteers donated materials which could be adapted to use, some of them cannibalized from steamboats sunken long-ago, whose hulls could still be seen, and dived at low water. Some missing components were custom-fabricated by local foundries in a style copied from photographs of the boat in her earlier days. The degree of preservation was considerable, and the boat is still piloted with a 19th-century skill set, though now with the assistance of modern communications.
Early career as the Belle of Louisville
On April 30, 1963, the Belle made her first cruise in a race against the Delta Queen steamboat. That race was the beginning of an unparalleled river tradition. To this day, the Belle and another competing steamboat, usually the Delta Queen, still square off every year on the Wednesday before the Kentucky Derby in the Kentucky Derby Festival event The Great Steamboat Race.
Today, the Belle of Louisville is recognized as the oldest river steamboat in operation, being placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989. In August, 1997, the boat was partially sunk at its moorings; a former crew member of the boat was later convicted of sabotage. The proximate cause of the sinking was flooding of the hull via a city water line left connected to a fitting that led into the boat's hull. Thanks to the swift actions of the steamer's crew and other members of the community, the boat was rescued, repaired, and returned to service. In February 2007, Mark Doty was named as the captain of the Belle of Louisville, replacing Kevin Mullen who retired in 2006. Doty's official title is "master of the fleet" or "port captain".
The Belle in Fiction
The Belle of Louisville appears as a character (powered by an artificial intelligence) in Rudy Rucker's 1988 novel Wetware, which takes place on the Moon and in Louisville, Kentucky in the year 2031.
Gallery
 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assists in the salvage of the Belle. |
 |
 |
See also
References
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
External links
|
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Subject areas | Attractions/Events • Cityscape • Economy • Education • Geography • Government • History • Media • Neighborhoods • Parks • People • Performing arts • Sports • Transportation |  |
| Top subjects | Cave Hill Cemetery • Falls of the Ohio • Farmington • Kentucky Derby • Louisville Cardinals • Louisville in the Civil War • Louisville Slugger • Old Louisville • University of Louisville | |
| National Historic Landmarks |
Belle of Louisville • Churchill Downs • Locust Grove • Mayor Andrew Broaddus • Old Bank • Zachary Taylor House • United States Marine Hospital • Water Tower | |
| Prominent suburbs (over 10K pop.) |
Bardstown • Clarksville • Jeffersonville • New Albany • Shelbyville • Shepherdsville | |
