LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Nobody’s exactly sure when the engine in the belly of the Belle of Louisville was built. The best guess is around 1890. What is known for certain is that it was solidly built, because it was already well-used when it was transferred into the belly of the Belle during its construction in 1914. That means that, at age 98, the paddle-wheeler is roughly 25 years younger than the steam engine that powers it up and down the Ohio River.
Talk about longevity.
Of course, as it approaches 100, the boat dubbed Louisville’s “legendary lady” does need a bit more rest and TLC these days. Yet each year, from Memorial Day weekend into early autumn, the Belle bears a full schedule of excursions, including lunch and dinner cruises, departing from its dock in downtown Louisville. (866-832-0011, belleoflouisville.org)
Its owners at Louisville Metro Government hope that passengers — in addition to soaking up the scenery of the heavily wooded riverbanks — will make time to soak up the vessel’s amazing history, beginning with the fact that it is the oldest continuously operated Mississippi River-style steamboat in the world.
“She’s a representation of our culture in this part of the country,” said Kelly Gream, a spokesman for the Waterfront Development Corp., which operates the boat. “Louisville and Cincinnati and so many other river cities were founded by steamboats.
“Originally boats would take people downriver (with the current). With the invention of the steamboat, it allowed commerce and people to be transported upriver. So it changed our economy.”
After being built in Pittsburgh, the Belle — it had a different name in its early years — sailed past its eventual Kentucky home as it trundled along America’s waterways.
Requiring water only 5 feet deep, the steamboat could travel virtually any navigable river.
For its first 20 years, the boat carried primarily freight. But by the 1930s, trucks were moving more and more of America’s freight and, out of necessity, the Belle began recruiting passengers instead of cargo. The end of an era had arrived.
The lore and lure of that era are shared just across the river in Jeffersonville, Ind., at the well-curated Howard Steamboat Museum. Visitors learn how steamboats revolutionized travel. (888-472-0606, steamboatmuseum.org)
The museum is in the opulent 22-room mansion once occupied by the family that operated the Howard Shipyard & Dock Co. just across the street. It was Jim Howard, the grandson of the shipyard’s founder, who in 1958 decided to turn the stately home into a museum.
“He had the idea and saw that the history of steamboating was being lost,” said Yvonne Knight, the museum administrator. “(He) wanted to make sure that something was around where children would be able to learn about steamboats and the Great Steamboat Era, as we call it.”
As guests learn, before paddle-wheelers, the roughly 100-mile journey from Louisville to Cincinnati took two weeks by horse and wagon, and four weeks on foot. By steamboat, the travel time was two days.
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The museum houses artifacts, photographs and paintings depicting the vessels’ legacies. There is also a large model, about 3 feet long, of America’s first steamboat, John Fitch’s Perseverance.
Fitch, who had served under George Washington during the Revolutionary War, built the vessel in 1787 and successfully ran it along the Delaware River decades before steamboats became popular.
As Kadie Engstrom, a museum volunteer, pointed out, Fitch was truly an entrepreneur. Having left the Revolutionary Army, he began using his boat to ferry goods, including alcohol, to soldiers at army camps for a tidy profit.
Engstrom also noted that the mansion bears its original historic hallmarks.
As the house was under construction, Ed J. Howard, son of the shipyard founder, traveled with his wife, Laura, to Chicago in 1893 to visit the World’s Columbian Exposition, on the site of what is now the Museum of Science and Industry.
“They purchased items there, brought items back from there and got ideas from there that ended up in this house. When this house was completed in 1894, it truly was a showpiece,” Engstrom added.
The current furnishings are all originals. Many were built at the adjacent shipyard, using the same woods and fabrics that were used in the elegant boats dubbed “floating palaces.”
The house showcases several chandeliers featuring electric light bulbs. The electricity was supplied by a generator across the street at the yard.
“Most people hadn’t actually seen light bulbs work in the 1890s in this area,” she said. As the docent tells her guests, the Howards thought of everything. The chandeliers also were fitted with natural gas sconces. In case the generator failed, the house would continue to bask in light.
“Instead of laying off his workers (in winter), Ed J. hired them to build the house. They did the interior construction of the house,” Engstrom added.
On a lazy summer afternoon’s excursion, the Belle of Louisville passes the still-operational Jeffersonville shipyard that was once the domain of the Howard family.
While the family’s home and museum provide an excellent overview of that long-gone era, the Belle is a piece of that history that is still very much alive.
“She’s much more than a historical steamboat,” Gream said. “We have both a historical and an educational mission. … It’s important to remember what steamboats meant to our community.”