A National Treasure Turns 112

Birthdays are celebrated by some, avoided and even hidden by others. Throughout this year, the 250th “birthday” of the United States has been observed by countless festivities across the country. For 112 of those years, a vessel that began as a diminutive combination ferry and packet has been operating, steaming into the hearts of people to the point that it became a recognized national treasure.

That boat is, of course, the steamer Belle of Louisville, which turned 112 years old this week. A casual glance at the boat belies the fact that it has been in operation for more than a century. The crew of the venerable craft strive to keep it in a pristine condition, or as Capt. Fred Way would say, “in the pink,” at all times.

The steamer, originally called the Idlewild, was constructed by James Rees & Sons Company at Pittsburgh in 1914 for the West Memphis Packet Company. It had a steel hull that measured 157.5 by 36 feet and, though a new vessel, it was fitted with a set of used engines, also built by Rees at some prior date that were 16’s with a 6.5-foot stroke and which still serve today. It operated around and between Memphis, Tenn., and West Memphis, Ark., as a packet, ferry and excursion boat.

According to “Moonlight at 8:30,” authored by Capts. Alan Bates and Clarke C. “Doc” Hawley, the boat had been sold in August 1927 to Caesare Maestri of New Orleans, who operated boats under Greater New Orleans Amusement Company. It ran excursions at New Orleans along with the Greater New Orleans, the former Upper Ohio packet Virginia. This company ran in direct competition with the Streckfus Line, to the degree that Streckfus bought it out. The Idlewild was considered too small, and, in February 1928, it was sold to the New St. Louis & Calhoun County Packet Company, Hardin, Ill., which was made up of Alvina Blumberg, John C. Meyer, Capt. John Phillips and Henry C. Meyer.

Under this new ownership, it was utilized in the warm weather months as a tramp excursion boat but was used for towing jobs during the colder seasons. Ads soliciting towing by “the all-steel steamer Idlewild” were often placed in The Waterways Journal, and several notable towing jobs were detailed in the pages of the WJ, including the one pictured with this column.

In April 1947, the boat was sold to J. Herod Gorsage, Peoria, Ill., who used the boat exclusively as a tramp excursion vessel. In 1948, the name of the boat was changed to Avalon, honoring the deathbed request of Capt. Ben Winters. Not long after the boat was renamed Avalon, it was again sold, this time to Ernst A. Meyer, whose company was called Steamer Avalon, Incorporated. Meyer had previously been the traffic manager for the ill-fated Island Queen that exploded at Pittsburgh on September 9, 1947, (The Waterways Journal September 16, 2024) and he staffed the Avalon with many former Island Queen crewmembers.

The Avalon became the most widely travelled of any excursion boat and was on virtually the entire Mississippi River system at one time or another. It was converted from coal-burning to oil-burning and, in 1954, the hull was widened to 41 feet by the addition of sponsons. Capt. Ernest Wagner was long the master, and Hawley worked his way up from calliope player and popcorn popper to mate and later alternate master.

Following the 1961 season, the Avalon was laid up at Cincinnati. The company declared bankruptcy, and the boat was advertised to be sold at auction. Most felt that this was the end for the 47-year-old vessel, and, as it sat forlornly awaiting its fate, it was vandalized and robbed of equipment and furnishings.

It was a surprise to many that when the boat was auctioned off on May 24, 1962, the high bidder at $34,000 was the Jefferson County Fiscal Court, Louisville, Ky. While there must have been influence by such Louisville area river aficionados as Capt. C.W. Stoll, Jefferson County Judge Marlow Cook was in office and bore the brunt of ensuing criticism over the purchase.

That was then. In the following years, the boat, renamed Belle of Louisville, has become a darling and one of the symbols of the city of Louisville. In 1968, it received a new bow that increased the overall length to 191 feet and also had three new boilers installed. In 1972, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1989, it was officially designated a National Historic Landmark.

So here is wishing another happy birthday to the Belle, with continued wishes for many more to come.

Featured photo caption: The Belle of Louisville at the America’s River Roots Festival at Cincinnati October 10, 2025. (Photo by Capt. David Smith)