The Second Chris Greene Entered Service A Century Ago
In the “This Week” column’s One Hundred Years Ago section in the last issue of The Waterways Journal was this statement: “The new steel hull steamer Chris Greene (second) made a trial trip between Cincinnati and Coney Island.”
The first steamer Chris Greene was built at the Gardner Docks, Point Pleasant, W.Va., in 1915. The sternwheel boat with a wood hull that measured 132.4 by 26.4 feet was named for both the father and eldest son of Capt. Gordon C. Greene. The boat first ran in the Gallipolis, Ohio, to Charleston, W.Va., trade and later ran from Cincinnati to Huntington, W.Va. On November 4, 1922, it was severely damaged in the Great Steamboat Fire at Cincinnati, which started on the steamer Morning Star and destroyed it along with the Chris Greene, Island Queen (first) and Tacoma.
The burned Chris Greene was sold and rebuilt into a towboat named Ben Franklin No. 2, and later the Jayhawker. Capt. Greene entrusted much of the design work for a new Chris Greene to Capt. Jesse P. Hughes. Hughes had been with the Greene Line since February 1896 and had become a trusted employee and confidant to Capt. Gordon Greene. In 1904, the Greene Line purchased the properties of the White Collar Line, which operated above Cincinnati, and the purchase included the previously mentioned Tacoma.
Capt. Hughes became a part owner of the Tacoma in this transaction and was master of the boat for many years. His family, including his wife, Telia, and daughters, Lillian and Helen, virtually lived aboard. Following the fire at Cincinnati in 1922, the machinery from the Tacoma was salvaged and rebuilt.
The steel hull for the new Chris Greene was built by the Charles Ward Engineering Works at Charleston, W. Va., and measured 189.2 feet by 42 feet. Also of a sternwheel design, it was towed down the Kanawha River to Point Pleasant, where the cabin was built by the Gardner Docks under the supervision of Capt. Hughes. Given that her “trial trip” was run from Cincinnati to the Coney Island amusement park above that place, it is reasonable to assume that the machinery was placed at Cincinnati.
The rebuilt engines from the burned Tacoma were used on the new boat, and they were 16’s with 6-foot stroke. The four return-flue boilers were coal-fired, and altogether the boat was rated 500 hp. Upon completion, the boat ran in a trade from Cincinnati upbound to Pomeroy, Ohio, then up the Kanawha River to Charleston, W.Va., and back to Cincinnati. The vessel’s namesake, Capt. Chris Greene, was first master. Capt. Volney E. “Stogie” White later commanded the boat. The Chris ran a staged race with the packet Betsy Ann at Cincinnati on July 24, 1928, that garnered national attention.
The Chris, as well as the somewhat larger Tom Greene that was built in 1923, were placed in the Cincinnati–Louisville trade in 1931.
The Greene Line began moving many new Chevrolet autos from Cincinnati to Louisville and Fords from Louisville back to Cincinnati. By 1936, this trade was so lucrative that the decision was made to remove the passenger staterooms to make more room for autos and other freight. This was accomplished in the fall of that year. In a letter to Capt. Frederick Way Jr. published in the March 1969 issue of the S&D Reflector, Capt. Jesse Hughes related that he had “rang the last bell” on the Chris Greene in the packet trade before the conversion.
In February 1947, both The Chris Greene and Tom Greene were removed from service and tied up at Cincinnati. In October 1950, the Chris was sold to George Harrison and utilized as a headboat for the Dayton Boat Harbor at Dayton, Ky. The cabin on the boat burned in July 1968, but the hull continued in use. It was later moved to Melbourne, Ky., Ohio River Mile 458, where Harrison had another yacht club. It was eventually beached out on the bank, where it remains to this day, partially embedded into the bank.
The late Virginia Bennett (1924-2013), known in the Cincinnati area as a noted river historian and collector of artifacts, grew up on and around the Greene Line, where her father was employed in the office. The Chris Greene was her undisputed favorite, and she had the running lights and a brass eagle from the boat on the balcony of her apartment overlooking the river for many years. The roof bell from the boat survived the 1968 fire and today can be found aboard the sternwheel Sewickley, built in 1930 by Dravo and now owned by Capt. Bob Harrison, Bellaire, Ohio.
Featured image caption: The second Chris Greene. (Photo from the Keith Norrington collection)
