Missouri Historical Society

The Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library, a special collection of the St. Louis Mercantile Library, recently recognized two individuals whose work has contributed to a better understanding of… Read More

With the spotlight on St. Louis for this week’s eighth annual Inland Marine Expo, the Old Boat Column presents a riverboat that was a favorite of the host city. Never… Read More

When Frank Pierson purchased the steamer Mississippi (then a tourist attraction moored opposite Hannibal, Mo.) in early 1966 and brought it to St. Louis to replace his sunken Becky Thatcher,… Read More

With the demise by fire of the Goldenrod Showboat in late 2017, an unsolved question remains concerning the big pilotwheel that was long displayed in the lobby area of the… Read More

The cotton packet Wm. Garig was a petite, wooden-hulled sternwheeler launched at the Howard Shipyard in Jeffersonville, Ind., on Saturday, May 7, 1904, at 3:15 p.m., according to Day Book… Read More

In a 1970 interview with a St. Louis-Post Dispatch reporter, well known educator, river historian and museum curator Ruth Ferris (1897–1993) said that the most rewarding aspect of her lengthy… Read More

As we approach the 25th anniversary of the passing of St. Louis’ beloved river historian, Ruth Ferris (1897–1993), it also marks a five-decade milestone of this writer’s first meeting with… Read More

Built at Stillwater, Minn., for Capt. John Kent in 1897, the sternwheeler Gracie Kent was constructed by George Muller on a wooden hull measuring 111 feet in length by 20… Read More