Showboats and Floating Circuses Page
New Information Added
02/28/2007
Showboats and Floating Circuses Page
New Information Added
02/28/2007
Showboats and Floating Circuses
Name: BRYANT'S NEW SHOWBOAT
Launched: 19?? (Haven't been able to track down when this
showboat actually started in business - D.)
Area: Ohio and Miss. Rs.
Owner: Captain William (Billy) Bryant
Towboats: 1907, PRINCESS
1919, Mar. Purchased VALLEY BELLE
Later, the NEW LOTUS
Comments: Bryant eventually gave up the showboat and went to doing tent shows.
: The barge which was actually the "showboat" was later turned into a
Wharf boat by a Huntington concern.
Name: CHAPMAN'S FLOATING PALACE
Launched: 1841
Destroyed: 1847, collision
Area: Miss. R.
Owner: Chapman, William
Captain and pilots: Capt. Chapman, William
Comments: Sold to Smith, Sol, Actor.
Name: CHAPMAN'S FLOATING THEATER
Type: Keelboat
Launched: 1831
Area: Miss. R. and Pittsburg
Owner: Chapman, William
Captain and pilots: Capt. Chapman, William
Comments: sold after 1 yr.
Name: CITY OF CLINTON SHOWBOAT
See OMAR
Name: CITY OF PARKERSBURGH SHOWBOAT
See LIBERTY
Name: The Cole Circus Company
Towboat: 1876, Oct,-77, spring, ELLA HUGHES
1. Name: COTTON BLOSSOM
From
Site Contributor Leonard Brown
Type: Showboat
Owner: 191?-19??, Jan?, Capt. Otto Hitner
Area: 1918: to Mt. Vernon, Ind.
Towboat: 1918, JEWELL (the 2nd one)
Comments: 1918, Jan., the JEWELL was cut down by ice.
: See account of sinking
Name: COTTON BLOSSOM
Comments: From site visitor Doug McGuigan -
Sadly I finally located the Cotton Blossom used in Showboat and many
other MGM movies in the 50's and 60's. MGM sold her to an amusement
park-Worlds of Fun- in Kansas City in the early 70's where she set
in a large pond untill three years ago when the pond was drained and
she was taken apart with bull dozers. A sad end to a pretty lady.
Name: EISENBARTH-HENDERSON FLOATING THEATER See Flyer
Owener: Capt. E.E. Eisenbarth
Comments: billed as The Modern Temple of Amusment. Producing the
Higest Class Drama Vauderville, Music, Big Electrical
Productions.
Towboats: 1902-04, ENOS TAYLOR
1905, Feb. 1 - 1908, Mar. 15, COLUMBIA
Name: EMERSON'S GRAND FLOATING PALACE, see GRAND FLOATING PALACE
Name: FLOATING CIRCUS, See RICE'S
Name: FLOATING PALACE See CHAPMAN'S and EMMERSON'S, above
Name: FLOATING THEATER, See CHAPMAN'S
Name: FRENCH'S NEW SENSATION, No. ?
Type: barge boat?
Launched: 1880s?
Area: Ohio & Miss. Rs.
Owner: Capt. A. B. French?
Captain(s): French, Callie M.
Towboats: 1897, before Mar., C.O.
March, 1897: MARY STEWART
July, 1897: RUTH
*Early 1900s, CHARLES B. PEARCE
Comments: Toured for 30 yrs.
: Some info on this one of French's Showboats from:
The Tribune Telegraph,
Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio, Wed. Mar. 31 1897.
: Mentioned in this Article
Name: GOLDEN ROD/GOLDENROD - Originally MARKLES NEW SHOWBOAT
Type: barge, Floating Theater Size: 200' x 45'
Launched: 1909, by the Pope Dock Company for R.W. Markle
Destroyed: Presently an historic theater in St. Louis
Area: 1930, summer for 17 weeks, Aspinwall, Pa.
1931, summer for 17 weeks, Aspinwall, Pa.
1937-62, June 1, Locust St. Landing, St. Louis, Mo.
Owners: 1909-13, W. R. Markle
In 1913 he lost the boat by forclosure.
She went on auction and was sold for $ 11,000.
1922-, Purchased by Capt. Bill Menke
1964-1990, Frank Pierson and his heirs.
1990 - , City of St. Charles, Mo.
Towboats: 1900-?13? W.R. MARKLE
Later LIBERTY, WENONAH, and CROWN HILL
Comments: originally called MARKLE'S NEW SHOWBOAT
: 1930-31, summers, played at Aspinwall, Pen.
: 1937, summer, went to St. Louis for repairs.
: 1960, Declared a national Historic Monument.
: 1962, June 1, fire heavily dammaged the boat.
: 1964, Frank Pierson led a group of GOLDENROD lovers in complete
restoration.
: 1988, the boat needed extensive repairs.
: 1990: The City of St. Charles, Mo, Purchased the boat.
: 1990: Ample Entertainment, Inc. leased the boat and again restored
her.
: 1991, May 10, shows resumed at St. Charles.
: 2001, closed due to financial problems.
: 2003, given to Lewis and Clark Landing LLC.
: GOLDENROD is haunted by a Lady in a Red Dress
: See information from the 1951 book Showboat
: More info
Name: GRAND FLOATING PALACE
Type: Showboat
Area: Miss. R. & U. Kanawha R.
Owner: Capt. Ralph Emmerson Gaches
Towboats: 1921, the W.W.
Name: GRAND FLOATING PALACE, NEW
Type: Showboat
Area: Miss. R.
Owner: Capt. Ralph Emmerson Gaches
Towboats: 1913-17, Dec. 8, ECLIPSE
1921-22, spring, the W.W.
Name: JAMES ADAMS FLOATING THEATER
Type: Barge with tugboats
Size: 128.3' X 34' X 4.5', 436 tons
Area: Mid-Atlantic coast, Chesapeake Bay, Albemarle region of North Carolina.
Comments: Web Site
Name: John Robinson's, See Below
Name: MAJESTIC, A curently active showboat
Launched: 1923, Pittsburgh
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Comments: Showboat MAJESTIC's Home Page
: More Information
Name: MARKLE'S NEW SHOWBOAT, was soon renamed GOLDENROD
Name: MEMPHIS SHOWBOAT, Off. No. 297336
Type: Contemporary Showboat Barge
Size: 103' X 40' X 4', Max. 141 tons, 412 Pass.
Launched: Hull and superstructure built 1964 by Dubuque Boat & Boiler
and completed by Memphis Queen Shipyard
Area: 1964-Present (1999), Memphis Tenn.
Owner: 1964-Present (1999), Memphis Queen Line Web Site
Name: NEW SENSATION
Type: Barge Showboat.
Launched: 1870s?
Area: Miss. R.
Owner: Agustus French, Edwin Price, others
Name: NEW SHOWBOAT
Area: Long Island Sound
Name: CITY OF CLINTON SHOWBOAT - formerly the towboat OMAR
Type: sternwheel towboat Size: 207' X 36' 581 tons
Launched: 1935, ?St. Louis.?
Area: 1940's Ohio R., from the mines in West Virginia up river to Pittsburgh
and down river to Cairo, IL. Barges were loaded at Huntington, WV.
Owner: The Ohio River Company
Persent: City of Clinton, Iowa.
Comments: From site visitor David Rayburn
"The Omar was donated to the State of West Virginia and the last
heard of it, it was a tourist attraction located on the Kanawha
River in front of the State Capital of West Virginia."
: From site visitor Harvey Brennan 12/05/05
". . . the "Omar" it's now named the "City of Clinton Showboat"
converted to a floating Theatre in Clinton Iowa."
: See OMAR's history
Name: PALACE FLOATING CIRCUS
Type: barge and boat
Launched: 1850s?
Destroyed: 1847, collision
Area: Miss. R.
Owner: Spalding and Rogers
Towboat, NORTH RIVER
Name: RICE'S FLOATING CIRCUS
Type: Barge
Launched: 1850s
Destroyed: 1872, died out.
Owner: Dan Rice
Towboat, DAMSEL
Captains: Capt. Dan Rice
1. Name: RICE and DORE
Type: FLOATING CIRCUS
Area: 1915, summer, U. Miss. R.
Owner:
Towboats: 1915, summer, CITY of PARKERSBURG
See Picture Page
Name: ROBINSON'S FLOATING PALACES AND/OR CIRCUS
Type: Double barge showboat
Comments: Cushioned chairs for 1,000 people.
: In 1868 John Robinson organized a water carnival and used the 1865 COOSA as towboat.
Ran up the Ohio R. to Rochester, Pa and back down to Charleston,
on the Kanawha R.
: Could this also have been Wild Bill Hickocks Wild West Show? See
Towboats: 1884, Winter, W.P. THOMPSON
Comments: I know, there is a wide time line on this entry.
I can only guess this guy was in show biz for a long time.
Name: Thayer & Noyes Circus
Boat: 1866, CHARLEY BOWEN
Name: SARI originally the JAMES Y LOCKWOOD
Name: WATER QUEEN
Type: Showboat barge
Launched: 1880
Destroyed: 1915?
Area: Miss. and Oh. R.
Owner: Capt. Edwin A. Price, New Martinsville, W. Va.
Captain: Edwin A. Price
Comments: 1901-1927, Dec., Capt. Price's towboat was ARGAND
1. Way's Packet Directory, 1848 - 1994
3. Steamboats in the Valley