Skip to main content
Society
Main Category
Sub Category
Era
Date Created
Location Country
us
Coordinates
38.254167, -85.760278
City
Louisville
State
Country
The Belle of Louisville, built in 1914, is the oldest operating “western rivers” steamboat. It has the shallow-draft flat-bottom hull braced by hog-chain trusses, multiple fire-tube boilers, paddlewheel propulsion, and superstructure configuration that were characteristic of hundreds of steamboats that plied America’s rivers during the 19th and 20th centuries
Image Credit
Courtesy Flickr/Bailey Visual Life (CC BY 2.0)
Image Caption
Belle of Louisville, still in operation

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support this 70-year tradition of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to American Heritage.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.