MISSISSIPPI III
About this property
MV Mississippi is a United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) towboat operating on the Mississippi River. It is the largest diesel towboat on the river. MV Mississippi is a working towboat for the USACE Memphis District of the Mississippi Valley Division. Ninety percent of the time it is moving barges, equipment and supplies in support of mat-sinking operations. It also serves as an inspection boat for the Mississippi River Commission (MRC) during a high- and low-water inspection trip each year. Commissioners hold meetings at river towns in the boat's hearing room, which can seat 115 people. Its dining room has a capacity of 85 people. The boat has 22 staterooms and can handle 150 passengers. The Corps also uses it as a "giant floating ambassador". During the Hurricane Katrina crisis, Mississippi was moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, and used as a floating command center. Steamer Mississippi was built in St. Louis in 1882. It was used by the MRC for its spring and fall inspection trips from St. Louis to New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1919 it was renamed Piomingo (for the historic Chickasaw chief Piomingo), after being transferred to what is now the Memphis District, where it served as a towboat for many more years. Steamer Leota was built in 1899 as a dredge tender. Selected in 1920 as the new MRC inspection vessel, two years later it was rebuilt and re-designated Mississippi. Steamer Mississippi was a sternwheel, steam driven boat that was based upon the Mississippi II. After Mississippi II's hull and machinery were determined to no longer be serviceable in 1926, a new hull, boilers, and engines were built at Jeffersonville, Indiana. In 1927, the cabin from its predecessor was moved atop the new hull at Paducah, Kentucky. Used for inspecting and surveying along rivers, the boat continued in service until April 1961, when the USACE decommissioned it at Memphis, Tennessee. Converted to a museum and restaurant, it was in Saint Louis, Missouri, until 1975. While in Missouri, it was renamed Becky Thatcher, after the character in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It was then moved to Marietta, Ohio, where it was the Showboat Becky Thatcher restaurant and theater in 1975. The boat was purchased by a group of interested citizens who planned to bring her to Marietta as part of the Bicentennial project. Those citizens formed a not-for-profit corporation, the Ohio Showboat Drama Inc., and in the summer of 1976, the musical Showboat was performed as part of the town's U.S Bicentennial celebration, by the Mid-Ohio Valley Players on the decks and an adjacent barge with 3,000 people watching from the shore. The boat was permanently moored on the Muskingum River, near where the mouth meets the Ohio River. Becky Thatcher was entered into the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service in September 1983.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was MISSISSIPPI III listed on the National Register?
MISSISSIPPI III was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 20, 1983.
What type of historic resource is MISSISSIPPI III?
MISSISSIPPI III is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for MISSISSIPPI III?
The period of significance for MISSISSIPPI III is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near MISSISSIPPI III?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near MISSISSIPPI III will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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