Topic starter
07/09/2006 11:21 am
The September 4th issue of The Waterways Journal carries a photo and sale ad for the Lt. Robert E. Lee restaurant boat, long a fixture on the St. Louis waterfront and currently located at Kimmswick, Missouri. The boat is built on the hull of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sternwheel snagboat Charles H. West. The Lee was first owned and operated by the late Fred H. Leyhe, son of the famous Capt. Buck Leyhe of Eagle Packet Company and Boat Store fame. Christened in 1970 and long a favorite restaurant of locals and tourists, the boat was sold in the early 1990's and has had several owners since, one of which renovated the sternwheeler in 2001 after it became very shabby looking with peeling paint and rotten gingerbread trim, etc. My favorite dish was always the trout rolled in almonds and a chocolate cake that was to die for! Ragtime pianist/singer Jean Kittrell and "The St. Louis Levee Band" provided some great shows on the boat too!
For more information contact Waterways Equipment Exchange, Inc., at 888-416-9303 or visit their website at WaterwaysEquipment.com and click on Passenger Vessels. Quite an array of boats available, including the BELLE ANGELINE, another former St. Louis restaurant boat from the 1970's.
And, lest we forget that two other former St. Louis levee neighbors of these vessels, the BECKY THATCHER and GOLDENROD SHOWBOAT have now been dark and idle for some time. The BECKY remains for sale on EBAY, but with a $550,000 price tag there have been no takers. With the new multi-million dollar Lower Mississippi River Interpretive Center and Museum soon to be constructed at Vicksburg, perhaps the Corps might be interested in purchasing the BECKY and returning their former flagship (Str. MISSISSIPPI) to her old home territory where she served faithfully from 1926 until 1961 ferrying the Mississippi River Commission on river inspection tours, as well as serving as a towboat for river improvement projects. Since they are going to display her successor, the M/V MISSISSIPPI IV, as part of the complex why not preserve the steamboat too and show the evolution of river transportation!
07/09/2006 9:56 pm
Good points about the Becky... Keith!
I saw that advert as well about the RE Lee...too bad it didn't pan out...
Maybe someone will return it to the St. Louis landing???
12/09/2006 8:06 pm
Robert E. Lee and other sleeping riverboats
Yes, isn't thiis interesting. I never expected the Robert E Lee to be successful in Kimmswick, but is currently parked on a pretty stretch of river. I, too, hope that the boat finds a new/old home in downtown St. Louis. It would be nice to have another boat on the riverfront again. I am also hoping that the Goldenrod and Becky don't fall apart during their extended slumber. But, as time passes, so does the reality that these boats could be lost forever. And, despite earlier grand projections, it appears that the President is sleeping away near the American Queen. At least the AQ is coming back to life in a few months, but it is quite a many years younger than the other boats.