An interesting article

Interesting as Kimswick was the last place the former Lt Robt E Lee Restaurant operated (for a rather short time) before being closed/sold again. While being renovated, (a short distance above the Downtown Wharf) just prior to completion it met its end in a spectacular fire a couple years ago.

the landing

As I recall, it was a very steep landing and Tom had to put out boards over the mud just to get us to the steps. Has it been improved over the years? The town was right there, once you climbed the steep embankment.

Hi all, I see you are talking about Kimmswick. It's a great little town. The landing would need to be improved if any boats called the town home. It is a little steep, but with a suitable wharfboat, not impossible. If passengers were to be brought to the town, there would need to be some money spent improving the direct access from boat to town, or they'd have to spend a lot of time and money shuttling people around. There's no direct access now, but if a sidewalk were to run from boat to town, it wouldn't be that far of a walk. Just my 2 nickels.

Its been a while,

but thanks Jim for reminding me about the LEE, and Mark for verifying what I remembered about that landing. It was a neat little trip on the Gateway boat from the St. Louis levee to Kimmswick. Tom had people ride the boat down, eat in town, and then bus back to St. Louis, and vice versa. I opted to take the boat both ways but still had a little time in town, especially to hit the Blue Owl Restaurant - or more specifically their baked goods! I'm guessing this trip was at least 8 years ago, so I imagine more shops have opened, especially in anticipation of the gambling boat, which never materialized I think.

A recent interesting article

Someone posted this on the Facebook Save the DQ site:
Delta Queen may have chosen Kimmswick to be its home port : Business

Kimmswick It Is!

Here's an article from The Cincinnati Enquirer announcing Kimmswick as the new home of the Delta Queen. No posting is appearing yet on the DQ facebook pages. I'm anxious to hear how the steamboat community weighs-in on this decision.
Delta Queen has new home in Missouri

So, how does one get to Kimmswick, MO?

Glad the DQ is getting things done and setting up a home base. Looking forward to getting back on a real steamboat again.

One minor question. Just how does one get to Kimmswick via public transport? There is no bus or shuttle shown from St Louis (downtown or airport), and no Amtrak or Greyhound service. One quote on-line shows a limo service at $90/person, a bit high. I would assume either a DQ provided shuttle to downtown St. Louis or airport would be needed. Am I missing something?

It's great they are making progress and getting things in place for when the exemption comes through, but just looking at Kimmswick on Google Earth, it looks like a l o n g walk from their unimproved riverfront up to town passing right by the sewage treatment plant and ducking under a railroad track. It may be a cute, historic, artistic small town, but I'm not sure I would want to base my overnight passenger boat headquarters there. A headquarters, to me, requires some specialized people such as reservation clerks, compliance officers (even small towing companies now have a person in charge of complying with all the govt. regulations), marine and hotel supply purchasing personnel, port engineers, port captains, etc, etc. It might be hard and/or expensive to get that kind of talent to live in or commute to Kimmswick.
But what do I know?

It is my understanding that the City of Kimmswick and the State of Missouri have committed the necessary funds to put in place a landing spot, road(s), etc. As far as specialized people, they can likely find them there or very close by. Certainly others will be brought in as needed -- that is done all over the corporate world. St. Louis is a hop, skip and jump from Kimmswick. I'm quite sure they'll have or arrange for shuttle buses, parking, etc.

Jefferson County Missouri and the City of Kimmswick have committed to developing the landing into an attractive place for not only the Delta Queen, but all passenger boats to stop at. This is one of the many reasons DQSC chose this location. The quaint town is rich in history, with many shops, restaurants, boutiques and things to see and do, which is one reason the town, even as small as it is already enjoys a steady stream of tourism. With its close proximity to Interstate-55 and St. Louis, any necessary resources can easily be obtained. Most importantly the people and officials of Kimmswick and Jefferson County understand what the Delta Queen is and her importance to American History, which is why they fought so hard to get her to go there. Just as before though, once she returns to cruising she will be traveling all of the same rivers and stopping in the same towns she always has. In the meantime I urge everyone to contact their Congressmen and Senators asking them to support and cosponsor House Bill 1248 and Senate Bill 1717.

Contact info for your Congressmen can be found here: https://www.congress.gov/members

Phil, as I've written before, if I were to ever operate an overnight boat, in the summer, I would base to operation out of St. Louis because of the options available from there. You could run short trips..three or four days.. to the Ohio, Illinois, Upper and the Lower and passenger could combine two trips into a week or ten days. I agree perfectly that you have chosen the right geographic area. If Kimmswick is close enough to St. Louis to get the people easily to and from the boat and to easily draw on the big city's resources, you have chosen wisely.
(Just a thought, with your central location, there will be a lot of people who will opt to drive to the boat, you will need a good, secure long term parking area. Maybe you could get the city to include that in their remake of the landing.)

St.Louis south

Jim, having driven I-55 to NOLA since 1984, I can tell you Kimmswick is basically contiguous to metro St. L. I don't see them having any problem hiring good personnel-that southern county area seems to be prime bedroom community, so Kimmswick could actually be closer than downtown St. L. As to the landing area, yes lots of room for improvement, which I'm sure the town has promised funding.