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“People would come down to the waterfront when she arrived, take
a day excursion on her, and then she’d move on to the next city,”
said Harris. “She did that for 13 years, and it nearly proved to be
her destruction.”
Falling apart and losing money, the Avalon’s owners planned to
scrap the boat in the spring of 1962 when a Cincinnati reporter
succeeded in getting a court order to put the boat up for auction.
Due to the boat’s shared history with the city, Louisville Mayor
Charles Farnsley bought it at auction for $34,000 and helped the
Avalon to chug slowly back to Kentucky.
The citizens of Louisville appeared split on the purchasing decision. Many were thrilled and volunteered their time to help get the
boat in proper working order again. Painters, carpenters and engineers all got involved. Businesses donated supplies. The rebuilding
took nearly a year of constant labor.
At the same time, however, some Louisville citizens considered
the purchase wasteful. “They’d meet with Mayor Farnsley and say,
‘How could you spend $34,000 for an old steam boat?’ and the
Mayor would reply, ‘You know that steamboat cost each tax payer
just seven cents?’ Then the mayor would go in his drawer and give
them seven cents back,” said Harris.
“So Louisville came to love the Belle,” Harris continued. “She is
a treasure and an icon for Louisville. You don’t see too many commercials without that pretty red paddle wheel.”
The refurbished and renamed Belle of Louisville made her debut in
a steamboat race with the Delta Queen on April 30, 1963. Though she
lost that race, the Belle won the possessive pride of many Louisville
residents from that day forward.
Linda Harris’s earliest memories of the boat date to the 1970s when
she visited the city for the first time. “My in-laws loved the Belle and
had a house on the river. We used to sit on their front porch and
watch her go by,” said Harris. “I have a picture of my daughter in
1974, sitting on the wharf with the Belle behin \