Ohio Finds: Model of Cape Girardeau

While Ohio’s rivers are typically used for recreation today, in the 19th century, steam power transformed the Ohio River Valley into a system of superhighways.

Packet boats, like the Cape Girardeau, ranged in size from large sternwheelers to smaller vessels able to navigate tributaries as they moved passengers, freight and mail. 

The heyday of steamboats was short-lived, however, with railroads significantly impacting their profitability by the mid-1800s. Still, packet boats remained an important part of life in towns along Ohio’s many rivers into the early 20th century.

The Cape Girardeau was built in Indiana in 1923, spending roughly a decade as a packet boat before being refitted as an excursion boat and renamed the Gordon C. Greene. After being replaced by the Delta Queen in 1948, it served as a floating restaurant before ultimately sinking in St. Louis in 1967.

An unidentified man in Wellsburg, Ohio, created this model depicting the Cape Girardeau in the 1960s. It appears as it was originally built and how the artist remembered seeing it when he was a child. It is believed to be one of about half a dozen such models he created.  

SOLD: $1,159

Hollie Davis is a co-owner of Meander Auctions in Whipple, Ohio. meanderauctions.com

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