Photograph by Siegel, Arthur S., photographer, Public domain. Via
Wikimedia Commons.
SHOWBOAT MAJESTIC
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1980. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“The Majestic is a historic riverboat that is moored on the Ohio River at Greenup, Kentucky. Built in 1923, she was the last floating theater to be built in the United States, and one of its longest-lived.”
Wikipedia article Majestic (riverboat), CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 314 National Register listings in Hamilton County · listed in 1980 · category: Structure · one of 9 National Historic Landmarks in Hamilton County.
National Register reference number.80003085- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
The reader looks forward to this, the first history of Cincinnati that has yet found itself in print. The writers look back across its half-century of chapters and the century of years embraced by its annals, and have, chiefest of all, to regret many unavoidable errors, both of omission and commission. The more important of these, it is hoped, will appear in our page of errata; but there are still many, doubtless, that have escaped the compilers' attention. In a few cases, discrepancies appear between their statements and those of an extract immediately following. In those instances they must assure the reader that the former rest upon an authority believed to be superior to the other in regard to the matter in hand; but time and space could not always be taken for the discussion and settlement of points concerning which there are variant reports. In all really important matters, they believe the history will be found quite trustworthy, especially when corrected from the page of errata.
Within the decade whose annals have just been passed in review, fell the birth of Cincinnati township, to which was entrusted, for almost twelve years, the government of Cincinnati village, which it of course contained. The township was created, after Columbia, by the court of general quarter sessions of the peace, which then had jurisdiction in these matters, in 1791. To the time of the erection of these townships, the whole county, which contained but a few hundred white inhabitants, was most conveniently governed as one municipality.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 5,809 specimens
collected within 10 miles of SHOWBOAT MAJESTIC between 1819 and
1975: 2,855 Fungi, 1,687 Animalia, 918 Plantae, 298 Protozoa, 32 Unrecorded, 18 Chromista, 1 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A Schwartz, A. Braun, A. F. Braun and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
1 working within 5 miles of SHOWBOAT MAJESTIC: 1 unknown.
None of them still produces. What was taken out: Tin, Lead, Antimony. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Cincinnati, the town this property stands in, in 70 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 25 thunderstorm wind, 17 hail, 14 flash flood, 7 flood.
The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
Numerous roads were flooded throughout the Cincinnati area and some basements were flooded. Flooding also caused some damage at Reading High School and Whitaker Elementary School.
Lightning struck a home causing a fire in the attic, which spread toward the second floor before being extinguished. Significant fire and water damage occurred to the home.
High water was reported on several roads in the downtown Cincinnati area and the near West Side. A retaining wall collapsed onto a roadway near the intersection of State Avenue and Ernst Street and a building was flooded on Poplar Street. Also, an apartment basement flooded on Linn Street and one resident needed to be rescued.
14 papers published in this town,
digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 0 issues,
0 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be
looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
1,668 words on record
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
The Showboat Majestic is a showboat, 135 feet in At the age of 56, aside from occassional repainting, the exterior of the boat remains unaltered. The boat was however, fitted with a steel hull inl1969 to allow for mooring at the Public Landing. The rest removed for the addition of a lighting booth. Bedrooms were converted to dressing rooms: A sprinkling system and pumps were added for fire Presently, the boat is used by the University of Cincinnati for theatre production, and is no longer in service as a traveling vessel. In 1969 the original wooden hull was replaced due to age and damage incurred original hull remains and is clearly visible below deck. The 1964 photograph clearly indicates the configuration of the original hull, which is very similar appearance of the auditorium.
The Showboat Majestic is not self-propelled and was, for the majority of her Majestic photograph, and a recent photograph of the Attaboy, reveals the extreme Condition 7. Description unexposed ruins deteriorated Check one _excellent The condition of the showboat is fair. of the superstructure is wood. was not included in the nomination. is calculated at 168 tons. 1ength,40 feet at the beam,and draws 5.9 feet of water.Her weight X altered X moved date Spring 1969 capacity was reduced by approximately 90 seats and balconý seats were the Attaboy and she was rebuilt from the hull up. Careful comparison of the 1940 structural changes. The sternwheel and smoke stacks are non functioning, and the Captain's Watch was not part of the original tug.
For these reasons, the Attaboy - good protection.In 1969, central heating and air conditioning were also installed.
(in one paragraph) The Showboat Majestic was the last authentic showboat constructed. She, on the Ohio River in 1923. The boat was owned and operated by Thomas Reynolds established the record of longest single ownership for any showboat. The Majestic played the Ohio, Allegheny, Cumberland, Green, Kanawha, stands, and remained a traveling theatre until 1965 when forced into dry this time, the boat was purchased by the Cincinnati Public Recreation Commission and brought to the City. The boat is currently used by University of Cincinnati Theatre Arts students whose productions help to recreate the majestic days of the Showboat Majestic is now permanently moored at the Cincinnati Public Landing, appropriately enough, at the foot of Broadway Street.
1400-1499 1600-1699 1500-1599 1700-1799 1800-1899 commerce economics Period communications engineering invention Builder/Architect military conservation industry humanitarian art education law Specific dates exploration/settlement 8. Significance politics/government tugboat the built in Pittsburg,PA and launched - archeology-prehistoric - community planning _ landscape architecture. - religion and her Jefferson Reynolds, Sr. Reynolds spent his life on the rivers, owning several vessels: The "Illinois" storeboat, the "America" showboat, and finally the "Majestic". His family is part of a tradition of theatrical showboat duty, when old enough. Owning the Majestic until his death in 1959, T.J. " distinction of being the longest lived and most traveled of all the showboats.
Kentucky, Monongahela, Muskingum, and Tennessee Rivers. In 1939, she and integral part of our American Heritage. traveling theater, when the musical comedy and melodrama were an important 1923 9.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 80003085, 26 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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