Howard Steamboat Museum
715 Fulton St, Jeffersonville, IN
Jeffersonville, IN
The turreted mansion of the family whose Ohio River shipyard built some of the grandest steamboats ever launched, now a museum of that vanished golden age of the river.
The Howard Steamboat Museum tells the story of the golden age of Ohio River steamboats through the mansion of the family who built them. Beginning in 1834, the Howard family ran a shipyard at Jeffersonville that turned out some of the finest and most famous steamboats in America, ornate floating palaces that plied the Ohio and Mississippi. Over more than a century the yard produced thousands of vessels.
The house they built for themselves in the 1890s is a showpiece in its own right, a turreted Romanesque mansion decorated by the very craftsmen who fitted out the steamboats, with carved woodwork, stained glass, and hand-painted ceilings. Today it holds a rich collection of models, tools, photographs, and artifacts, and stands as a National Historic Landmark and the country's premier museum of the inland steamboat era.
What Guests Love
- The lavish Romanesque mansion itself, built by shipyard craftsmen who worked on the boats
- Detailed models and artifacts from the great riverboats the Howard yard produced
- The story of a family shipyard that shaped steamboat history for more than a century
- The riverfront setting, across from Louisville, where those boats once worked
Worth Knowing
- The mansion is toured with a guide, and stairs lead to the upper floors
- It is a National Historic Landmark, so touring is at a measured, unhurried pace
- Downtown Jeffersonville and its riverfront walk are close, easy to combine with a visit
- Hours are limited, so check the schedule before you plan a stop
Details
Jeffersonville, IN
Learn about Howard Steamboat Museum
The Howards and the boats they built
The Howard shipyard began in 1834 when James Howard launched his first steamboat at Jeffersonville, just across the Ohio from Louisville. Over generations the family perfected the craft, and the Howard yard became known for building the grandest and best-engineered steamboats on the western rivers, elaborate vessels that were as much floating hotels as workboats.
The yard operated for more than a hundred years, through the heyday of river commerce and into the twentieth century, producing thousands of boats. The name Howard became synonymous with quality on the rivers, and the family's fortunes rose with the great age of steam on the Ohio and Mississippi.
A mansion built by shipyard hands
In the 1890s the family built a mansion to match their standing, and its interior tells you exactly who they were. The same carvers, joiners, and decorators who fitted out the luxurious cabins and salons of the steamboats worked on the house, so its woodwork, stained glass, and painted ceilings carry the same craftsmanship that made the boats famous.
The result is a Romanesque Revival mansion, turreted and richly detailed, that is a work of art in itself. Walking its rooms, a visitor sees the taste and skill of the steamboat era translated from the river into a home, which is part of why the house is preserved as a National Historic Landmark.
The museum collection
Inside, the museum holds one of the best collections anywhere devoted to the inland steamboat. Detailed scale models show the great riverboats in their glory, and the rooms are filled with photographs, builder's tools, ship fittings, and artifacts that trace how these vessels were designed, built, and run.
Together the collection and the house bring back a world that has almost entirely vanished, the era when steamboats were the lifeline of the American interior. For anyone curious about river history, it is a rare and immersive window into how those boats were made and what life aboard them was like.
Jeffersonville and the Ohio River
Jeffersonville grew up as a river town on the Indiana bank opposite Louisville, and the two cities have long shared the traffic of the Ohio. The old downtown near the museum has a walkable historic core, and a riverfront park with a pedestrian bridge now links Indiana to Kentucky across the water. The river country here is old homeland of the Miami, Shawnee, and Lenape (Delaware) peoples of the region.
A short distance downriver sits the Falls of the Ohio, the one great rapids on the river and the reason boats and towns clustered here in the first place. The pairing of a steamboat museum and a riverfront full of history makes Jeffersonville a natural stop for anyone following the Ohio.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Jeffersonville
Jeffersonville riverfront
A few blocks south
A riverfront park and walkway along the Ohio, with views across to Louisville and a pedestrian bridge linking the states.
Falls of the Ohio State Park
About 4 miles southwest in Clarksville
Ancient fossil beds exposed in the Ohio River bedrock, the only major rapids on the river, with an interpretive center.
Louisville, Kentucky
Directly across the river
A large river city with museums, distilleries, and riverfront attractions, easy to reach from Jeffersonville.
Big Four Bridge
At the riverfront
A former railroad bridge turned pedestrian crossing linking Jeffersonville with Louisville over the Ohio.