Minnesota Centennial Showboat

This postcard shows interior and exterior views of the Minnesota Centennial  Showboat. The Summer 1960 schedule, with performances on the Mississippi River at Minneapolis, St. Paul, Red Wing, and Winona, is shown on the back. The 1960 play was George M. Cohan's Forty-five Minutes From Broadway.

This boat was originally built in 1899. In 1958 it was purchased from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by the University of Minnesota for $1 and transformed into the Minnesota Centennial Showboat in celebration of Minnesota's centennial. This showboat closed in need of repairs in 1993. It was destroyed by fire in 2000 when undergoing restoration.