NPS Form 10-900 (Oct.

1990)

OMB No. 10024-0020

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking x in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter N/A for not applicable. For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10-900a). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items.

1. Name of Property historic name Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel NA

other names/site number 2. Location street and number city or town state Tennessee

Foot of Monroe at Riverside Drive Memphis code TN county Shelby code 157

NA

not for publication NA vicinity 38103

zip code

3. State/Federal Agency Certification

As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set for in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant nationally statewide locally. (See continuation sheet for additional comments.) Signature of certifying official/Title State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property for additional comments.) meets does not meet the National Register criteria. ( See Continuation sheet Date

Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, Tennessee Historical Commission

Signature of certifying official/Title

Date

State or Federal agency and bureau

4. National Park Service Certification

I hereby certify that the property is: entered in the National Register. See continuation sheet determined eligible for the National Register. See continuation sheet determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register. other, (explain:) Signature of the Keeper Date of Action

Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel

Name of Property

Shelby County, Tennessee County and State

5. Classification Ownership of Property

(Check as many boxes as apply)

Category of Property
(Check only one box)

Number of Resources within Property

(Do not include previously listed resources in count)

private public-local public-State public-Federal

building(s) district site structure object

Contributing

Noncontributing buildings sites

1 1 0

structures objects Total

Name of related multiple property listing

(Enter N/A if property is not part of a multiple property listing.)

Number of Contributing resources previously listed in the National Register 0

N/A 6. Function or Use Historic Functions

(Enter categories from instructions)

Current Functions
(Enter categories from instructions)

TRANSPORTATION: water related

TRANSPORTATION: water related

7. Description Architectural Classification

(Enter categories from instructions)

Materials
(Enter categories from instructions)

foundation Diesel floating vessel Dubuque Boat and Boiler Works, Dubuque, IA, mfg. walls

NA

STEEL

roof other

STEEL WOOD, MASONITE, ALUMINUM

Narrative Description
(Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.)

Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel

Name of Property

Shelby County, Tennessee County and State

8. Statement of Significance Applicable National Register Criteria

(Mark x in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.)

Areas of Significance
(Enter categories from instructions)
I

A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whos components lack individual distinction. D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. Criteria Considerations
(Mark x in all boxes that apply.) NA

Design/Construction

Period of Significance 1955

Significant Dates 1955

Property is: A owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes. Significant Person B removed from its original location. C moved from its original location. D a cemetery. E a reconstructed building, object, or structure. F a commemorative property G less than 50 years of age or achieved significance within the past 50 years. Narrative Statement of Significance
(Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) (complete if Criterion B is marked)

NA Cultural Affiliation NA

Architect/Builder Miller, Hank and Trone, Captain Dennis; The Dubuque Boat and Boiler Company

9. Major Bibliographical References Bibliography

(Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.)

Previous documentation on file (NPS): N/A preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested previously listed in the National Register Previously determined eligible by the National Register designated a National Historic Landmark recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey # recorded by Historic American Engineering Record #

Primary location of additional data: State Historic Preservation Office Other State Agency Federal Agency Local Government University Other Memphis Riverboats, Memphis TN

Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel Name of Property

Shelby County, Tennessee County and State

10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property UTM References

(place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.)

Less than one acre

1
Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting Northing

2
See continuation sheet

Verbal Boundary Description

(Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.)

Boundary Justification
(Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.)

11. Form Prepared By name/title organization city or town Judith Johnson Judith Johnson and Associates 176 Windover Cove, #1 state Memphis date telephone TN January 2006 901/603-0054 zip code 38111

street and number

Additional Documentation
submit the following items with the completed form:

Continuation Sheets Maps A USGS map (7.5 0r 15 minute series) indicating the propertys location A Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property. Additional items
(Check with the SHPO) or FPO for any additional items

Property Owner
(Complete this item at the request of SHPO or FPO.)

name

Memphis Riverboats- Captain William Lozier 45 Riverside Drive state TN Telephone 901/527-5694 38103 Memphis zip code

street and number city or town

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listing. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.) Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 20.1 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P. O. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Projects (1024-0020), Washington, DC 20303.

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Section number 7 Page 1 Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel Shelby County, Tennessee

Narrative Description The d.1955 Memphis Queen II (MQ II) is an all-steel body, diesel powered floating vessel. She is 64.9 feet long with an original, twenty-two foot aft decorative paddlewheel; a twenty-seven foot wide beam and a three-foot draft. The three-story steel vessel is kept afloat by nine watertight compartments and is powered by her two, original 150-horsepower, twin screw diesel marine engines. The port engine is a Detroit Diesel 6-71 and the starboard engine is a 6-cylinder Caterpillar 3306. She initially had two decks. The lower main deck had a concession stand, two all-steel restrooms, a stairwell and decorative metal posts supporting the open upper deck. At the rounded bow was a landing stage about eight feet long that was lowered by lines and a block-and-tackle. The original wide stairwell to the second deck was located in the center of the stern. The covering curved upward above the second deck with a landing at the top where the passengers proceeded to the left or right in order to go forward. It was about twice the normal width, and divided the concession stand in half with the food and beverage portion on the starboard (right) and the souvenir portion on the port (left) side. The lower deck and second deck have wire fences on the sides that still remain intact. The main deck was not roofed beyond the perimeter of the second deck. In the place of bulkheads (interior walls), there were navy blue canvas curtains with clear oblong windows lining the ceiling of the lower deck that could be rolled down in inclement weather. Ties on the curtains held them up when not in use. Lower deck seating was provided by wooden tables rimmed in chrome and in a typical 50s design top with wood folding chairs. There were eight heavy wooden boo ths with pedestal tables covered in turquoise oilcloth lined up on either side just inside of where the curtains rolled down. The second deck had fixed round tables on either side with a center pole that held a striped umbrella. Around each table were four fixed wooden chairs each on a single pole. The chairs and tables were painted in different pastel colors and could pinch the seat of the sitter if he was not careful. White wooden benches provided much of the rest of the upper deck seating. The wood frame and tempered masonite wheelhouse was raised about a foot above the deck, was located towards the bow with two decorative smokestacks directly in front of it. The wheelhouse was entered from the stern side. There was a large pilot wheel once used on the steamboat Kate Adams that was so big it went through the deck. Short pilots had trouble seeing beyond the passengers standing in front of the wheelhouse and sometimes had to stand on the wheel to turn it. The boat was docked with her starboard side against the dock and a hinged metal plate was flipped down for boarding and debarking.

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Section number 7 Page 2 Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel Shelby County, Tennessee

Although she retains much of her original fabric, beginning in 1960, the MQ II was modified by Captain Meanley, the new owner. The first alteration required removal of the steps dividing the concession stand and adding steps on either side that increase the capacity from 256 to 308 passengers. Aluminum roofing was added on either side of the main deck and on the second deck. The outside edge of the second deck roofing had a white decorative foot high metal railing designed similar to a ladder on its side. The fixed chairs were replaced with metal folding chairs to increase seating capacity. A new wood concession stand with aluminum facing on the food and beverage side was added on the second deck. Some of these alterations were made for passenger safety. The canvas curtains were replaced with panels of bright turquoise plastic in a wood frame painted orange. Windows were horizontal Plexiglas storm doors were added at this time. They could be swung overhead and suspended with hooks when the weather was nice and down latched with huge nails when the weather was bad or when closed for the night. The bow had a similar arrangement except it had aluminum panels instead of plastic. The landing stage was modified with a section of expanded metal so that passengers could scrape the sand off their feet while boarding. The structural changes over time in to the vessels design have maintained integrity of workmanship and materials. These include relocating the original wheelhouse upward to a third deck to provide a better view for piloting and a space for a second concession stand underneath. In 1964 the MQ II wheelhouse was remodeled a third time so she could also ferry the ever larger boats in the fleet around dockside. At that time, the wheelhouse was given a steel roof for support and a smaller steel wheelhouse was added on top with Meanley doing the welding. There has been some deterioration due to normal wear and tear and the marine environment. The MQ II is moored in the Memphis Queen Riverboats docking facility in the Mississippi River located at the ca. 1859-1889 stone pavement wharf situated along the east side of what is now the Wolf River Harbor. It stretches between Court Avenue on the north and Beale Street on the south and covers an area of about 8.7 acres.

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Section number 8 Page 3 Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel Shelby County, Tennessee

Narrative Statement of Significance A historic floating vessel, the Memphis Queen II (MQII) is eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C for the technological advances in ship building materials as the prototype for the all-steel body passenger vessels powered by two screw diesel marine engines built nationally between1955 and 1987. She is significant for her association with the Iowa-based, nationally known ship building firm, the Dubuque Boat and Boiler Works (Boiler Works). The MQ ll is the first in a long series of all-steel Boiler Works vessels which had mass appeal as practically unsinkable and fuel efficient excursion boats. The vessel has integrity of location as she was built for Memphis Excursion Lines and has remained in continuous fleet service from the same docking site since1955 with the subsequent owners of that business. The structural changes over time to the vessels design have maintained integrity of workmanship by continuing to be hand welded and by using original construction materials such as steel. The relocations of the MQII original wheelhouse upward to a third deck in 1964 provided a better view for piloting. The MQ IIs rounded bow allowed her to also serve as a ferry for the ever larger boats in the fleet. At that time, the wheelhouse was given a steel roof for support and a smaller two story steel and wood wheelhouse was added on top with the owner doing the welding. Background Captain James Lee began the Lee Line steamboat company in Memphis in 1868 and operated a fleet of steamboats along the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland rivers. The viability of river transportation began to collapse in the 1890s as the railroad bridges began to span the Mississippi and freight trains began to emerge as the favored way to move goods across country. Nonetheless, into the early twentieth century Memphis based packet boats still moved the U.S. mail, various supplies, and even passengers to isolated plantations and small towns along the river. Captain Lees Natoma ran a regular packet for mail or passengers from Memphis to Friar's Point, Mississippi. The Lee Line originated the Memphis excursion boat business here in 1917 when the steamboat James Lee was converted to an excursion boat and renamed the Desoto. In 1924 The Lee Line consolidated to become the Valley Line Steamers and finally ceased operations in 1936 which ended the Memphis excursion boat business. The Memphis river excursion business was revived in 1952 by Captain Ed Langford when he purchased a gasoline powered World War II pontoon float mover, the Prairie Schooner, and rebuilt it into the Memphis Queen to start the Memphis Excursion Lines. The excursion business of taking passengers out on the Mississippi River was so good that in 1955, he commissioned a prototype steel body boat, the MQ II to be built by the Boiler Works of Dubuque, Iowa.

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Section number 8 Page 4 Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel Shelby County, Tennessee

The Iowa lumber industry developed rapidly with huge rafts of timber from northern forests arriving as early as 1834, necessitating local saw mills. The mills supplied lumber for the ship building enterprises. Boiler Works began as the Iowa Iron Works in 1851, building its first iron hulled steam boat, the Clyde, in 1870 when the industry was dominated by steam engines.. These large wood hulled vessels, propelled by one or more steam-driven screws, propellers, or paddles, had an average life span of eighteen moths because their fragile wooden hulls were susceptible to snags and the ever present threat of boiler explosions. By the mid-1890s Boiler Works boats were being built with safer, more dependable steel hulls. 1 In 1902 the Boiler Works moved to the Phofl Boatyard on the north shore of the Ice Harbor in Dubuque. Over its long history, the Boiler Works built the only finest and most famous steamboats on the river, including the luxurious Quincy (J.S. "Deluxe"), 1896; the legendary Betsy Ann, 1899; and the gigantic railroad transfer boat Albatross, 1907 (now the excursion/gambling boat Admiral in St. Louis). The Ericsson torpedo boat saw service in the Spanish American War. Submarine chasers, cutters and mine layers were built in Dubuque and used in two World Wars. The most famous boat they built was the "Sprague", or "Big Mama", the world's largest steam towboat, which served 46 years on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers before resting at Vicksburg on the Yazoo River as a museum until it burned beyond repair in 1974. 2 By the early 1920s the steam engine was rapidly being overtaken by the diesel oil engine as the preferred prime mover of marine vessels because of their more efficient thrust and maneuverability and increased safety because the boat could lose its rudder and still be guided by its propellers. The modern diesel engine, an internal-combustion engine that uses the heat of highly compressed air to ignite a spray of fuel introduced after the start of the compression stroke was derived from the work of Rudolf Diesel, a German inventor and engineer who developed the first pressure-ignited, internal combustion engine in 1893. The diesel engine offered greater efficiency and power, and instead of employing coal as a fuel source, it introduced the use of diesel oil. Diesel's invention changed the course of transportation history, for in 1897 his propulsor was able to reach a mechanical efficiency of 26% whereas similar -powered steam machines in the period did not exceed 6%. 3 In 1955 the Boiler Works owner was Hank Miller. Business was slow when Captain Langford approached Miller and his employee Captain Dennis Trone to design and build the prototype MQ II. Based on their success with building that first all-steel passenger boat on the Mississippi River, Miller and Trone decided that there was a market of passenger vessels and revived their business by building other smaller, steel-hulled excursion boats, economical and plain in design, as the

National Mississippi River Museum. 2006 January 15, 2006 <http://www.mississippirivermuseum.com/>

2 3

ibid Richard Carrs Paxman History Pages. 2004. February 18, 2006. < http://www.nelmes.fsnet.co.uk/>

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Section number 8 Page 5 Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel Shelby County, Tennessee

market of the time dictated. There were the Mark Twain, the Becky Thatcher, the Jonathon Paddleford and many others all known as Dubuque boats. 4 The Boiler Works ended operations in 1972. Today, the 1902 physical plant is now home to the Fred W. Woodward Riverboat Museum at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium located at the Port of Dubuque and operated by The Dubuque County Historical Society. 5 In 1960, the ailing Captain Langford sold the Memphis Excursion Lines and the five-year-old MQ II to Tom Meanley, the farm and waterways editor for the Memphis evening paper, the PressScimitar. Meanley, who grew up on the Pacific Ocean at San Diego, was a serviceman who had been transferred to the Millington Navy Base and remained here after his discharge. He also raised Black Angus on his farm in southwest Memphis. As he farmer, he was honored with "Farmer of the Year," and, as a newsman, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Wolf River Conservancy. 6 Meanley had just earned his riverboat pilot's license as a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and as a volunteer in the marine rescue squadron. As a grandson of E. W. Scripps, one of the founders of Scripps-Howard Newspapers, Captain Meanley seemed to have inherited the spirit of an entrepreneur. And so the 43-year-old father of two bought the small business thinking he could 7 have an entertaining seasonal job with the little passenger vessel. At first he was a riverboat captain in the summer and a newspaper reporter the rest of the year, but when he started building boats in his backyard, the Memphis Riverboats became a full time adventure. Meanley went to work early every morning, and was finished by early afternoon since the old Press-Scimitar was an afternoon paper. The papers offices were at 495 Union Avenue only a few blocks from the foot of Monroe where the boat was docked. Captain Meanley would take out the 2:30 sightseeing cruise in the afternoon. His wife Carol was the bookkeeper and ticket seller. In the summertime the Meanley children, daughter Dale and son Jake joined the crew in cleaning up and preparing the concessions. Calliope music was sent out over the PA system as the gate was opened for boarding at 1:30 pm. Mrs. Meanley sold tickets out of a green tackle box for the hour and fifteen minute tour. Early on she hired John H. Lozier, Jr., a student at Memphis State University to run the concession stand and be a deckhand. That employee later became a riverboat captain and then her son-in-law when he married daughter Dale. 8 Once or twice during boarding Captain Meanley would announce from the wheelhouse All aboard for the 2:30 pm sightseeing cruise on the Memphis Queen especially when he saw some prospects lingering on the cobblestones. At that time the cobblestones were free parking for
4 5

Wisconsin Steamboats. 2005. < http://www.juliabelle.com/> ibid. 6 Captain Dale Lozier, interview by the author, oral, Memphis, TN, 2 January, 2006. 7 ibid 8 ibid

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Section number 8 Page 6 Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel Shelby County, Tennessee

anyone which meant in high water times there was little room for the river boat patrons. The commentary started just before the cruise with an introduction and a safety message. Then as the boat left the harbor Meanley announced in the manner of a circus ringmaster, Now we are entering the Mississippi River, the Father of Waters as the Indians once called it draining 31 states and two provinces of Canada. I present to you Ol Man River! and played a reel-to-reel tape recording of William Warfield singing Ol Man River from the musical Showboat.9 Every cruise the boat stopped on a sandbar on the other side of the river in Arkansas where there was a cotton field that fascinated the tourists and locals alike. As the vessel pulled up to the sandbar and unloaded the passengers on her scow bow, Captain Meanley would announce the safety rules for the visit. A sandbar visit was a photo opportunity for the captain so once in a while he would send a crew member to the wheelhouse so he could take pictures and use them for ads or making post cards. Sometimes he would tell folks to watch out for quicksand, perhaps to keep them from getting too far away. He would say, If you do get caught in quicksan d, just roll over on your stomach and wiggle out like an alligator. He also announced that there was something cold in cans for adults only in the concession stand. Something cold was cans of Busch, Pabst and Falstaff beer. 10 Soon after the purchase of the MQ II it was time to take the boat for her five-year dry dock inspection required by the Coast Guard. The closest available dry dock was Greenville, MS, 220 river miles downstream. Since Meanley was still writing human interest stories for the newspaper, he told about the trip in his column describing how the various members of the crew tried to escape the mosquitoes when they pulled up at a sandbar for the night to sleep. One smoked a cloud to shoo them away, one buried himself in the sand up to his chin and one slept in the hold only to roll over in his sleep and get a mouth full of bilge water. 11 Eventually Captain Meanley started building boats himself. The first was the 599 passenger Memphis Showboat whose steel hull was built in Dubuque and then completed in Memphis by Captain Meanley at the dock at the foot of Monroe in 1964. A small sixty-five passenger vessel, the Belle Carol was next with its steel hull also built by the Boiler Works. Finally Captain Meanley designed another boat but did not want to pay shipyard prices so he built the hull in his own backyard. He then began talking with the Boiler Works owner Hank Miller about opening another shipyard in Memphis to be managed by Meanley. Sadly Miller sudden death occurred before that plan could be realized. 12 The Cotton Carnival Barge Landing was an event in which the MQll played an important part. During the early twentieth century, great interest developed in creating a city-wide event like the
9

ibid ibid 11 ibid 12 ibid

10

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Section number 8 Page 7 Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel Shelby County, Tennessee

Mardi Gras Carnival. As more and more influential Memphians became actively interested, the Memphis Cotton Carnival Association were established in the early 1930s. The efforts were conducted to bring a sense of excitement and life back to the city of Memphis and its people. Its designers decided that this festival would promote something else, Memphis' primary asset at the time-cotton. During this time, Memphis and the Mid-South region, like the rest of the United States, were in the throes of the Great Depression and the region's cotton, was selling for pennies a pound. The prosperity of the Mid-South was dependent on cotton and measures had to be taken to increase the use of this precious commodity. Civic leaders envisioned a larger city-wide promotion and ideas quickly grew into a plan for a grand celebration with a King, Queen and Royal Court that would involve people from all over the Mid-South. The idea was to promote the use and wearing of cotton products which would lead to increased demand and stimulate sales. 13 The fanfare and excitement that centered around the Cotton Carnival climaxed throughout the mid-to-late twentieth century. The Memphis Cotton Carnival Association had become a very centralized governing body, which along with the participating krewes, was becoming a fest ival that could not be rivaled anywhere in the South except New Orleans. Its most intriguing and popular event was the Arrival of the Royal Barge. This event was very much a sight to see in which the King, Queen, and Royal Court, along with the royal pages, guards, and other participants would all ride in on a beautifully decorated barge on the Mississippi River, docking in downtown Memphis for all onlookers to revel and awe over. With elaborately designed and well-lit backdrops, along with the night sky being lit up with an array of fireworks, this was truly a wonder for everyone present. The entire city, it seemed, gathered along the riverbanks on a spring evening to attend the Royal Barges arrival. 14 For years this event took place on the evening of the first Saturday of May. Each krewe or secret society such as Memphis, RaMet or Osiris had a barge coming up the river starting at the lower Memphis bridges and cruising up to the Foot of Monroe where those on board got off and walked up a red carpet to waiting vehicles that took them to a party afterward. Each krewe decorated its barge with lights and decorative elements with tiers of seating for its court consisting of its King and Queen with the rest of the members all dressed in costumes. The final barge in the water parade was the Royal Barge where the King and Queen of Cotton and the Maid of Cotton and their court. This barge was always the biggest and grandest event and the fireworks began as it arrived for thousands of spectators watching from the banks along the river. 15 In the latter years of the event, the Coast Guard became increasingly concerned with the risks involved in having barges laden with potentially intoxicated people in unfamiliar surroundings with temporary railings and seating and established stringent safety requirements. These were so costly that the vessels of the Memphis Queen Company became the primary vessels in the annual parade and the MQ II pushed the Memphis Showboat serving as the Royal Barge in several of
13 14

History of the Memphis Cotton Carnival. Wikipedia. 2005. February 18, 2006 < http://en.wikipedia.org/> ibid 15 ibid

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Section number 8 Page 8 Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel Shelby County, Tennessee

those parades. The activities of Memphis In May pushed the event into the background and the river parade was discontinued by the 1980s. 16 The MQ II has carried untold passengers on school field trips; proms; cooking chefs from the Hotel Peabody; Boy Scout campouts; all night parties; daylong cruise to Helena, Arkansas; casino parties; weddings; funerals; reunions; and just about any other type of gathering one can imagine. She introduced the film Tammy Tell Me True to Memphis and was in a television series abou t Elvis. The MQ ll has carried such celebrities as Marlin Perkins of Wild Kingdom fame, John Davidson, John Gavin, Gina Lollobrigida and the Memphis Queen Companys most special visitor - Mother Theresa. 17 The MQ II today is part of the Memphis Riverboats fleet. The third generation family business is owned and operated today by Captain William Lozier, Captain Meanleys grandson. The MQ ll today is still at the core of the hundreds of sightseeing and dinner cruise trips made by the Memphis Riverboats every year.

16 17

Captain Dale Lozier, interview by the author, oral, Memphis, TN, 2 January, 2006. Ibid.

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Section number 9 Page 9 Memphis Queen II Shelby County, Tennessee

Verbal Boundary Description and Justification All that area encompassed within the area defined by the extreme length and breadth of the vessel. The nominated property is the entire area encompassed within the boundary.

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Section number 10 Page 10 Memphis Queen II Shelby County, Tennessee

Major Biographical References Oral interview with Captain Dale Meanley Lozier. Memphis: 2006 Vertical clipping files, Memphis Public Library, Memphis, TN.

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Memphis Queen II, Shelby County, Tennessee Section number photos Page 11

Photographs Photos by: Judith Johnson Date: July 2002 Negatives: Tennessee Historical Commission Streetscape of Memphis Riverboats dock and fleet, facing northwest. # 1 of 17 Streetscape of Memphis Riverboats fleet, facing southwest # 2 of 17 Memphis Queen ll bow and port side, facing southwest # 3 of 17 Memphis Queen ll bow, facing west # 4 of 17 Memphis Queen ll port and raised landing stage, facing east # 5 of 17 Stern wheel (detail), facing northeast # 6 of 17 Stern wheel (detail), # 7 of 17 Old and new Pilothouses, facing northwest # 8 of 17 Old and new Pilothouses (detail) # 9 of 17 Interior-lower deck, facing northeast # 10 of 17 Interior-lower deck, facing east # 11 of 17 Interior-mail box (detail) # 12 of 17

NPS FORM 10-900-A (8-86)

OMB Approval No. 1024-0020

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

Memphis Queen II, Shelby County, Tennessee Section number photos Page 12

Interior (detail)-prow stairs # 13 of 17 Roof of lower deck with pilothouses and smokestacks, facing north # 14 of 17 Interior-old pilothouse with Kate Adams pilot wheel, facing east # 15 of 17 Interior-old pilothouse, facing west # 16 of 17 Interior-new pilothouse # 17 of 17