{"nrhp_refnum":"80003085","name":"SHOWBOAT MAJESTIC","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Broadway St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cincinnati","county":"Hamilton County","state":"OH","lat":39.096457058000055,"lon":-84.50474161299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-01-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Performing Arts"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wooden-superstructure showboat, 135 feet long and 40 feet wide, built in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, launched on the Ohio River in 1923 and now moored at the Cincinnati Public Landing at the foot of Broadway.","why_significant":"The nomination calls her the last authentic showboat constructed and the longest-lived and most widely traveled of all showboats. She played nine rivers and continued one-night stands until 1965. Thomas Jefferson Reynolds, Sr. owned her until 1959, the longest single ownership of any showboat.","narrative":"Moored at the Cincinnati Public Landing at the foot of Broadway, the Showboat Majestic is a 135-foot floating theatre built in Pittsburgh and launched on the Ohio River in 1923. Thomas Jefferson Reynolds, Sr. owned and operated her until his death in 1959, the longest single ownership recorded for any showboat. His nine children were all born on the river, five of them aboard the Majestic, and each worked as a performer or crew member. She played the Ohio, Allegheny, Cumberland, Green, Kanawha, Kentucky, Monongahela, Muskingum and Tennessee Rivers, and from 1939 was the last floating theatre still doing one-night stands. Age and her wooden hull forced her into dry dock in 1965. The city recreation commission bought her, and in 1969 she received a steel hull over the original. Her exterior is largely unaltered, while the interior stage was enlarged and fire protection and climate control added. University of Cincinnati theatre students now stage productions aboard.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition fair; occupied and used by the University of Cincinnati for theatre productions; no longer a traveling vessel; moved to Cincinnati in 1969 and fitted with a steel hull.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.117799-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/80003085.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003085/1a185b959e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003085/1a185b959e-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Siegel, Arthur S., photographer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Showboat_majestic.png\" rel=\"noopener\">Siegel, Arthur S., photographer</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Showboat_majestic.png"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989259","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_(riverboat)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6737679"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/hamilton-county/showboat-majestic-80003085/"}