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Golden Eagle River Museum

DESCRIPTION: Golden Eagle River Museum is a small museum dedicated to documenting and preserving the history of river transportation. It is an independent, non-profit museum staffed by volunteers from the Golden Eagle Club. The museum is located in a mansion that was the summer home of a wealthy St. Louis businessman. The home is situated on the bluffs above the Mississippi River with great views of the river.

ADDRESS: For information on the Museum, contact Jim Swift, president of the Golden Eagle Museum, 7330 Colgate, St. Louis, MO 63130. The Museum is located in Bee Tree County Park on Finestown Road near its intersection with Becker Road, St. Louis, MO 63129.

LOCATION: South St. Louis County

PHONE NUMBER: The phone number for Jim Swift is 314-846-9073. The Museum's number is 314-725-9467. Persons interested in scheduling tours of the Museum and the mansion should call 314-631-6508.

WEB SITE: www.stlouisco.com/parks/golden-eagle-river-museum.html

GETTING THERE: From Downtown St. Louis, take I-55 south to I-270/I-255 East to Telegraph Road. Go south on Telegraph Road 4.5 miles to Becker Road. Turn left on Becker Road and follow it 1.5 miles to Finestown Road. Turn left on Finestown and follow it a short distance to Bee Tree Park. The Museum is in the park.

HOURS: May-Labor Day, Wed.-Sun., 1-5 p.m.; Labor Day-October, Sat. & Sun. only, 1-5 p.m. Group tours can be arranged at other times as well.

ADMISSION: Free; tours of the mansion are $1.

ANNUAL ATTENDANCE: 1,000

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • The giant pilot wheel of the steamer the Betsy Ann is prominently featured in the museum. The Ohio River boat was made famous by the book "The Log of the Betsy Ann" written by Capt. Fred Way, Jr.
  • Items from the Golden Eagle, the last packet (passenger boat) to ply the Mississippi River from St. Louis, are on display. On its maiden voyage after being refurbished in 1947, the Golden Eagle sank at Grand Tower Island near Memphis.
  • The museum also features steamboat artifacts, memorabilia, paintings and early photographs of steamboats.
  • A large carbon spotlight from the towboat Reliance and a bronze deck bell from the steamer Laura are on display.
  • An eight-foot map of the 1837 St. Louis harbor is among the museum's most interesting pieces.
  • Several large steamboat models including a replica of the Far West, a packet built in Pittsburgh in 1870, are on display in the museum. The Far West sailed up the Big Horn River on June 6, 1876, the day after Custer's Battle of the Little Bighorn, to pick up 52 soldiers who had survived the battle.
  • One case displays items from the Admiral, a boat that offered passenger excursions on the Mississippi River from St. Louis from 1935 until the 1980's. The Admiral is now the President Casino on St. Louis' Riverfront. The display includes glassware, key chains, post cards, pins, caps, fans and other items with the Admiral insignia on them.
  • Also on display are the roll top desk used by Capt. William H. "Buck" Leyhe when he ran the Eagle Packet Boat Store in St. Louis and by his son Fred H. Leyhe at Eagle Marine Industries.
  • The store counter and shelves from the Eagle Boat Store, c. 1850, are also on display with bins for sash cords, asbestos wicks, wire clips and other items.
  • Another exhibit features a model of a towboat with barges and examples of what would typically be carried in the barges.
  • The Oliver C. Parmely Library is housed on the second floor of the mansion. A variety of books on maritime history, navigation, pamphlets, maps, newspaper clippings and photographs about steamboats, towboats, bridges, river men and river history, are available to researchers and the general public. The core of the collection is made up of the personal collection of the late Oliver Parmely, one of the founders and early officers of the Golden Eagle Club.
  • The Lindell Gordon Memorial Garden adjacent to the mansion is available for rental for weddings and receptions.

WHAT'S FUN FOR KIDS: The "Little Eagle" is a replica of a pilot house which children can enter and sound a whistle and a bell like real riverboat pilots. They can also "steer" the boat with its own miniature pilot wheel, which looks out over the river from the windows of the mansion. The pilothouse replica also has a pair of binoculars for spotting barges, birds and other things in the water and surrounding area.

HISTORY: The Museum was established by the Golden Eagle Club and is operated by its members. The Club was formed by many passengers of the Golden Eagle, the last overnight passenger boat running out of St. Louis, after the boat sank in 1947 following a renovation. The Museum was housed in several locations before it found a home in Bee Tree Park in 1974. The Museum is located in the Nims Mansion, a massive stone building built in 1927 by Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Dutton Nims as their summer home. Nims was an organizer and early president of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. The house, built on a high bluff, has a sweeping view of the Mississippi River. The museum is in the Great Hall with a huge stone fireplace and a two-story bay window overlooking the river. Tours of the home are available for a $1 donation. The mansion was part of Bee Tree Farm, a 190-acre tract which St. Louis County bought from the Nims estate in 1968 and opened as a park in 1974. The name is purported to have derived from the fact that a large, hollow tree was cut down on the farm revealing a huge beehive inside.

HANDICAPPED ACCESS: The Golden Eagle River Museum is handicapped accessible.

GIFT SHOP: There is a small gift shop in the Museum which sells items such as books about boats and the river, magnets, t-shirts, commemorative spoons, rings, small toys, mugs, plates and postcards.

WHERE TO GET LUNCH: There are several restaurants along Telegraph Road outside of the park.

WHAT'S NEARBY: Several miles to the north is Jefferson Barracks Historical Park and a few miles to the southeast is Mastodon State Historical Site.

PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTACT: Jim Swift, president of the Golden Eagle River Museum, 314-846-9073

 

Readers should call 1-800-916-0040 to request a free copy of the Official St. Louis Visitor Guide or point, click and explore St. Louis at www.explorestlouis.com