From muddy shores with only a few houses in the beginning, then as a busy steamboat port in the latter 19th century, to a newly constructed Dress Plaza in 1936, and now as an inviting place to walk and bike with a backdrop of modern buildings, Evansville’s riverfront has continually played an important role in the community’s life. Through imagery, this looks at the first century of this evolution.
This oil on board painting is Nelson Wilson’s (1889-1950) 1945 vision of Hugh McGary, Evansville’s founder, at his cabin near present-day Main Street and Riverside Drive. McGary had purchased acreage in what is now part of downtown Evansville from a federal government office in Vincennes, Indiana, in March of 1812. He hoped to sell lots of this land to settlers based on the community’s advantageous location on a horseshoe bend of the Ohio River. At this point, McGary’s Landing (the future Evansville) was little except a clearing surrounded by trees.
Evansville in 1820 by artist Emil Bott was commissioned by the Honorable John S. Hopkins in 1881. The mayor of Evansville from 1853-1856 and president of the Evansville & Cairo Packet Line Steamboat Company, Hopkins wanted his memory of the city in 1820 depicted by Bott. The community had made modest growth since 1812 with a population of 119. The reddish building at background center, left sat at Third and Main Streets and was Vanderburgh County’s first purpose-built courthouse. Note that the artist placed steamboats from the mid-19th century in this 1820 setting. Perhaps this was at the behest of Hopkins who owned a steamboat company though the basis of this anachronism is unknown.
This print illustrates the bustling city of Evansville which had grown to 4,776 people by 1850. The city’s landscape is dotted with the smokestacks of industry and steeples of several churches. The waterway traversing through the city is the Wabash & Erie Canal whose terminus was in Evansville. Though its use was short lived, its promise of connecting the Ohio River to the Great Lakes helped encourage growth in the city. Other forms of transportation that had a longer lasting effect in Evansville are also present. These are the railroad, visible at upper right, and steamboat trade that was prominent for several decades. At lower right, the structure second from right along the riverbank, is the Barnes-Armstrong mansion at the present site of the Evansville Museum.
This print is from a hand-tinted engraving by Robert Hinshelwood based on an 1864 painting by William Momberger. Momberger captured this scene during the Civil War while looking toward the Evansville riverfront from the base of Coal Mine (Reitz) Hill.
The artist wrote of this experience: When I sketched it, I was sitting by the old house surrounded by all the paraphernalia of an exhausted coal mine, which is about half-mile distant. The boats in the River are Ohio River gunboats guarding the Ohio River and town against raids which were then quite often undertaken from the opposite shore which is Kentucky. This was the position of affairs when I arrived. The celebrated Henderson (Kentucky) raid had just occurred, and Evansville was full of soldiers and National Guards, many without uniforms and poorly armed, who had prepared in great haste to pursue the enemy.
At this time, Evansville had a population of approximately 12,000 people and was bustling with activity during the Civil War. This included Union military encampments, temporary war hospitals to treat the wounded from battles in the South, and as, noted by Momberger, trepidation over potential military incursions from across the Ohio River.
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These two photographs show Evansville in the heart of the industrial age as factories in the city produced items such plows, stoves, and furniture, and steamboat trade was at its apex. This was at a time that Evansville had grown into a city of over 50,000 people. With this growth also came challenges such as air quality. Note the amount of coal smoke emitted by steamboats and factory smokestacks. This was in addition to home heating stoves which also burned coal.
This panoramic view depicts Evansville’s riverfront in the first decade of the 20th century and a city of nearly 60,000. This photograph illustrates the growth of what Hugh McGary started in 1812 though the riverfront bears little resemblance to today’s rendition as none of the buildings in this image remain. At this juncture, much of commerce still resided in the downtown area with various types of businesses present. Water Street and Riverside Avenue (1907’s version of Riverside Drive) included hotels, horse stables, wholesale grocers, metal shops, warehouses, and other businesses. The river is dotted with activity with the city’s wharf boat at the center of the photograph at the foot of Main Street.
Over the next 100 plus years, the city’s riverfront would continue to evolve into what we know in 2023.
