Steamboats on the Hudson: An American Saga
Two Bobs, Three Johns, Three Jims, a Nick, an Aaron, a Tom and a Boat
Hand colored postcard issued by Albertype Company,
Brooklyn, N.Y. Fred B. Abele Transportation History Collection
– SC22662, Box 26, Folder 9b
Giant picture postcard issued by Albertype Company,
Brooklyn, N.Y. ca. 1920s (Fred B. Abele Transportation
History Collection – SC22662, Box 26, Folder 9a
Postcard(William B. Elmendorf Papers
– SC11970, Box 3, Folder 4
The Hendrick Hudson was put into service in 1906 at a cost of almost a million dollars. She had an advertised length of over 400 feet and was licensed to carry 5,500 passengers.
Art was commissioned for interior decoration. Murals depicting Henry Hudson's Halve Maene, Washington Irving's home, the senate house at Kingston, and the capitol at Albany were part of the interior displays.
Introduced in 1909 for the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, the Robert Fulton replaced the New York, which had burned at Newburgh the previous year. The interior boasted five murals by marine artist Samuel Ward Stanton showing the development of steam navigation on the Hudson River. The Day Line's Hendrick Hudson, Robert Fulton, and Albany steamers led the first division of the great naval parade marking the centennial of steam navigation and the tricentennial of Hudson’s voyage up the Hudson. Over 750 vessels participated in the parade, including over 100 steamboats.