Lt. Robert E. Lee

The Lt. Robert E. Lee sold last week at auction. The only real history attached to the boat, which is a replica Victorian-era steamboat constructed in the late 1960s on the shell of an old Army Corps of Engineers vessel, is our own memories of visits aboard in the 1970s and 1980s. The Flood of 1993 was hard on her. A couple of recent attempts to reopen her as a restaurant, both downtown and in Kimmswick, foundered.

The new owner was quoted in the subscription-only Suburban Journals newspaper this week saying that he hopes to keep her in St. Louis. What do you think?