Arabia Steamboat Museum

Arabia Steamboat Museum Arabia Steamboat Museum houses 200 tons of frontier-bound cargo lost when the steamboat sank in 1856. What was actually discovered will amaze you!
(1714)

When the steamboat Arabia sank in the Missouri River in 1856, some said she carried gold...others said fine china. Explore the lives of the Western pioneers through the story of the sunken Arabia and its cargo, a remarkable time capsule of life on the American frontier. You will also be intrigued by one of the greatest treasure-hunting stories ever told. And don’t be surprised if you are greeted b

y one of the original excavators as they are often here to welcome guests.Their tale of adventure has made the museum a favorite Kansas City attraction since 1991.

09/01/2026

Be sure to view the event page.

We're adding info on some of the amazing visiting Historians.

If you haven’t been to the Arabia Steamboat Museum in a while and were wondering when would be a good day to visit, cons...
08/21/2026

If you haven’t been to the Arabia Steamboat Museum in a while and were wondering when would be a good day to visit, consider this a sign!

On Friday, September 4th we will have a rare Living History day at the Arabia. Half a dozen local historians will be on-hand to interact with patrons and give mini-talks about the Bleeding Kansas era, 1854-1861.

Confirmed to attend are Eric Smallwood, from the Constitution Hall State Historic Site, and Jordan Liedemann from Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm.

Also threatening to visit are a crew of river rats and roustabouts from further up the Missouri at the Steamboat Bertrand Museum in DeSoto, Iowa! We’re keeping an eye on those guys.

This will be a fun, casual event with costumed historians wandering among guests, and possibly a scheduled talk or two. Regular admission applies. Stay tuned for more details as we have them!

"What or Who is Frozen Charlotte?"The Arabia’s "Frozen Charlotte“In the cargo was discovered the personal tool box o...
08/11/2026



"What or Who is Frozen Charlotte?"

The Arabia’s "Frozen Charlotte“
In the cargo was discovered the personal tool box of a master woodworker. Since water-logged wood is extremely weak, each tool had to be handed out of the box before the box itself could be lifted. In the corner of the tool box, a muddy mass of cloth was found. Upon unfurling that cloth, it was discovered to be a wool sock ... with something hard at the end. Reaching into the sock, a small porcelain doll, perfectly preserved, was found. She was dubbed a "Frozen Charlotte“ as the research of the day indicated she might be part of this phenomenon.

The Myth
In the mid-19th century, a small porcelain doll became known as "Frozen Charlotte“, named for a short story published in the newspaper in 1840 which was reportedly based on a 'true story‘.

The tale related how a young woman refused to wear a coat or use a blanket as she and her companion travelled to a nearby New Year’s dance because she didn’t want to crush her dress. At the end of the 'true story', the young lady perished due to her vanity. In true Victorian fashion, it was, of course, a cautionary tale. And the story evolved and grew in details as the years went by.

The Real Story
A bisque porcelain doll type known as badekinder (German for "bath children“) began production and export ca. 1850 in Germany and was soon commonly available in the UK and America. The dolls were lightweight and floated, perfect for play in the bath as well as at the beach or even simply a pail of water.

The toy became immediately popular. It was inexpensive, the smaller sizes costing only a penny – hence the actual 19th century English name of "penny doll“. Sizes ranged from ~1“ to 18“, with the smallest sometimes baked into holiday cakes or puddings (as was a British tradition) as a surprise good luck treat.

The "frozen“ moniker simply refers to the doll being non-jointed, i.e. the limbs were 'frozen‘ and non-posable.

The doll was not called "Frozen Charlotte“ or even "Charlotte“ until the mid-20th century (ca. 1940s) as part of an advertising campaign for doll collectors.

A wonderful video about "Charlotte"...
https://youtu.be/iuiSF4Cm2Xc?si=s4Kx0D0lk4YE1Z7P

One of the questions we often hear is, "are any of the original partners still alive?"Yep, three of the original five - ...
07/11/2026

One of the questions we often hear is, "are any of the original partners still alive?"

Yep, three of the original five - l to r: Dave Lutrell ("construction guy"), Jerry Mackey ("pickle guy"), and David Hawley ("HVAC guy"). Dave L surprised us with a visit today, and the three got together for a visit and lunch. Not sure what mischief was being planned in the other photo of them with their faces away from the camera, though 😉.

4 July 2026Most of the manufacturers and merchants of the Arabia's cargo date from not-too-much-earlier than 1856. Howev...
07/04/2026

4 July 2026

Most of the manufacturers and merchants of the Arabia's cargo date from not-too-much-earlier than 1856. However, every now and then, we find a business which has been in business just a bit longer.

As I was researching the names stamped into the hundreds of pen nibs in the cargo, one stood out. In a complete surprise, one of the makers from New York actually opened their doors during a significant time in US history, 1775.

Robert Bowne opened the doors of "Bowne & Co, Merchants" in New York City in 1775. The store advertised as carrying "writing paper, account books, quills and pens, binding and printing materials, powder, furs, nails, glass, dry goods" and, among a list of other items, "a few casks of low-priced Cutlery". Unfortunately, he had to close the doors in August 1776 as the young family fled New York City ahead of the British invasion after the Battle of Long Island. They did not return until “the peace” of November 1783.

In the earliest days, the business served the New York ports primarily as a printer for invoices and receipts, post-Revolution as stationery needs dealer and printer. Through the years the company operated under several names/partnerships, as well as the simpler Bowne & Co. In 1810, Robert's daughter Hannah married Benjamin Collins, the son of another premier printer, and in 1855, the year the pens in the Arabia cargo were stamped, the partnership was Collins, Bowne & Co, "stationer, importer, and manufacturer of account books and paper goods". The company name shifted to Hasbrouck, Bowne & Co in mid-1856, however. By the end of the nineteenth century, Bowne & Co was one of some 700 printing businesses, employing 8000 workers.

As technology changed, so did Bowne & Co. The end of the 20th century saw one subsidiary, Bowne Business Solutions, shift to non-financial printing and move into desktop publishing, multimedia operation and eventually internet sites management. Another division founded in 1997, Bowne Global Solutions, was reportedly "the largest localization provider in the world, boasting a network of over 10,000 linguistic resources capable of translating and interpreting in over 250 languages". These modern divisions did not seem to have quite the same lasting power as the original, however. Bowne Business Solutions was sold in 2004, and Bowne Global Solutions was sold to Lionbridge Technologies in 2005.

Boyne & Co, Stationers, now operates at the South Street Seaport Museum. This company was part and parcel of the birth of this country and continues to keep the art of letterpress printing alive.

07/03/2026

The Museum will close at 4pm on Sat. July 4th.

Arrive before 2:30 if you plan to visit!

- One of the questions we hear every week........"Are you all volunteers?" No, we're paid employees with varying profe...
06/17/2026

- One of the questions we hear every week........

"Are you all volunteers?"

No, we're paid employees with varying professional backgrounds, interests, and personal histories.

In the Lab, there are two anthropologists (one with emphasis in archaeology and one cultural) and an archivist. This summer we have an intern who's studying anthropology/archaeology. Of the tour guides, there are two former teachers, a communications professional, and an anthropology student. In the Gift Shop there is a teacher, a retiree, a VR technician, and an IT professional. We also have a videographer and an education professional. Some of us drift between upstairs and downstairs, of course, supporting each other as needed.

- Wherein we share tantalizing tidbits on some of the destinations, manufacturers, and/or wholesalers of the cargo dis...
06/13/2026

- Wherein we share tantalizing tidbits on some of the destinations, manufacturers, and/or wholesalers of the cargo discovered on the Arabia.
---
Scroll bottles, the Tupperware pitcher of 1856! Produced in a multitude of sizes and colors, the Arabia carried only two sizes and shades of aquamarine and apple green colors.

I'd hoped to tell the story of C. Ihmsen & Co (or Son), the proposed manufacturer of these bottles. But connecting the dots proved a bit more difficult than anticipated.

Located in Pittsburgh, PA, C. Ihmsen did, indeed, have a successful, busy glassworks. From 1836 to 1855, the company name was C. Ihmsen & Co (C.I. & Co); from '55-'61, C. Ihmsen & Son (in the City Directories); and from '55-'75, C. Ihmsen & Sons or C.I. & Sons. This all may seem a bit of a nitpick, but the distinction often helps pinpoint year of manufacture. Whichever moniker the company went under, generally speaking the wares were stamped or embossed, "C.I. & Co" at the least.

These bottles have no embossing, no stamping, no indication of any label residue. The proposed identification rests on a single sentence in "Treasure in a Cornfield" "...The next box contained beautiful blue and green bottles packed in straw, manufactured by Christian Ihmsen and Sons". Nowhere does it say the boxes were marked as such, though Ihmsen would have been one of the few known makers of the era to show up in research. Several other references now available in the online sphere refer back to this sentence, and one expands the story to say that none of the "eight boxes" were able to be saved or preserved. To date, I have not seen any box marked as such, nor are any documented in the records. DISCLAIMER: that doesn't mean they don't exist, just that we haven't seen them yet.

The answer likely lies in the very next paragraph of the book, attributed to the article "The Mystery behind the G-IXs" by Ralph Finch, that "practically every glasshouse along the river made them." With such popularity, so many types and colors and sizes, the glass known to the modern world as "scroll bottle" was made by an untold number of manufacturers, mostly unmarked due to sheer volume.

So, who made the Arabia's beautiful aquamarine and light green "scroll" bottles? Unknown. It could still be C. Ihmsen & Son(s). But does it really matter? They are a lovely bit of color, fragile vessels meant to brighten frontier homes ... which now grace the shelves of a museum for all to see and enjoy.

- Wherein we share tantalizing tidbits on some of the destinations, manufacturers, and/or wholesalers of the cargo dis...
06/06/2026

- Wherein we share tantalizing tidbits on some of the destinations, manufacturers, and/or wholesalers of the cargo discovered on the Arabia.

In the Arabia's cargo are several examples of “new-old stock”, things which may have been found at the back of a shelf and offered up at a discounted rate, items which were not necessarily the newest or latest innovation but still served the purpose. Of those, we introduce a hand full of files with the manufacturer's name of Ashton & Jackson.

Richard Ashton and William Jackson went into business in 1841 or so in Sheffield, England. They were manufacturers of edge tools, files, cutlery, straight razors and other such fine implements. Eager to break into the American market with its boom of westward expansion by making and exporting “American style cutlery”, the partners opened a shop in New York City about 1844.

The partnership was officially dissolved in February 1846, and Ashton died on November 13 of the same year at age 36. Though Jackson maintained the business “for a few years”, by 1850 the wares bore the stamp of his name only. The remaining Ashton & Jackson goods were announced for auction in August 1847 in New York. After that, there is no further mention of the company. Wm. Jackson & Co continued to do business in NY from 1851, and in 1853 the English manufactory moved to the Sheaf Island Works (Sheffield) location.

Back to the files found in the Arabia cargo. By the stamp, these were made prior to 1846, hence the idea these were “new old stock”, perhaps bought at that 1847 auction. There are five which have a legible stamp, though there could be more, of course, on which the stamp was too shallow to read any longer. They are a whopping 20” long from tip to tip, single cut, and likely as functional as the day they were packed for their eventual sale to a frontier settler.

A quick parking and access update for guests planning to visit the Steamboat Arabia Museum:For the past 51 consecutive d...
05/26/2026

A quick parking and access update for guests planning to visit the Steamboat Arabia Museum:

For the past 51 consecutive days, the traffic delineators placed along Grand Blvd in front of the museum have repeatedly remained in place during normal weekday business hours, making direct access into our parking lot unnecessarily difficult for many visitors.

Weekend traffic control in the River Market is completely understandable and expected. The ongoing issue has been weekday access, particularly while nearby River Market access points and parking areas continue to reopen normally each week.

Over the past several weeks, we have:

* submitted formal reports through the City,
* documented the issue repeatedly,
* communicated with River Market representatives,
* escalated the concern through multiple channels,
* and received multiple notices stating the issue had been “resolved.”

As of today, the delineators remain in place once again.

For guests visiting the museum, the easiest access to our parking lot is currently by approaching southbound on Grand Blvd from the north side of the River Market district. Guests may also find nearby public River Market parking to be the simplest option during this ongoing situation.

We appreciate everyone’s patience and support while we continue trying to get this corrected.

Address

400 Grand Boulevard
Kansas City, MO
64106

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+18164711856

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Arabia Steamboat Museum posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category