Minnesota Centennial Showboat

University of Minnesota professor Frank M. "Doc" Whiting brought a unique type of theater entertainment to the Twin Cities with the opening of the Minnesota Centennial Showboat in 1958. For more than fifty years the showboat presented a variety of student theater productions, from melodrama to Shakespeare, in a floating venue on the Mississippi River.

Minnesota Centennial Showboat moored at Harriet Island Regional Park

The new Minnesota Centennial Showboat moored at Harriet Island Regional Park, St. Paul, 2014. Viewed across the Mississippi River from Upper Landing Park. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever; shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-share Alike 4.0 International license.

Minnesota Centennial Showboat

Minnesota Centennial Showboat on the Mississippi River

Minnesota Centennial Showboat, ca. 1968. Photograph by the University of Minnesota Photographic Laboratory.

Minnesota Centennial Showboat being towed

The Minnesota Centennial Showboat being towed to a performance site on the Mississippi River, 1965. Photograph by the University of Minnesota Photographic Laboratory.

Minnesota Centennial Showboat and performers

Minnesota Centennial Showboat and performers

Minnesota Centennial Showboat and performers, 1965. Photograph by the University of Minnesota Photographic Laboratory.

Minnesota Centennial Showboat

Minnesota Centennial Showboat

Minnesota Centennial Showboat, ca. 1960. Photograph by the University of Minnesota Photographic Laboratory.

Minnesota Centennial Showboat at Stillwater levee

Minnesota Centennial Showboat at Stillwater levee

Minnesota Centennial Showboat at Stillwater levee, 1958. Photograph by John Runk.

General John Newton (sternwheeler towboat)

The General John Newton (a sternwheeler towboat) while in service with the US Army Corps of Engineers, ca. 1950s.

Major General John Newton

Major General John Newton

Major General John Newton, officer of the Federal Army and namesake of the em>General John Newton sternwheeler towboat.

Theater-goers boarding the Minnesota Centennial Showboat on the East Bank River Flats below the University of Minnesota Campus, 1970.

Theater-goers boarding the Minnesota Centennial Showboat

Theater-goers boarding the Minnesota Centennial Showboat on the East Bank River Flats below the University of Minnesota Campus, 1970. Photograph by the University of Minnesota Photographic Laboratory.

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