By William “Skip” Deegans
Shown is a photo of the Rhododendron, the State of West Virginia’s showboat. To celebrate West Virginia’s centennial in 1963 the state was given a river boat. Built in 1936 and named the Omar, it hauled millions of tons of coal on the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers. In 1939, it set a record by towing 28 barges of coal from Huntington to Cincinnati.
The State invested about $200,000 to add a 250-seat theatre and museum on the boat. Named the Rhododendron, it made its debut in June 1963 in Charleston in a 35-boat parade that was led by West Virginia Governor William Wallace “Wally” Barron and his wife, Opal, on the Laura J.
College students were recruited to perform in a play, East Lynne, a Victorian melodrama about a married woman who deserts her family for a man who later deserts her. Greenbrier County’s Lee Gillespie played the part of Mr. Dill. The boat was towed up the Kanawha, Ohio, and Monongahela Rivers where it made 20 stops giving performances in 16 counties. In October 1963, the University of Pittsburgh football team, the Panthers, arrived in Morgantown on the Rhododendron to recreate the trip the team made in 1895.
After the centennial, the Rhododendron continued to be used for performances. During the winter of 1966 it was docked in Morgantown where the WVU theatre department used it as a theatre while the university’s theatre was being renovated. That year, the Legislature failed to appropriate funds to operate the showboat and it was put out to bid.
The town of Clinton, Iowa, bought it for $21,165. It was towed 1,600 miles to the Mississippi town where it was dry-docked on the town’s levee and renamed the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre. It continues to house performances.
In 1968, Governor Barron was accused on federal charges of alleged money kickbacks and rigged contracts. Although he was acquitted, he and his wife were indicted for bribery of the jury’s foreman. The former governor was sentenced to 25 years in prison and served four.
Sources: Charleston Daily Mail, Beckley Post-Herald, The Raleigh Register, PBS.
