Goodbye, Julius C. Wilkie

One of Winona's more notable landmarks has been the Julius C. Wilkie, a replica steamship which for years has sat in Levee Park at the end of Main Street. The boat is named after one of the founders and first settlers of Winona and is even in the book "1000 Places to Visit in the MidWest". Unfortunately, as often happens with old things, the Wilkie had begun to fall into disrepair. The City Counsel has debated for years about what should be done with the ship and two years ago a faction of very enthusiastic town members formed to try and save the Wilkie. Unfortunately, their valiant efforts were not successful.
In its grander days, the ship was an art museum and the upper deck served as a grand salon for musical shows and social teas. Since before we moved to town in 2002, the ship has been closed to the public. Alas, we never got to see the interior.

On July 9th, the ship was demolished and removed from Levee Park. Steve and Katie stopped by in the morning to get one last look at the Wilke before she moved on to that great golden river in the sky....

Have I told you that we have a pirate here in town? ARRR we sure do. Steve the Pirate is one of the town's more colorful characters. He made sure that he was on hand that morning in case anyone wanted a photo op. How could Katie say no to a pirate?

Sniff, the last bit of the Wilkie before she is totalled.

I wonder what they will put in her place?