''Standard'', also known historically as ''Donald B'' and ''Barbara H'', is a paddlewheel towboat that has been named a US

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

and is now based at Bellaire in eastern

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Built in 1923, she is the oldest surviving unaltered rear-wheel towboat afloat. The boat was declared a

in 1989. and

Description and history

The boat measures long overall, with a hull length of , and an beam. She draws . She is powered by a 1940

Fairbanks-Morse Fairbanks, Morse and Company was an American manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, coffee grinders, radios, farm tractors, fee ...

35E10 direct reversing diesel engine. She measures 51 gross registry tons and displaces approximately . She is fashioned out of steel plates riveted to a steel frame. She has a scow-form bow fitted with special "knees" used in pushing barges, and a flat bottom with no keel. She was laid down in 1923 at Marietta Manufacturing in

Point Pleasant, West Virginia Point Pleasant is a city in and the county seat of Mason County, West Virginia, United States, at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. The population was 4,101 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Point Pleasant, ...

, and entered the service of the Standard Oil Company of Ohio as ''Standard'', who used her to move

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...

to distribution points along the river. She was sold in 1940 to Ray Brookbank, who renamed her ''Donald B'' after his son, who eventually became her captain. Under the Brookbanks' ownership she engaged in general service, moving all manner of barges up and down the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

watershed. Her hull was completely replated in 1958. Her service as a towboat ended in 2000, and she was sold the following year to Steve Huffman, who named her ''Barbara H'' after his wife, and berthed her near Vevey, Indiana. Huffman sold her to Bob Hamilton in 2012, who relocated her to

Bellaire, Ohio Bellaire is a village in Belmont County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area, and Wheeling is across the Ohio to the east. The population was 4,278 at the 2010 census, having had its peak i ...

. Boats of a comparable age have either been scrapped, altered from their original configuration for private use, or are in museum collections. At the time of her landmark designation, she was the only rear-wheel diesel towboat in active service.

Nomenclature

*''Standard'' (1923–1940), owned by Standard Oil Company of Ohio *''Donald B'' (1940–2001), named after the owner's son, Donald Brookbank, who later became her captain *''Barbara H'' (2001–2012), named after the captain's wife, Barbara Huffman *''Standard'' (2012–) Vessels that move barges on the

and its tributaries are known as "

towboats A pusher, pusher craft, pusher boat, pusher tug, or towboat, is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats. In the United States, the industries that use these vessels refer to them as towboats. These vessels are characterized by a squar ...

" despite the fact that they do not tow barges, but always push them from behind.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio National Historic Landmarks in Ohio Buildings and structures in Belmont County, Ohio Towboats National Register of Historic Places in Belmont County, Ohio

Description and history

Nomenclature

See also

References