Tuesday was a “good day to be from Vicksburg,” one onlooker said as the 1,450-ton MV Mississippi IV eased its way down Washington Street to its permanent site along Levee Street where it will be part of a planned museum and interpretive center.

“It’s exciting — it really is,” said Betsy Farrell as the former flagship for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sat planted in the middle of the downtown street.

Farrell and her husband, Jim Farrell, are 30-plus year employees of the Corps. He even rode on the vessel during his tenure, he said.

The 218-foot towboat began the roll south just after 8 a.m. from its temporary site just north of The Klondyke. People began to gather an hour earlier with lawn chairs, cameras and binoculars to witness the event. Throughout the day, hundreds of spectators came and went.

“I’m just interested in seeing how they’re going to move this big thing down the street,” said Christine Doss, a retired Vicksburg Warren School District employee, who watched from her lawn chair. “It’s amazing how they’re doing it. They’ve got it together.”

The only unexpected hang-up contractors had was getting the vessel through an area where a utility pole and its lines were too close for the boat to pass safely. Employees with Entergy were able to eventually lean the pole by bringing in a utility truck with a drill on it. That delayed the vessel’s moving by about 40 minutes, said James Morris of Procon Inc. But, by 2 p.m., the vessel was in its permanent place across from Rusty’s Riverfront Grill, where it will be the centerpiece of the Lower Mississippi River Museum and Interpretive Site. Traffic, which was blocked by Vicksburg police while the vessel moved the 1,800 feet down Washington, was back running smoothly minutes after the vessel was in place, Morris said.

His company contracted with the city to prepare and move the vessel for $4.89 million. His company worked with Coleman Hammons Construction Co., Entergy, city employees and Corps workers. Mammoet, the same company that raised the 11,000-plus ton Russian nuclear submarine Kursk in 2001, was also sub-contracted to help with the move.

“It took a lot of coordination to get this” moved, Morris said.

Morris said a concrete support wall that contours the vessel will be poured around the MV Mississippi now that it is in permanent position. The superstructure of the vessel will also be painted at the site. While at its temporary site, where it sat for about three months, contractors cleaned, sandblasted and painted its hull.

Morris said he was happy with the response from the community.

“I know there was a lot of interest.” he said. “It’s generated enough interest around town. It’s a big event. People have said we’re making history. Hopefully it’s a good history.”

For Angela and Vick Hughes, who were visiting Vicksburg from England, watching a boat roll down the street was something they’ve seen only on television.

“I’ve never seen anything with so many wheels — especially a boat. It’s incredible,” Angela Hughes said.

Television is how 10-year-old Zachary Penny learned about the heavy machinery the workers used to put the vessel on its concrete resting place.

“I watch ‘Modern Marvels’ on the History Channel,” he said.

The equipment, called self-propelled modular transports, sport 136 wheels that run the length of the vessel.

His grandmother, Vicky Penny, checked him out of school so he could watch the move, she said.

“I know he probably won’t be excused from his absence, but if it’s history — it’s very interesting,” she said.

The MV Mississippi was operated by the Memphis District of the Corps before retirement in the early 1990s when MV Mississippi V was launched. In addition to serving as the flagship of the Corps’ river fleet, it was also a work boat, involved daily in revetment projects and other Corps work to fight floods and keep the river open to commercial navigation. The tow was purchased by the city for $1 during the term of former Mayor Joe Loviza. Although the plan back then was to make the boat a floating display, the boat sat empty and abandoned for nearly 10 years. Under the current administration, the city transferred the title back to the Corps with plans to have the boat placed on land as part of the planned interpretive center.

Dean Caldwell said he could look at the vessel and remember stories from when he was an employee with the Corps. He began his career in 1961, two weeks before the MV Mississippi IV came on as a brand-new vessel. Caldwell’s first trip on the boat was in about 1966 for an engineering training program. He later coordinated trips on the vessel for the Mississippi River Commission, where he was executive assistant to the president. He even can point out the room where he stayed on those trips.

“By the end of my career, I was a coordinator for trips with the River Commission,” he said. “I remember a lot of things — and a lot of people who were there,” he said.

Harry Woods believes the boat will be an addition to Vicksburg’s history. And, seeing it put in its place is part of the marvel.

“When tourists come into town and see it all beautiful and painted and wonder how it got there, we’ll tell them, ‘Don’t worry. We know — we were there.’ We are here today,” he said.