1893 Viking ship to make landfall in downtown Geneva

The Friends of the Viking Ship bought property in downtown Geneva so the organization can build a permanent museum home for it.

Michael Olesen, a director for the nonprofit Friends and chairman of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce board, announced the purchase at Monday’s City Council meeting.

“The first Viking longship in roughly a thousand years was constructed in 1892. And in 1893, it was sailed straight across the Atlantic Ocean by 12 brave souls for the (World’s) Columbian Exposition going on in Chicago that year,” Olesen said.

“Since 1996, that artifact has been here in Geneva. There’s been many attempts to try and give the ship a permanent indoor home and it’s never been successful – until last week,” Olesen said.

The Friends of the Viking Ship bought the northwest corner lot at Hamilton and First streets on April 1, Olesen said, paying $350,000 for it.

“We picked it up for a great price,” Olesen said. “The ship is currently housed at Good Templar Park in a not-very air tight Quonset hut.”

Through the years, the group has raised funds through events, donations and tours of the ship, he said.

“Our charter says we are charged with preserving the ship, so there has been the desire for a permanent indoor home,” Olesen said.

After the Columbian Exposition, the ship was housed at the Field Museum in Chicago where it was in dry dock for 20 years. Then in 1920, it was relocated to Lincoln Park in Chicago where it was kept in a fenced-in wooden shelter, according to the Friends and the Geneva History Museum.

In 1994, the Viking was moved to West Chicago for storage before being moved again in 1996 to Good Templar Park in Geneva.

In 2012, the trusteeship for the Viking was signed over to the Friends of the Viking Ship.

“It got abused and abused and abused,” Olesen said. “We tried to come up with something to give this beautiful baby a home. And now she has a future home for the first time.”

The Viking ship is an exact copy of the Gokstad, built about 850 C.E., at the height of the Viking Age. The Gokstad was found in a burial mound near Sandefjord, Norway in 1880 during an excavation, according to the Museum of the Viking Age website, www.vikingtidsmuseet.

The replica is about 78 feet long, 17 feet wide and six and a half feet high from the bottom of the keel to the gunwale, according to the Friends and the Geneva History Museum when it hosted the dragon head of the ship in 2023.

Its black oak planks are fastened together with thousands of iron rivets. At sea, the Gokstad replica averaged 10 knots and its hull was designed to flex with the waves.

The Gokstad was a longship, a type of warship designed to be long and narrow. Vikings used longships for pirate raids, and according to Britannica, was the kind of ship that brought Leif Eriksson to America in 1000.

The property the Friends bought encompasses 101, 106, 109 and 113 Hamilton Street, according to township property records.

A two-story house built in 1831 is on the property, which would have to be razed to make way for the museum.

Olesen said the Friends have spoken to the Historic Preservation Commission about the house, which is in the Historic District.

“Given the fact that we are trying to preserve the ship, we hope they will see the merits to it,” Olesen said. “It’s an old old building that is in pretty bad shape.”

The Friends will seek to raise a minimum of $5 million, but wants $10 million so there is enough money to maintain the building and its exhibits, he said.

“As an organization, we are very happy, very pleased to finally, after 130 years, to get this beautiful lady a home,” Olesen said.

The first Viking Ship tour of the season is set for 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 19 at Good Templar Park, 528 East Side Drive. Tickets are $7 for adults, $4 for children 13-17 and free for children 12 and younger.

Docent tours are every 15 minutes with the last tour at 3:45 p.m., according to the Friends website, vikingship.us.