The Water Resources Development Act of 1992 authorized the Lower Mississippi River Museum and Riverfront Interpretive Site. Consultation was directed with the Smithsonian Institution in the planning and design of the museum and site and with the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service in the planning, design, and implementation of interpretive programs. The museum is the first of its kind in the United States as it will be the first and only museum to maintain and house a fully restored, dry docked riverboat.