After 85 years of operation, these two sister steamships - the oldest in America - awaken from a deep slumber to find a devoted team of enthusiasts have set out to rescue them from their deteriorating state. It is a wonderful place with beautiful heritage and history, that is why I chose to live here. Boats are docked in the Boblo Island Marina, located on the western shore of the island. Its too bad they couldnt have it ready for this year to celebrate its 100th anniversary. It lies just above the mouth of the Detroit River. After the short ferry ride, residents simply drive right onto the island onto Boblo Island Blvd. It's just a stone's throw from historic Amherstburg, Ontario, which is a 30-minute drive from Windsor. It's docked in New York. In 1949, the island was threatened by bankruptcy. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. St. Clair Shores (1950-60s) & never went to the park. So sad. (Check out more Boblo history at BobloSteamers.com), Alex Atwell put together an awesome tour of the Ste. It was great to see all the vintage photos and stories from the good old days of classic boating when wooden boats were the norm, not the exception. Boblo Island Amusement Park is an abandoned amusement park which operated from 1898 until its closure on September 30, 1993. This was particularly true during the Great Depression and the World War II era, when finances were tight and the world seemed to exist in a perpetual state of anxiety. The tiny island is located in the middle of the East River, parallel to Manhattan's East 46th to 85th Streets. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/17/historic-boblo-island-blo_n_1098807.html, http://www.flickr.com/photos/33535417@N05/4112593095/, http://www.boblo.ca/pages/living/restaurant.html, https://www.facebook.com/BobloIslandMarina, http://www.rivertowntimes.com/?s=Captain+bobs&submit, http://www.freep.com/article/20140706/NEWS05/307060053/boblo-island-memories-boat-development, http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/05/23/grosse-iles-sugar-island-beach-opens-to-public-saturday/, Boblo Island Beach House Restaurant Houzz Home, Slaves (traveling the Underground Railroad), The south blockhouse, built in 1838 (Update: See. The plan is to restructure the whole island and populate it with luxurious houses. Before July 30, 2011, my last visit to Bob-Lo had been in June of 1968. I was born and raised in Wyandotte, Michigan. The amusement was a given. [1] The "Bob-Lo boats" boats were sold in November 1991. Photojournalist Seph Lawless has taken pictures of 10 abandoned theme parks around the US. Today, 24 years after the park was closed and 118 years after its grand opening, little remains as a reminder of the islands history. From 1984 to 1985 there were 26 head injuries and 14 broken bones reported. - Brandon, I am 73 years old and remember my parents taking me to Bob-Lo after picking me up at Willow Run Airport after a visit with relatives in Miami FL when I was 8 years old. I do hope that someone will come along and restore the park back to its prime, so we can get families and the community back together again, and we can share our memories with the generations to come. . Not one thing mentioned on the dance hall being 100 years old this year. This is the observation area which would rise to the top. A street sign shows people where they are as they arrive on the island. These gleeful youngsters certainly seem amused on a ride at Eastwood, at the northeast corner of Eight Mile Road and . The 24-year-old Black woman boarded the SS Columbia en route for Boblo Island a Canadian amusement park beloved by Detroiters. Boblo Island looks much different today, and if developers reach their goals, it will be almost unrecognizable to past thrill-seekers. [32], Boblo's Scootaboats, which were very similar to well known Bumper Cars, were a popular ride. The subdivision consists of a loop of a street containing a court within the loop. The men's entrance is to the left. We need to preserve what we have left, just for historys sake. I was just in Amherstburg Sunday May 27,2013. So when we went to the Island, we took a cab to the downtown docks to catch the first boat out and then we would return on the last boat. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. The island is mainly a place where people can live in serenity. You can just picture all of the kids having fun smashing into each other in their cars. Boblo Island Amusement Park had its own custom version of bumper cars, known as Boblos Scootaboats. The company had just been sold to a group from Texas who ran a small park. The beautiful wood flooring should never have been ripped out. To move visitors around the island, the park had a small railroad. More than a century later, in the 1920s, the amusement park opened on the sitethen closed in 1966 after the accidental deaths of two young patrons, including one on the spooky circular swing. [7] Though one expert felt that Boblo was too big to fail outright and could be turned around,[8] By June, however, no firm offers had been made for the park. Explore. The place just went completely downhill. Instead, the island and steamships were purchased by the Browning family. Neither will my grandchildren. [18], In 1994, John Oram, an Iraqi immigrant to the United States who owned car stereo businesses, purchased the Boblo Island site. Feb 11, 2022 - One of my favorite memories as a child. As a child I went to Bob-Lo Island every summer from the Detroit Side of the island. The website is that of Bob-Lo Island Custom Home Builder, the developer of the Marina Resort Community, Boblos current rendition. During the Rebellion of 1837, "patriots" from the U.S. invaded the island in 1838. A sign leads residents and visitors to dining venues and the marina on Boblo Island. Here are some of the homes and what life is like on Boblo Island today. Even the words scrawled across its portal announced simply "Eastwood Park.". To rebuild would be one of lifes pleasures. The island is owned nearly in its entirety by Windsor developer Dominic Amicone through his Bob-Lo Island development company. This amusement park, while once the delight of both kids and adults until the early 90s, has been abandoned for more than two decades. Remember it was a time when girls wore dresses and not pants, so we sure had to be careful on the rides (check out the pictures how the girls were dressed). The abandoned amusement park was a p. Other islands Ivevisited have their own historical societies or have joined with other nearby islands to form a historical society: Johnson Island Preservation Society, Lake Erie Islands Historical Society, St. Clair Flats Historical Society, Beaver Island Historical Society, the Grosse Ile Historical Society, and Friends of Bell Isle (now a part ofthe newBelle Isle Conservancy). Not fair to blame millionaires when often it is a corporation that can run out money after 5 or 6 bad years. He had hoped to build a bridge to Bob-Lo to eliminate the inconvenience of the boat rides, but he did not realize (or appreciate) that Bob-Lo Island was across an international border from Michigan. There appears to be no such organization, which may not be so surprising. The Sky Streak Ride, for example, was moved to Selva Magica, a theme park in Mexico, and the Nightmare was initially moved to Six Flags Houston where it was known as the Mayan Mindbender, only to be moved once again to a theme park in Amarillo, Texas. [19] He vaguely proposed a casino, hotel, and other development. Pinterest. http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/05/23/grosse-iles-sugar-island-beach-opens-to-public-saturday/ (Sorry, you may need to copy and paste the website addresses above; my link feature is not successfully linking at the moment. I agree, Jennifer, very sad. I found this very useful for Information! Today it is overgrown: The Powerhouse, which looks like small limestone chapel, that provided electricityto the Carousel: The Dance Pavilion a 35,000 feet steel and limestone building designed by Albert Kahn and John Scott and completed in 1913. Over the years, the park began to decline and wane in popularity. The ferry leaves every 20 minutes from a dock next to the Bob-Lo Discovery Centre. The ride takes about 5 or 10 minutes, instead of the hour it used to take whenone departedon the other side of the border. Ray was removed from the boat because she was not white, enforced according to a Bob-Lo company policy "excluding so-called 'zoot-suiters', the rowdyish, the rough, and the boisterous, and it also adopted the policy of excluding colored. Boblo Island Amusement Park was a beloved amusement park that began operating in 1898 and ran for almost 100 years. By their very nature, amusement parks are places of fun, relaxation, excitement, and recreation. My birthday is coming up, maybe my family can take me to the island. People can dock their private boats there, or take a four-minute ferry ride from Amherstburg, Ontario. DETROITAny Michigander of a certain vintage won't forget their giddiness en route to Boblo Island amusement park, a carefree ferry ride from Detroit's metropolis to a land that seemed a world away. Several Detroit organizations held annual picnics on the island. Remember, the island is in Canada, so you can't just cross over from the U.S. and dock there. The children of this time will never get to enjoy what we did when we were children. Copyright 2023 ClickOnDetroit.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group, a division of Graham Holdings. Check out recent photos from one of the Boblo boats. The Bobl-Lo Island of today? [26] KPMG found there was no money left to continue supplying basic services. Hard to believe it was an big destination, it seems too small to support an amusement park. Boblo Island was very special. The park was closed for the 1933-1934 seasons due to the Great Depression. Such a sad and difficult ending to such a WONDERFUL PLACE. You support the mega millionaires who dont care about anything else in life except their bank accounts. [2], Though it was not looking for a buyer, the Michigan AAA sold Boblo Island in 1988 to the International Broadcasting Corporation, a Minneapolis-based concern that owned the Harlem Globetrotters and Ice Capades. We toured the Ste Claire in 2015 while restoration efforts were ongoing before fire gutted it on July 6, 2018. Parts of that tower still stand. Peaking through the windows, you can see it's being used for storage. Larry Benaroya, his associate, and his Northern Capital took control of the property; Mancini was fired, and the ownership group put it back on the market in January 1994. Theme parks, like Lake Shawnee Park in West Virginia, closed down after guests died at the park. Its very sad because growing up that was all everyone talked about was Boblo Island, and all the amazing memories. The Boblo Island Beach House Restaurant is located along the western shore of the island by the marina. If youre interested, check out Patrick Livingstons book Summer Dreams: The Story of Bob-Lo Island, published by Wayne State University Press in 2008. Page 51", "Historic Boblo boats land role in Transformers 4", "Boblo Island boat owners hopeful for restoring of damaged boat: What's next for the SS Ste Claire? It is completely grown over with weeds and trees. 90-year old Captain Bob-Lo greets passengers - 1970s. Its a wonderful feeling strolling the island, standing next to buildings where 10s of thousands of souls now long departed use to frequent. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. 2023 Detroit Historical Society. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Visit Boblo.ca for information about living on the island. Would love to know more about your experience working on the Bob-Lo boats. The man that made it did it to bring families together and spend time with their children. Though many of the amusement park structures have been torn down, you might still hear a passing. It was in a time when the parents didn''t have to worry about the children. From the top deck of the SS St. Claire, passengers watch the SS Columbia (built in 1902). The far end of the island is now all luxury homes. My most vivid memory is the Sky Diver ride. Embark on a CRUISE FROM DETROIT for the first time in decades, Stay the night at this ghostly-looking MICHIGAN CASTLE, SECRET VINTAGE COKE MUSEUM inside a Michigan 50's diner. Between my concerns for the submerged rocks of the river and the mortar of history I was climbing over, I thought, what a wonderful place this island would be to explore if you were a kid or teenager and what a nightmare it poses for parents or grandparents of those explorers! All Rights Reserved. Few physical reminders remain from the amusement park, which closed in 1993, but the island has had a surprising resurgence - as a quiet but thriving residential community. Obscured in a small wooded area between the Dance Pavilion and the Terminal are the remains of the minature golf course: Consider this: I did not see another person during my entire afternoon exploration of the historic sites on the island, except for three young teenage girls I observed leaving the Resorts community pool and making their way down to the river alone, to the channel between Bob-Lo and Amherstburg, where, nestled next to the Terminal, is a very small sand beach where they swam. To get to Bob-Lo Islandin the 21st century, you takea ferry from Amherstburg, Ontario, instead of from the old dock on Jefferson Avenuein Detroit. How to rent hobbit-type MUSHROOM HOUSES in Northern Michigan, Haunting insides of the abandoned NORTHVILLE PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL, See Michigan's only ALPINE MOUNTAIN SLIDE, 1,700 feet of fun, Inside Michigan's OLDEST OPERATING INN built in 1835, This may be the MOST PICTURESQUE spot in Michigan, Inside the SMITHSONIAN OF MAGIC, located in Michigan, We explored WARREN DUNES, the Sleeping Bear of Southwest MI, GoPro video riding MICHIGAN'S LONGEST ZIPLINE, Exploring Michigan's abandoned, haunted ELOISE ASYLUM, Country's LARGEST AUTO MUSEUM is in the middle of nowhere, Michigan. Claire and the Columbia, as well as their Detroit docks, had been divested a few years earlier in 1991. [23] Townhouses and condominiums were proposed in 1997. Colorful picnic tables near Captain Bob's Ice Cream & Coffee Cabin. We also traveled. The non-French residents called it Boblo, and the name was officially accepted in 1949. The plan is to restore it and have it run in the Hudson River Valley. He wore a variety of colorful clothing, including a large hat with 'Captain Bob Lo' on the peak, and was typically equipped with binoculars for navigation purposes. The control room area through broken glass. For 19 years, the site has been abandoned, with many rides left to battle corrosion and plant life. The island is now a residential community. Plenty of old carney magic still haunts this photogenic amusement park. http://bit.ly/2cIo6Ny (Video by Alex Atwell), VINTAGE BOBLO: Throwback video of the old Boblo boat and Boblo Island. They are 1,405 square feet with a full basement. For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Claire and the SS Columbia? One of those blockhouses remains, and is open for touring. Each year the largest gathering was sponsored by the St. Andrews Society of Detroit, which would often draw more than 10,000 visitors to their Scottish Games.
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