I'm very curious about the light house with no door.
More abandoned amusement park videos in the Non-Detroit section: http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?t=7744
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I'm very curious about the light house with no door.
More abandoned amusement park videos in the Non-Detroit section: http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?t=7744
It must have gotten bricked off to keep the riff-raff out. I walked through a doorway to climb the lighthouse on a trip to White Sands back in the early 70s.
I cannot believe that was allowed to be abandoned. I remember going there as a teenager. Thanks for the video
Thanks for posting, recently I was at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle and when I saw the map of what use to be on Boblo Island it got me to thinking what was left.
I though they were going to build private homes there?
What happened to that plan?
Thank you for the excursion, it was a great trip into nostalgia and angst. I was thinking ARE YOU CRAZY???!!! the whole time you were going up and walking around that tower though.
nice... i have some pics from about 5 years ago of the ruins... buddy of mines father has a house on the island, supposedly at that time the elevator on the sky needle was still functional, no way I would have ridden it, didn't look to well maintained...
as for the houses, there are quite a few on the north end of the island, but there are also many home "ruins" or construction that was started and due to lack of sales and the economy, were abandoned, as I recall there was a 4-5 story condominum building that was vacant at that time, I can only imagine the condition now.....
i will dig up the pics and put them up this afternoon....
A number of homes were built on the island, but much of the plan was never executed. The guy who was developing the island ran into money troubles. A funny story was that during bankruptcy because it was considered a capital asset, the ferry was siezed and sold, leaving those with homes on the island no way to get to or from their home.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochelle St.
When I was a young teen [[early 80's) we used to take the bus to the dock and get on the boat. When we would get to island we would walk down to by the lighthouse and block house for a dip at the beach. There was not a door at that time. I assume it must have been blocked off when the light was decommissioned.
The "church" was the haunted house with the crazy floors and things like that.
While I really enjoyed the ruins visit to Bob-lo [[I worked there in the summer of '84), I couldn't help but wonder why someone would bring their infant child to a ruins exploration.
Agreed, surely health and safety issues and all that!Quote:
Originally Posted by mallory
Why was the beach on the south side a pure white sand?
That was an awesome video and and awesome little slice of life. Thanks!
Good Christ! They carried their child. It wasn't like they turned the kid loose to run around the swamp. Besides, didn't you kind of notice that a ferry took quite a few to Bob-Lo when they went.:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by mallory
All those memories of Bob-Lo... great times...
And no one ever had to go through customs :)
Cant do that today.
The island is still being developed. The first owner went under a few years ago but a new group took over and seems to be doing alright. Here's their website: www.boblo.ca When the first guy went under the ferry stopped running since it was part of the package... the city of Amherstburg had to send over some firetrucks and leave them there, just in case. Not sure who owns the ferry now but I would hope that a plan is in place if the new group doesn't make things work. If you Google the island, you will find a great spot on the north end of the island with it's own private enclosed bay. It was on the market a few years ago for, I think, 2.5 mil.
At the southern tip of the island there is a block house made of huge timbers, even when the park was open this thing was off the beaten path. You could look out the rectangular holes [[ for rifles) out into Lake Erie.
A few years after the park closed I remember taking a boat out there and playing in the fort.
It certainly predated the park, it was not the fort with the fake guns etc, this was the real deal. It had to be at least 100 years old.
Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
They even commented about the floorboards on the walkway to get to the "needle" being broken out. That place has been left to rot under the open elements for how many years? Anything could happen. Sorry, in my book that is a risk I would never have taken when my kids were that young.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trumpeteer
Thanks for the memories and how sad it is to see it like that. I too thought there was supposed to subdivision on the island, but that has been explained...Thanks again.
Found this while I was searching....looks to still be a viable place for home for sale?
http://www.boblo.ca/pages/video/video.html
Dan those were blockhouses that had connectios to Fort Malden. I believe they were built in the 1830s-1840s. They were used against the Fenian raids in the 1860s and 1870s. ONe is still in existence while the other one has been turned into a house.
Maybe the kid will grow up to an architect with a feel for old style materials. That would be a great juxtaposition!
Don't you have some family that you can pass judgement on? Anybody in your life you can tell how to live? There is danger lurking around every corner in this world, and that child was in no more danger than it would have been at the supermarket.Quote:
Originally Posted by mallory
Yeah, I don't get that either. Can't take a baby to a series of fields with a few ruins?Quote:
Originally Posted by menckensghost
Good find, I went to Boblo at least once a year from the time I was very young, until I was a teenager. I left for the military in 1990, and didn't find out the park had closed until probably 2000 or so. I was pretty mad no one in my family had even mentioned it to me over the years, it's like we are so used to everything closing in our city we just can't keep track anymore. Makes me pretty sad to be honest.
I remember when Boblo was open, they used to have a tour that used to explain some of the history of the Island and I believe took you by one of the block houses.
I remember going there every summer when we where growing up as kids, and I remember every year we would go to Boblo. Some years we would take the Ferry, and other years my mom would drive us kids to Amherstburg.
The thing that pisses me off about this city is that, everything we have something great like Boblo, people don't appreciate what we got until its gone.
I remember taking the train ride around the island and seeing an old log cabin. Any info on that cabin?
There are mentions of this above. Scan for Blockhouse or Block House.Quote:
Originally Posted by grumpyoldlady
It's better than the countless parents who plop their infant down in front of Kate & Jon Plus Eight. Then again, I guess the world needs more octomoms...
What is that in the lower right corner, condos or an apartment building or something else?
Claude G,Quote:
The thing that pisses me off about this city is that, everything we have something great like Boblo, people don't appreciate what we got until its gone.
The city did not own Boblo, I believe it was a private amusement park. AAA owned it in the 90s and tried to make it a go. BUT, Cedar Point was taking their business away and they just did not have much in the way of new rides.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Meddle
Thats my house. I need the space to park all of my cars. Besides the additional impervious surface running off into the lake makes my heart a little lighter and my days filled with sunshine. [[sarcasm)
I would suspect that is a community center of some sorts. I have heard they have a restraunt on the island, but thought it was associated with the marina.
I wonder if they were built as a result of the "54:40 Or Fight" era.... when tensions between the USA and Canada/Britain were high over the exact western lattitude boundary between USA and Canada back in the mid 19th Century.Quote:
Originally Posted by GOAT
another one i found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW1IO...layer_embedded
It's also not in the same country... it's a Canadian island. From what I read a few years ago, gangs from Detroit were amajor problem on the Boblo boats as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by slick
It's a condo building. The restaurant is on the other side of the island.Quote:
Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner
Have a look at the Google map here: http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&exp...-8&sa=N&tab=wl
And have a gander at the *cough* house at the far north-east end of the island... the one with it's own private bay.
The Brownings from Grosse Pointe used to own Bob Lo
I remember that building! You could see it when you took the train ride around the island. I always wondered about what it had been used for and how old it was. Is it still there???
My favorite, and only memory to be honest, of Boblo was the train ride. I was probably 6 or 7 the last time I was there. It seemed like the boat ride took all day just to get there. What's the status of the housing on the island. Besides what is on it currently, had the economic downturn pretty much decimated any demand to live on there, or have any new homes been added in the past couple years? It seems like it would be quite a cool place to grow up as a child. You could probably find a lot of cool old stuff on the island.
Boblo Island was in Canada. I was pulled out of line to get on the boat ride home by customs. What an embarrassment with my friends. Can you imagine now you would have to have your passport with you. What a pain that would be.
They also were a factor in the demise of the demise of Jefferson Beach, Edgewater, and Walled Lake amusement parks [[the old "end-of-the-line" trolley parks). Eastwood Park went under before they were a problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by marcwigle
I get that Boblo itself couldn't make a go of it when Cedar Point and Kings Island pretty much define the region's amusement parks, but it's just such a shame that the St Clair and Columbia couldn't be saved for some other use. I went to boblo at least a few times a summer in elementary and middle school for outings. I barely remember the park, what I remember was the boat ride. It's tragic that instead of [[at least) one of those two incredible, historic vessels we have a faux, totally out of place, former casino river boat tied up downtown.
Yup, every other summer vacation was to Boblo. The Boat ride was half the trip [[the dance area always seemed way too loud to me as a kid). I think I braved my first roller coaster there.
I think it was this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFSp5ucjeos
I'll never forget all those warm summer days when I sailed to Boblo Island with my family in the 1950's and 60's. It was a wonderful place back then. During the week it was $0.50 for kids, round trip!!
Attachment 26168
My family went there a couple of times. While I enjoyed the ride down, it took too long to travel back upstream at night....
We weren't rich by any stretch of the imagination and I always felt so terribly guilty about having to purchase ride tickets IN ADDITION to the cost of the boat ride, my dad had to practically beg me to go on the rides. We had been to Cedar Point once before and I remember entry got you on the amusements. Not so for Boblo....
Or a scrapper. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Swimmaven
I am so jealous of you all that have been there when it was open. My parents talked about taking us there around 82 but it never happened. I hope to get there someday somehow to at least check out whats left.BTW, doesnt look like the baby was in any danger. At the most Dad took a little risk filming.
A ride to Bob-Lo happened every summer for me as a kid. 6 generations of my family were on that island, I wish I coulda taken my grandkids there, and showed them the ballroom where their great-grandparents danced often while courting in the 30's.