Boblo Island Revisited

[Lowell]

We danced in this great hall, screamed on its amusement park rides and floated home aboard ferries with dance bands playing.

Bobo Island holds a special place in the hearts of Detroiters. There we came together, American and Canadian Detroiters, for fun and amusement on a magical downriver island in our Straits of Detroit.

Do you have memories of Boblo?

And what of Boblo today? Let's take a look with a new 43 page web tour of old and new Boblo ...





View the full tour and return here for discussion >>

[G-DDT]

Many memories. Every other "summer family vacation" for that year would be to Boblo. Seem to remember one involved having to ditch dad and take the boat back without him because he didn't show up at the meet up spot on time [[guess he caught a much later one back). Always felt the music in the dance portion of the boat was too loud [[then again, many things were too loud for my sensitive hearing as a kid). to enjoy. I know they had photo booths at Boblo, but didn't they have record cutting stations where you could record your own songs?

[walkerpub]

Great day at the old park Lowell- who knew so much remains today? here are some photos I snapped of the old dogem cars and the engine that led the tour around the island- these are stored in East Windsor- the owner wishes to keep the location a secret for now

[drjeff]

So what happened to all the rides?

[ndavies]

Most were sold off.

[drjeff]

Most were sold off.

So they are in use somewhere else?

[Whitehouse]

Been a while since I posted here. Yes, your friend from the other side of the Atlantic comes around again.
I remember a few articles from the past, among them articles about the Bobo boat S.S.Ste. Claire and S.S. Columbia. I also remember the sadness in this forum when both boats left Detroit after being sold off.

I wonder how these ships are doing now.

Seeing that this site is offline does not bode well.
http://www.bobloboat.com

[Lowell]

So they are in use somewhere else?

Good question but my guess is that they would be worn out or superseded by bigger and shinier replacements by now.

Great pictures Walkerpub!

[Jimaz]

A recent Free Press article:

A Detroit icon, a Boblo boat, will soon call N.Y. home

It's the SS Columbia.

[Mikie]

I recall seeing a list of where all the rides have been sold to but heres a list of where the rollar coasters went to.

http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com...me-parks/96794

[Shai_Hulud]

Great pictures, the only clear memory of Boblo I have is the boat ride there.

[mikeg19]

I was very young when Boblo was still around, as I was born in 86' and probably on made 3-4 trips there before it's closure, but I have 2 distinct memories of it:

1) The boat ride, not so much the scenery, but looking down on the engines as they worked, and the smell of oil and machinery.

2) The train ride around the island. Maybe that's where my fascination with them began.

Those pictures brought back some memories.

[Richard]

Excellent post,it is so nice to see "ruins" intact in their natural state without the tagging and busted windows etc.

One can tell that the city was truly at one time a world class city and it is a shame that the younger generation missed that,maybe they can see that and realize how important it is to preserve some of the past for the future.It is not always just a old building sitting there but a much higher meaning.

[douglasm]

A couple years ago there was a Windsor Star story about the Dance Pavilion being up for sale. I can't find the story, but I did run across this video about ideas for it's use.