why did boblo island amusement park close

You can find the Boblo Island Beach House restaurant on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BobloIslandMarina Also the Boblo Island Marina: https://www.facebook.com/BobloIslandMarina You may be able to get the information you need by writing to: BOBLOMARINA@BOBLO.CA You may want to mention youre coming from the States; I dont know the protocol for private boats crossing the international border in the river to dock. My husband is on the Grosse Ile Historical Society BoardI have pictures of Sugar Island in its heyday. In fact didn''t go as much as I would of liked to. Over four decades, later, on July 30, 2011, I spent an afternoon on Bob-Lo. The place is oozing history. 272 acres. The restaurant just opened for the season on the 24th, this past Friday. The living space of the Deerview twin villas. The cars operated by drawing power from an overhead electric grid unlike the Bumper Boats in use today. The fire could not be contained and destroyed the historic mahogany woodwork and upper decks. It was like a little cruise. The definitive history of Bob-lo Island, a Canadian amusement park in the mouth of the Detroit River and a favorite recreation spot for generations of Detroit-area residents. Boblo Island Amusement Park had its own custom version of bumper cars, known as Boblos Scootaboats. It was in a time when the parents didn''t have to worry about the children. A parking stub from Boblo Island, 1988 I had the pleasure of delivering a load of stuffed animals to the Park in the early 1990s, was a trip i will never forget, driving my Freightliner truck and a 48 foot trailer onto the wharf to make the trip across the river in the middle of the night over to the island then driving around the the park, having to stop and wait for the park benches to be moved for me to able to get truck and trailer around the turns stopping here and there to off load these stuffed toys into little electric carts for the arcade games before the park opened the next day, Friday of a May 24 weekend. 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. She was one of the first residents of Boblo Island. These steamers are the oldest passenger steamers in the United States of America, currently anchored at the Great Lakes Steel Dock in Ecorse, Michigan. Suddenly, without any warning, there was a relatively large mammal in the middle of the trail, directly in the line of my front bike tire. Its amusement rides were sold in 1994. What a wonderful goal, Andrew! We dont save anything for history any more. [1] The park was located on Bois Blanc Island, Ontario, just above the mouth of the Detroit River. This is the living space inside one of the single family homes. This year, I hear theres an ice cream concession, Captain Bobs on the island (http://www.rivertowntimes.com/?s=Captain+bobs&submit). [11] Roger Fachini, a 40-year-old engineer for General Dynamics and owner of a waterpark in Utica, Michigan, placed the winning $3.8 million bid and proposed redevelopment after two years,[12][13] but Boblo's creditors turned it down; after the deposit cheque bounced, they took $600,000 less in the bid from Enchanted Parks of Seattle, owners of the Wild Waves Theme Park near that city. Today the community on this island is known as the Marina Resort Community. [3] The company had claimed it could exclude her because it was a private concern operating in another country and that neither Michigan nor any other state had authority to regulate commerce with Canada (a foreign country); the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Michigan Supreme Court, which had upheld the jurisdiction of the state's anti-discrimination provisions and found against the company. Boblo Island Amusement Park was a beloved amusement park that began operating in 1898 and ran for almost 100 years. It is slated to include a luxury hotel, international shops & restaurants, a 107-berth boat dock, and a pier large enough to accommodate lake cruise ships along with The S.S. . What a shame, all gone because some mega millionaires wanted more money. It lies just above the mouth of the Detroit River. Boblo Island was very special. 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. At one time, the amusement was one of the top summer vacation spots in Florida. When was the last time yousailed down the Detroit River toBob-Lo Island, to summertime? Plenty of old carney magic still haunts this photogenic amusement park. Not one thing mentioned on the dance hall being 100 years old this year. The kitchen and dining space of the tri-plex. Why did Boblo Island shut down? One of these survived to become a souvenir stand for the amusement park. It broke my heart to see the way everything looks these days. Ive always wondered about the island and have wanted to go back. The back of the 50,000-sq-ft building which was commissioned by Henry Ford and built in 1913. I wouldnt identify the owners in this suburban retreat as millionaires, but the island has been many things to many people over the centuries: the Ojibwe, the Ottawa, the Potawatomi, and the Wyandot all used the island before it was christened Bois Blanc. Later it was: a camp for European explorers, the site of a French Catholic mission, within reach of a British fort, headquarters for the Shawnee chief Tecumseh during the War of 1812, an invasion site for Canadian patriots during the Upper Canada Rebellion, and more recently, a picnic spot and a dance venue, all before the rise and decline of the amusement park. Boblo Island Timeline from the Detroit News, "Bob-Lo Excursion Co. v. Michigan, 333 U.S. 28 (1948)", "Boblo amusement park purchased by U.S. firm", "Park yours for $9 million: Owner says sellany development OK", "Boblo remains viable business, observer says", "Boblo Island gets no nibbles, no takers, says realtor", "Bad news rains on financially troubled Boblo", "Michigan investors unlikely to appeal Boblo ownership", "Boblo tradition seems safer with Seattle owner", "Dance band on the Titanic: Boblo's last tangle", "Former Boblo partner sues ex-partners over sale", "Boblo's roller-coaster saga ends: Piece by historic piece, popular park dismantled", "Boblo's heyday not forgotten: New owner has ties to area", "New Boblo owner offers few details to packed house", "Boblo Island to get 52-home development", "Oram outlines plans for Boblo Island's condominium project", "Boblo in receivership: Island awash in $19M in red ink", "Boblo adrift in red ink: Receiver KPMG finds no money left", "Boblo rising from the dust: New ownership infuses elite island community with optimism", "Amherstburg reminisces after Boblo Island tower demolished", Boblo Island Dance Hall Story from the Detroit News, "Detroit Free Press: Former Boblo Island music machine may draw up to $2.5 million at auction", "Boblo Island then and now: See historic photos and amusement park remains", "Boblo Island boat owners hopeful for restoring of damaged boat", Southwestern Ontario Digital Archive: Boblo Island (Ontario), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boblo_Island_Amusement_Park&oldid=1114994535, Tourist attractions in Essex County, Ontario, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 9 October 2022, at 09:00. We live on the east shore of Grosse Ile, we would love to take our boat to eat at the restaurant. These gleeful youngsters certainly seem amused on a ride at Eastwood, at the northeast corner of Eight Mile Road and . The non-French residents called it Boblo, and the name was officially accepted in 1949. The Boblo Island amusement park closed in the 1990s after a century of operation. I believe the unfortunate combination of being a Canadian island with almost all American history is the reason its not being cherished by people in Canada. This is the view now from the end of the tunnel. 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. The place just went completely downhill. The ferry runs 365 days a year, departing every 20 minutes. British troops captured 60 people and built three log blockhouses to defend the island. [14], The 1993 season proved bumpy and was marred by miscues including disputes with island residents and the Canadian Coast Guard, compounded by the leader of Enchanted Parks, Michael Moodenbaugh, being seriously injured and breaking his spine in a car accident in Toledo, Ohio, in September. One reason is competition from larger theme parks. After coming aboard, visitors could look down from the main deck into the engine room, where powerful shafts and cams slowly warmed up. Given that the island was known as the Boblo Island Amusement Park from 1898 1993, Id say, overall, it was a pretty successful run. The boat would stop there to take people to the island for the day. The island is a five-minute ferry ride from Amherstburg, Ontario, and 18 miles from Detroit. If all this talk of Edgewater Park has sent you into a nostalgic funk, never fear: the video below, posted For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. The park was sold but never got up and running again so all the rides and boats were sold. He's been with WDIV since 2013. Please dont judge us without knowing us! Over the years it grew into a unique island amusement park, with a midway and dozens of rides. Since 1989, Kevin has collected miniature amusement park rides, and built a loose replica of Boblo Island in his home. The Beach House Goodie Shack offers apparel, gifts, and home decor for residents and visitors Thursday through Sunday. Only a few buildings and the sky tower structure still stand. http://boblo.ca/. The only other way to get to the island is to dock a private boat. Explore. [20] Oram then leased and shut down the White Sands boater's hangout adjacent to the park site, citing trespassers but infuriating boaters; as a result, the lease was dropped within weeks. Although I had $8.00 in Canadian currency in hand to pay the ferry toll, I rode the ferry without being charged and with no questions asked. The 106-year-old classic excursion steamer Ste. . The people of Detroit, Michigan characterized it as that city's Coney Island. It is completely grown over with weeds and trees. The plan is to restructure the whole island and populate it with luxurious houses. A tri-plex home. People from all over Michigan, Canada and from as far away as California, have chosen to make Boblo Island their home. It was the site of a conflict in 1838 during the Upper Canadian Rebellion, where 50 attackers were locked in one of the three blockhouses that had been built on the island. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this site. Peering through the broken glass, one can see water covering portions of the floor. Both vessels are bound for Boblo Island. Officially, Bob-Lo Island is now billed as a Marina Resort Community, but Bob-Lo currently exhibits the most profound split personality of any islandperhaps any placeIve ever been. The last day of "Oldies Week" is today (at least for now), and the response from the Woody Boater community was fantastic. I was 7 years old when the ferries stopped running in 1991. I loved going there as it was much smaller than Cedar Point so riding the rides didnt take so long. The island is mainly a place where people can live in serenity. [1] Other smaller ferries served the park from Amherstburg and Gibraltar, Michigan, which were located closer to the park on the Detroit River. Can see water covering portions of the 50,000-sq-ft building which was commissioned by Ford... And visitors Thursday through Sunday boat would stop there to take people to the Island and it. And upper decks gifts, and home decor for residents and visitors Thursday Sunday. 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