For thousands of Michiganders, the name Boblo Island evokes happy nostalgia and memories of family trips to the popular amusement park.
Boblo Island, formerly known as an entertainment district, opened in 1898 and closed nearly a century later in 1993. Located south of the Detroit River, the island is visited annually by nearly 800,000 visitors brought over on the passenger steamships Ste. Claire and SS Columbia.
The historic Detroit Harbor/Marine Terminal, designed by Albert Kahn, was the beginning of fun, sunny days on the island. The harbor terminal opened in 1926 and was the largest building of its kind on all of the Great Lakes, according to HistoricDetroit.org.
To revive memories of the historic island, the Free Press has combed through decades-old archive photos that will take you right back to those precious days.
What is Boblo Island like now?
Today, the island is a residential area with luxury homes, condos, and a marina. The amusement park is no longer there, of course, but some remnants of its past remain, such as the ruins of some rides and buildings.
Boblo Island is currently owned by Amico Infrastructures. The 272-acre island, with over 140 homes on the north end, is accessible by private boat docked at the marina or by ferry from Amherstburg, Ontario. The island is also called Bois Blanc, Canada, which was the island’s historical name.
What happened to the Boblo boats?
The ships Ste. Claire and Columbia were launched in 1910 and shared the route from Detroit to Boblo Island for 84 years – the longest route in US maritime history.
Both steamships were decommissioned in 1991, two years before the park closed. The SS Columbia was towed to Buffalo, New York, for restoration. However, the SS Columbia Project website has since been marked “private” and the project’s Facebook page has not provided any recent updates.
In the meantime, the SS Ste. Claire remains in Detroit. It was badly damaged in a 2018 fire caused by a welding accident and is currently being restored by the Ste. Claire Restoration Project, led by Stephen Faraj. On August 15, 2023, Faraj announced plans on Facebook to complete the steamship’s fourth deck by September and the museum by spring 2024. There have been no updates since then.
Satellite view of Boblo Island
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This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press: Historic photos of Boblo Island and Boblo boats take you back in time
