The Ste. Claire, clearly in a state of disrepair since retirement, is now tied up near the Dix Highway Rouge River bridge as of 2015.Long before the days of needing to travel two hours south and east to Ohio to enjoy the rides at Cedar Point... Many years before the draw of King's Island, Michigan's Adventure or even Six Flags Great America hit our collective consciousness... Predating even the universal draw of SeaWorld or Disney World... Downriver had its own amusement mecca easily seen from the southern tip of Grosse Ile: Bois Blanc Island, better known to all as Bob-Lo Island. For ninety-five years, it provided residents and visitors with an entertainment experience not seen here before or since.
Early history
Bois Blanc, whose French translation means "white woods" after the native landscape, was first observed by an anonymous traveler back in 1718, a scant seventeen years after the founding of Fort Ponchatrain (later Detroit). Seventy Indians and their families were living on the island raising crops, from which date is not known.
Nothing would change on the island until 1742, when European settlers began to colonize the island, opening a mission there. The first major use of the island was the role it played prior to the War of 1812, when a band from the Huron Tribe attacked the mission there as part of an uprising against the French. Five Indians were taken hostage. A Huron woman was able to inform authorities in Detroit about the battle, and thus was able to minimize any damage to people or property. The Hurons retreated, and the Indians reclaimed their land.
Unlike the lands nearby, the island itself did not play a great role during the War of 1812. Yet at the conclusion of the war, the question of who owned the island came up for debate. This lingered for some time, until it was decided to put it before the King of the Netherlands. In the meantime, by 1820 the first ferry crossed from Amherstburg to the island, propelled by Francois Labaleine, nicknamed "Francis the Whale."
The question of ownership was finally decided by Willem I, the King of the Netherlands in 1831. He ruled that Bois Blanc was property of Upper Canada; that in fact it was still a British-operated territory.
Bois Blanc would be involved in one more battle, which would last only a day in 1838, as part of the greater Patriots War. In another battle of French vs. English the American armies, 300 strong and led by General Sutherland, attacked nearby Fort Malden with an old cannon, mounted upon the schooner Ann. Return fire would prove effective enough to disable the schooner's sails, and it would drift downstream to the Canadian side. Sutherland's army ended up capturing the entire crew of the Ann. Satisfied with the happenings Sutherland withdrew, which (symbolically) gave the land back to its previous owners.
This was one of the many small battles which made up the Upper Canadian Revolution, which had begun in 1836. In the ensuing days, the majority of trees and brush were cleared from the side of the island facing the American channel, devoiding the area of the "white woods" for which Bois Blanc was named... presumably in an effort to avoid further sneak attacks.
The first major building was erected the previous year when a 57-foot lighthouse was built. It would ultimately end up with a beam so powerful it could shine eighteen miles up the Detroit River or down into Lake Erie. It had not been harmed in the aforementioned Patriot War.
Arthur McKee Rankin purchased some of the land in 1869 and had a boat, the Kitty B, make trips from the island to the mainland. Rankin would lose this land to foreclosure in 1877.
Becoming a tourist hotspot
John Atkinson and James Randall would then purchase a total of 225 acres. However, this collaboration was short-lived, as a quarrel and resentment developed between the two. Atkinson demanded that Randall dismantle a house he was building on the island's north end. Randall steadfastly refused. Finally, one morning saw Randall's house dismantled and in pieces. It is not known whether this was at the direct hands of John Atkinson, but the ruins of the new construction would come to be known as "Randall's Wreck" for a time.
A mutual understanding had obviously been formed via a split of the land (and supposed end of any acrimony), although Atkinson would gain 90% of the 225 acres of land from the "deal." He wound up with 221 acres, while Randall ended with just four acres. Randall would eliminate himself from this arrangement altogether by selling his share to William Menzies.
It was about this time that the island would start its slow climb toward an eventual tourist mecca. A new company titled Detroit, Belle Isle and Windsor Ferry Company asked to lease the land for a period of fifteen years, with an option to buy outright at the lease's conclusion. By the late 1890s, this company was controlling progressing development at the park, which included the 1898 construction of the first dance pavilion. The debut of boat launches occurred with the Promise, which piloted off on June 20, 1898, carrying members of the Detroit Newsboys.
As far back as the turn of the century, there was an obvious pronounciation problem. Being the island was first settled by the French, the name Bois Blanc was easy to pronounce. The Americans, however, likely butchered the name to death, thinking it was pronounced "Boys Blank."
Walter A. Campbell, the co-commander at Detroit, Belle Isle and Windsor Ferry Company, would spend many years trying to educate the public on the correct pronounciation.
Campbell's vision for the island did not originally include electricity. This vision was changed in 1901 with the construction of its first restaurant. Playground equipment began making its debut about this time, a perfect site for children coming in with their parents, who were appreciating the well-manicured picnic grounds.
Over the years, many other boats joined in with the Promise in carrying visitors over the water: The Brittania, C.H. Park, Garland, Papoose, Pleasure, Sapphio and the Scotia navigated the waters well. But in 1902, a gem was turned out by the Wyandotte shipbuilding yards: a white triple-decker. The Columbia.
Bois Blanc's most notable and well-loved on-island acquisition would occur in 1906. Built in 1878 at Coney Island, New York, the Mangels-Illions carousel and pipe organ was installed and became an island fixture for the next 83 years. Ball diamonds and tennis courts were satisfying the sports tastes of an increasing amount of visitors.
The increase enabled a second triple-decker boat to be constructed in Toledo and launched in 1910.
Her name: the Ste. Claire.
In addition to a resort hotel built by William Menzies in 1909 (ran until his death in 1913), the original dance pavilion proved to be so popular that a larger one was constructed in 1913, billed as the largest pavilion of its kind in North America. There were certain restrictions in the pavilion for the dancers, however. With the activities conducted by Captain Campbell, he ruled that only two dance styles were permitted: the Two-Step Waltz and the Fox Trot. Anything else was considered taboo and disallowed. This would not stop some people from causing a scene during the middle of an ensemble, however.
Heyday
The island recorded its largest single group in 1921, as 10,000 people from the Border Cities Retail Merchant Association enjoyed the offerings. This was a record which stood proudly for many years.
Where the park was popular with most everyone, there was a hint of prejudice, which truth be told was typical for the day. A 1931 boat ride refused entry for future Detroit Mayor Coleman Young. He was part of a Boy Scout group to attend functions there, but was the only one turned away, due to his race.
The rest of the pack boarded the boat and left without him. There was scant media reference to this incident.
Attendance at the park suffered notably during the Great Depression. As a result, the Columbia and Ste. Claire were taken out of service for the 1933 and 1934 seasons.
Brought back in 1935, other smaller vessels began picking up visitors from Monroe and Toledo for a time. The old Detroit, Belle Isle and Windsor Ferry Company was renamed the Bob-Lo Excursion Company, Ltd. Note the familar Bob-Lo name was only for the boating company; the island name at this time was still Bois Blanc (and evidentally still mispronounced).
Post-World War II, two things happened: the number of rides at the amusement park began to soar, and more importantly, racial equality was called into the limelight, years before Rosa Parks became a Civil Rights Icon.
Sarah Elizabeth Ray was an African-American female member of the Army on a war training exercise in June 1945, when her unit took a boat to Bois Blanc. She was the only African-American with her group on the boat. Ms. Ray was approached by two deckhands (Devereaux and Fox) and was asked to leave. She initially refused, but after noticing that other crewmembers were there to forcibly remove her from the boat, she decided to leave, but not before making plans to file suit in a Detroit court.
The Bob-Lo Excursion Company was initially found guilty of violating the State Civil Rights Act, and fined $25.00. The company appealed on the grounds of calling their operation "foreign commerce," meaning they were tied to Canadian, not American, rules and regulations, and the case would end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court ruled in favor of Sarah Elizabeth Ray's interests, as the Court ruled the Bob-Lo territory, except the 1837 lighthouse and three cottages, "economically (and) socially an amusement adjunct of the city of Detroit." It is not known of any other fines or action taken against the company, although in 1948 it was mandated that they would need to observe civil rights in their operations from that point forward.
The Bob-Lo Excursion Company instead decided not to operate in 1949, which brought a backlash of media coverage from angry residents.
To their saving grace, Troy H. Browning from Grosse Pointe decided to purchase the operation in 1949, readying it for a June 1 opening. His actions earned him a citation from the Detroit City Council, grateful that the popular island would remain.
From a total of six rides in 1946, the amusement park's amount would climb to 27 by 1957. It was finally decided in 1949 to officially re-name the island and the park Bob-Lo, in a matter of simplification (today it is still referred to by both names on maps of the area).
One of the oldest structures on the island was vandalized in 1954, with vandals setting fire to the top of the 1837 lighthouse, destroying the upper structure. Despite this damage, the lighthouse was able to resume operations sometime after, before finally being decommissioned in 1959.
One year earlier, Bob-Lo Island was the focus of an air-raid drill in order to test the readiness of troops and smoothness of evacuation procedures, as the Cold War was going into full swing. "Operation Bob-Lo" was held October 18, 1958; in the scenario that Detroit was hit with an atomic bomb, the Grosse Ile Naval Academy evacuated its airport headquarters to fight off "enemy" paratroopers via helicopter and rubber rafts. The operation drill was a success.
Decline
Up to the mid-1960s, the safety record at Bob-Lo was outstanding. There was a tragic drowning of a young woman off a boat gangplank in 1942, but nothing major of note would take place until August 24, 1965, involving the long-standing "Bug" ride.
A car broke lose and fell off the track, killing one person while injuring eight. The news accounts following began accusing the Province of Ontario that it did not have proper public safety features in place for amusement parks, a claim that the Ontario Government did not immediately respond to.
Thankfully, neither the island nor the surrounding area had to play a role in the Cold War. Violence of another type would strike too close to home, however.
The 1967 riots had company management worried about the possibility of the Columbia and Ste. Claire boats being vandalized at their Detroit dock. They were sent to Bob-Lo Island for eight days and remained tied down at their docks until the wave of violence finally passed. The after-effects of the riots, however, would not fade: they were too ingrained into the memories of those who were worried about the advancements of society from a social standpoint. The wave of change in the 1960s began to put fear into people and it would affect their travel itineraries. Though attendance numbers likely dipped slightly afterward, any drop was negligable. In addition, a second wave of new rides helped complete the park as it approached its apex of popularity.
The years 1969 thru 1974 provided riders with the Superslide, Spiral Drop, Flummer Ride, Tilt-A-Whirl, and the Sky Streak, in addition to The Bug. A zoo and petting farm entered the grounds in 1969.
The island's focus on children was topped by the introduction of Captain Bob-Lo. Played by the 4' 4" Joe Short (no pun intended), he worked whatever schedule he wished, and it is said no one told him how to do his job. Short had been a clown performer for Ringling Brothers, and he would spend the Christmas seasons with his wife Louise playing Christmas elves at Kern's in downtown Detroit.
When he was admitted into the hospital in 1974, no mention was initially made of this. Once the hospitalization was reported, the hospital was mobbed with visitors and well-wishers.
Joe Short passed away at the age of 90 on Christmas Eve, 1974.
By this time, Bob-Lo was at its most successful, averaging over 800,000 visitors per year. However, cracks were beginning to surface. Several more accidents (none involving deaths) were recorded on various rides around the park from 1973-1978. Again, concerns were raised in the news media about an apparent lack of regard for public safety being taken by Ontario.
These pieces of news, combining with thoughts still rather fresh of the Detroit Riots of 1967, plus the Arab Oil Embargo of the mid-1970s spiking gas prices, depleting reserves, and putting a crunch on extemporaneous travel, affected Bob-Lo in a big way. The embargo in particular served to cut the amount of boat trips from Detroit, Gibraltar and Wyandotte by a large percentage, affecting attendance.
After a difficult financial year in 1979, and after 30 years of ownership, Todd Browning would sell his stake to Cambridge Properties of Kentucky. This would begin a series of ownership sell-offs: within two years of acquiring Bob-Lo, Cambridge would declare bankruptcy and, by 1983, sell the property off to Triple-A.
Triple-A began making basic improvements to the facility, including a major refurbishment of the Mangels-Illions carousel, which at that time was 109 years old. Each of the 48 horses and two chariots were painstakingly refurbished, at an average of 80 to 100 hours per piece. This was a good sign that the island would come back to life as it did in the 1970s, but within five years it would be sold again, this time to International Broadcasting Company in 1988.
Memorial Day 1988 shooting
The turning point for the future of the Bob-Lo amusement park may have come during the Memorial Day holiday of 1988. Earlier in May, day-long package visits via the Columbia and Ste. Claire were sold to two Detroit Public Schools, each containing rival gang factions who detested one another.
Although the modern-day gangs were not as populous as those during the days of Prohibition and no single group reigned over the other, the simple equal standing for these factions seemed to make any fights between them all the more fierce.
It was said that Bob-Lo salespeople didn't know "anything about inner-city Detroit," and that if they had done their research and known the volatility potential, these package deals would not have been sold at the same time, and the trouble which would follow may have been averted.
The morning trip from the Detroit dock to the island went without incident. Shortly after arrival, however, fights began to break out all over the island, with knives and handguns being shown. The Ontario Provincial Police (O.P.P.) grew aware of this and dispatched twenty officers, who were to quell the increasing volatility as well as supervise the boarding of the boats for the evening trip to Detroit. The attendees would stall as late as they could, continuing their flare-ups until the last possible moment, then they would board the boats.
The fighting began on the boats, worse than ever and endangering innocent bystanders who knew nothing about the groups' backgrounds. Concession stands were looted; life jackets and deck chairs were tossed overboard. One of the boat captains officially wired a Mayday distress call for the U.S. Coast Guard, in hopes of having them meet the boats when they docked in Detroit.
Approaching the return dock, everyone on the boats rushed to crowd near the boat exit, jamming the aisles and stairways. On the Columbia people, seeing that the stairways were blocked, began to rush en masse to the port side, severly listing the boat to where it almost tipped over. More fighting would then commence on the gangplanks, which was eventually broken up by the Coast Guard unit and other available police units.
This incident was a huge newsmaker and, for the first time, people seeking carnival entertainment were beginning to think about traveling the 2 1/2 hours to Cedar Point in Ohio, or to other locations such as King's Island, Michigan's Adventure or Great America. Cedar Point, for example, had a glowing safety record and stringent safety policies, plus crime was a virtual unknown factor when compared with Bob-Lo and the Detroit area. At the same time, the general consensus at Bob-Lo was to let current conditions stand. The property owners lost interest in improving the park, believing conditions did not warrant it being worthwhile.
The final seasons
The biggest loss to the amusement park came at the hands of International Broadcasting Company, which was seeking to cut their losses. Having purchased the property for $20 million just two years earlier and suffering massive operating debt, they auctioned off the Mangelis-Illions carousel on February 24, 1990, realizing a total auction price of $824,000; each horse sold individually for approximately $23,000. For many long-time visitors at Bob-Lo, the venerable carousel was Bob-Lo. Public and personal sentiment began to turn sour at the thought of this important ride missing from their lineup. Attendance began to back-pedal again: it was averaging 270,000 per year in the early 1990s compared to over 800,000 during its peak in the mid-1970s. Different advertising blitzes failed to bring back the crowds in a substantial number.
The real beginning of the end would occur in 1991: Labor Day would mark the last run of the Columbia and Ste. Claire Bob-Lo boats after 89 and 81 years on the river, respectively. This eliminated most of the service to the island from the American side, cutting off the docks at Detroit and Wyandotte and leaving Amherstburg and Gibraltar as the only access points, which were manned by smaller ferries.
Facing either a longer automobile ride thru the Ambassador Bridge, Detroit/Windsor Tunnel, or a sharply reduced capacity at the Gibraltar dock, attendance would fall even further.
In 1993, the island park was sold off once more, this time by International Broadcasting Company to National Capital Company of Seattle. The asking price dropped steeply, however, to $3.7 million from the $20 million realized just five years before. Nevertheless, plans were made for refurbishing and modernizing Bob-Lo starting in 1994 (without much mention of the future of the Bob-Lo boats).
The new owner, Michael Moodenbaugh, originally planned to continue the amusement park for at least two more years (after which plans were sketchy at best). He, more than anyone, was anxious and eager to put Bob-Lo back on the map. A critical auto mishap on September 1993 put plans in jeopardy. The victim of a roll-over off a freeway ramp, Moodenbaugh suffered a broken back and bruised lungs, as he had been ejected from his Ford Bronco upon impact.
Moodenbaugh's minor partners (led by Larry Benaroya) now took over the attraction's fate, and they saw possibilities in the property that were totally different. Bob-Lo closed at the end of business September 26, 1993... and would not reopen again. A full auction of the rides and other portions of the park would take place in the spring of 1994. Recovering from his serious accident in a coma, Moodenbaugh was powerless to stop the transactions, but would end up attempting to sue for those actions. The island was purchased by another investor that year, who planned to turn the island into a private home community, reachable by ferry.
Life after the park
Since the era of the Bob-Lo steamers ended, Detroit River tours have been largely taken care of by the Diamond Jack series of riverboats, which tour the northern half of the Detroit River and dock regularly at Bishop Park in Wyandotte during the summer months. The Diamond Jack tours include limited commentary provided on-board, but the views they provide are enviable and compare in the same fashion as those provided by the old Bob-Lo steamers of yesteryear. Limited excursions to Bob-Lo Island itself are still taking place by various crafts piloted from Amherstburg.
However, in spite of their occasional use (as haunted boats one season, as well as playing a background role in a "Transformers" movie shot in the area), the question began to irk preservationists and fans of the boats: What would become of them? They would be profiled in the newspapers every few years as boats which had seen their best days; no longer navigable, and desperately in search of in-kind grants in order to keep them afloat. It appeared the Great Recession of the late 2000s would doom any restoration efforts, as funds from these foundations began to dry up or were redirected to more pressing local needs.
Answers began to trickle in during the middle part of the 2010s, and they were not favorable on the surface for fans of the Columbia. By the summer of 2014, plans for her continued refurbishment would involve its eventual transport to New York for cruises on the Hudson River. The fall of 2014 saw the Columbia being towed from its long-time berth at the mouth of the Rouge River toward Toledo for the next step in its immediate renovations. This was its first long-term "voyage" since the boats were decommissioned in the early 1990s. These initial renovation stages were completed by the summer of 2015, and the Columbia lay in wait for its eventual towing to the New York region by that fall.
The Ste. Claire remained behind, with donations to its restoration lagging to the point the vessel risked being scrapped. In the summer of 2015 Dr. Ron Kattoo, co-owner of the boat, announced that a steady funding program was at last underway, with promised donations secured. However, the vessel continued to be at risk for scrapping due to losing its home berth in Detroit. The presence of an oxygen-manufacturing plant as well as needs to remediate the shoreline near the boat dock were given as the direct reasons the Ste. Claire would need to find a new port. Dr. Kattoo had indicated that locations such as Toledo were too far for his tastes. A news article detailed the apparent lack of alternatives, but soon after its publishing it was mentioned no fewer than 15 possible sites were now in play for a re-docking.
If all worked out, it would appear the Ste. Claire can still realize a bountiful future much like its sister ship would have - and will continue to be locally based.
Interest in the boats' history was also restored at the same time thanks to the efforts of documentarian Aaron Schillinger, who began producing a piece about them over the summer. An event was held at the Portofino in Wyandotte which saw Motown recording legend Martha Reeves in attendance, as well as former island co-owner Bill Browning, then in his mid-90s. The event was sponsored by Kevin Mayer - a good friend of Reeves, by the way - who spearheaded the effort entitled "Save the Ste. Claire."
