  Bowldetroit Member Username: Bowldetroit Post Number: 29 Registered: 09-2008 |
Anybody have any neat memorabilia, stories or photos that they would like to share on here. I am 51 and used to love going there in the 60's and 70's. Went to heck when AAA took over. When I was 7, my buddy and I would go to the local drug store and press the coin returns on the pay phones hoping to get a quarter for a pop. One day about 8.00 worth of dimes and quarters came out. When I got home my mom said I couldn't keep it. She called Michigan Bell and a guy came out, took pictures and wrote a story about how honesty pays off. It was published in the Detroit News. We got an all expense paid trip to Bob-Lo, a tour of the phone company and all the food we could eat. We were invited up to meet the captain of the Columbia, Lyn Beatty. I still have the photos from 1965 with the captain and the big steering wheel of the Columbia. | ||
Lodgedodger Member Username: Lodgedodger Post Number: 698 Registered: 05-2008 |
I used to go with my folks. What a grand adventure! Most of my memories are of the boat ride. The days on the island are a blur. I think it was fun overload... Many blessings to your Mom for keeping you honest. We need more parents like her in today's society. | ||
Awfavre Member Username: Awfavre Post Number: 294 Registered: 08-2005 |
Sadly, I never went there. But Patrick Livingston (author of the excellent book "Eight Steamboats") recently wrote a book about the park. http://www2.wsupress.wayne.edu /book.php?id=13 Livingston worked aboard one of the Boblo steamers &, as a consequence, spent a great deal of time on the island. I'm sure it's an excellent book. | ||
Rickinatlanta Member Username: Rickinatlanta Post Number: 188 Registered: 07-2006 |
Just Google Bob-Lo and you'll find several different websites some with history a lot of photos, etc. | ||
Eriedearie Member Username: Eriedearie Post Number: 3719 Registered: 08-2007 |
Bowldetroit - what a wonderful thing your mom did! She's a class act for sure. My husband is a retired Chrysler Canada employee and every year his local would put together a fantastic day of fun for Local members and their families to gather on the island. I believe it was held every first Sunday in June annually. You could either take the boat there, or drive to Amherstburg and take the ferry across. We usually did the ferry ride. Later on when we moved near Boblo, our youngest son worked on the island for 4 straight summers. He loved it. Said he had a blast at work. He did almost any kind of job there was to do on the island - including one summer when he played the roll of Homer Simpson. If you went during those days, he may have greeted you at one time or the other. When my niece first learned how to talk she called the island BOBBIE YO. We have several Boblo cups, mugs and tumblers put away over the years. My son has a beautiful drawing of one of the boats. I can't recall which boat tho. My high school senior skip day was a day on the island. When I come across my high school album I'll post some pictures here. I took pics aboard the boat of the Detroit skyline in 1965, photos from under the Ambassador Bridge and photos on the island. We have a lot of great memories of good old Boblo Island. Lots of family fun. | ||
Whittier70 Member Username: Whittier70 Post Number: 208 Registered: 02-2008 |
OMFG, BOBLO CLOSED??? no, but great pics here, so so sad. but good good memories. this website is my favorite, scroll all the way down for the pics. http://www.waterwinterwonderla nd.com/amuse.asp?id=300&type=2 | ||
Davemarc Member Username: Davemarc Post Number: 72 Registered: 06-2008 |
My grandfather was a Detroit fire chief,they used to do a family day for DFD.It was always a HUGE deal as kid.The boat ride,the rides fair food!very happy memories | ||
Duke_sims Member Username: Duke_sims Post Number: 88 Registered: 05-2008 |
Those Moonlight Cruises were great places to pick up chicks -- if only we weren't too scared to go up and talk to them!!!! | ||
Whaler Member Username: Whaler Post Number: 105 Registered: 08-2007 |
A friend of mine Win Guthrie use to rent the Bob-Lo Boats and throw huge parties..1970-72..Anybody ever take one of those cruises... | ||
Maof2 Member Username: Maof2 Post Number: 902 Registered: 06-2008 |
Have many memories about Bob-lo with family and friends. One memory stands out in my mind. It was an 8th grade field trip in 1973. We had finished the trip and were lining up to get off the boat. Well, two classmates decided they didn't want to wait in line so they decided to climb off the second tier. They didn't get very far. As their legs were dangling from the top tier, and figuring they couldn't reach the bottom without breaking their necks, they were caught by one of the ship's mates and were thrown in the "ship jail" which was just a small gated area. I remember one of the teacher's just shaking her head and snickering at these two clowns having to wait in "jail" until the rest of the kids were off the boat. | ||
Mallory Member Username: Mallory Post Number: 301 Registered: 05-2006 |
I still have my ticket to the moonlight cruise that the Electrifying Mojo sponsored. I got called in to work at the last minute and couldn't go. | ||
Jimb Member Username: Jimb Post Number: 13 Registered: 09-2008 |
I went to school at St Marys of Redford and lived on Prevost. They had an annual BobLo outing very year back in the 60 and 70s, I think it was right after school got out for the summer. We'd walk over to the parking lot that morning, and it would be filled with school buses, and every bus would fill with people. The buses would caravan down Grand River and drop us off right near the dock. My parents started taking us when I was probably 4 or 5, around 1964/5. We went every year til at least 1974 or so. I remember seeing Captain BobLo on the boat, the little guy. They always played The Mexican Hat Dance on the boat. Our parents would always buy us some sort of souvenir on the boat, maybe a white BobLo hat or a kazoo. There were tons of kids runnig wild on the boat on those trips. I remember going under the Ambasador Bridge soon after takeoff, having to stop at Amherstberg to pick up more passengers, seeing the sign made up of flowers as you pulled in to the island. Getting on the trams that would go back and forth over the island, having contests at the St Marys picnic - sack races, running races, etc. The new roller coaster they built that seemed so huge back then. The boat ride there was filled with excitement, the ride back was a bit calmer and quieter. I don't know if it's the same book that someone else mentioned, but Barnes and Noble had a book about BobLo a couple of years ago with all kinds of great pictures, and as also mentioned, there are plenty of pictures on the web if you do a search. | ||
Sean_of_detroit Member Username: Sean_of_detroit Post Number: 1981 Registered: 03-2008 |
Here's a good link to the Coaster Enthusiasts of Canada's article on Boblo Island, complete with pictures. Link: http://cec.chebucto.org/ClosPa rk/Boblo.html | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 14426 Registered: 12-2003 |
I thought the stop was in Wyandotte...imagine a boat filled with happy people crossing the international border nowadays?! | ||
Jimb Member Username: Jimb Post Number: 14 Registered: 09-2008 |
I think there may have been a dock in Wyandotte, but on all the St. Marys trips I took I seem to remember that Amherstburg was the only stop. | ||
Ahartz Member Username: Ahartz Post Number: 33 Registered: 04-2007 |
Great stories thank you all. I worked on the St. Clair during the summer of 1984. Lots of fun. Especially fun for us was one on our first trip down to the island each day we would return to detroit empty. The employees would have the boat to themselves, steaming, literally, back up the river for the next load of passengers. great great memories for me. I was 16.....andy | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5369 Registered: 06-2004 |
"imagine a boat filled with happy people crossing the international border nowadays?!" It wasn't a problem unless you got off. That was the only warning about Bob-Lo I remember getting from my mom - "Don't get off before the island. You might not be able to get back on!" related story - My grandmother wanted to treat my dad one day so she took him on the ferry across the river, intending to just ride over and back. Well, they were made to disembark before returning and missed the next ferry back because my grandmother didn't have any paperwork with her to prove he was her son. After much hassle with the customs officials they were finally allowed to board and return but by then the quick treat had turned into an unpleasant, wasted afternoon. | ||
Townonenorth Member Username: Townonenorth Post Number: 262 Registered: 10-2007 |
Wyandotte was a stop for the big boats, but only at certain times, as I recall. I remember docking there, and wondering just how to get there from the East Side (at 12 or so) I think that the smaller boats docked there later as well. I can't remember docking at Amherstberg. I think that they had their own shuttle, and dock as I recall it. (Message edited by townonenorth on October 15, 2008) | ||
Stinger4me Member Username: Stinger4me Post Number: 324 Registered: 08-2007 |
I recall several trips to Bob-Lo but the boat did not always stop at Bishop Park in Wyandotte. Never made the stop at the park on the return trip. | ||
Irish_mafia Member Username: Irish_mafia Post Number: 1447 Registered: 10-2003 |
Andy, I worked on the St. Clair in 1982 or 1983, I believe. We worked the concessions which at that time were run by a contracted group (Siebel or something)...it was a great job (didn't pay squat). That first run back up the river was great as you said. We would also enjoy the last run down the river about 12 or 14 hours later. This was also empty, so the crew would, if you befriended a bartender, get a scotch and a cheap cigar and watch the river go by before you picked up the last crowd headed home. If my foggy memory serves me right, we would finish up many evenings headed over to the Anchor Bar by the Lafayette Coney Island and once, as I related to the women at the Motor Bar today, just before the Book Cadillac closed, a whole bunch of us were sneaked in to the pool there by an employee who later got into a lot of trouble after one of those late night bar outings. It was great. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 3086 Registered: 10-2003 |
The Wyandotte stop was dropped in the final few years. They set up a dock in Gibralter and ran a smaller ferry boat from there. They were trying to reduce the trip time. Amherstburg always had it's own smaller boat. | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 1116 Registered: 01-2005 |
So AAA said - but in the last years many people would not take the big boats because they would be virtually imprisoned on the boat if violence took place. And it did. The boats were sites of big trouble at the end. The Gibralter dock was something you had to drive to and Detroit buses didn'stop there, so AAA thought that people who avoided the Island because the big boats were scary might go from there. | ||
Bowldetroit Member Username: Bowldetroit Post Number: 42 Registered: 09-2008 |
I found the photos and newspaper article from 1965 as mentioned in the first post. I will try and scan them | ||
Crash67 Member Username: Crash67 Post Number: 64 Registered: 05-2007 |
There's some great Bob-Lo stuff on display at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle -- models of the Bob-Lo boats, one of the "swans" you can actually step inside, signage, visitor info maps, etc. Tonight's there's a "Lost Mariners Remembrance" event out there ... here's the straight story from today's Freep: Fitzgerald tragedy remembered The Detroit Historical Society's Dossin Great Lakes Maritime Auxiliary will host a remembrance for sailors lost on the Great Lakes at 6 p.m. today at the museum on Belle Isle. The event marks the 33rd anniversary of the sinking of Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior. The ore freighter, which sank on Nov. 10, 1975, claimed the lives of 29 crewmen. It also will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the loss of the self-unloading steamer Carl D. Bradley, which sank Nov. 18, 1958, in Lake Michigan. All but two of its crew of 35 was lost. Balladeer Lee Murdock will entertain and the Rev. Richard Ingalls Jr., rector of Mariners' Church in Detroit, will speak. Cost is $10 or $5 for Detroit Historical Society and Maritime Auxiliary Group members. The event will be Webcast live at www.detroithistorical.org Details: 313-833-1801. Pretty moving event ... I've been out there in past years for this thing. Hopefully, the weather will look up a bit because some of the event takes place outside and on the river. | ||
Jokerman Member Username: Jokerman Post Number: 148 Registered: 07-2005 |
I was coming back from Bob-Lo with my family. I think that it was an outing organized by St. Jude Church. It must have been in the early sixties. All of the sudden, someone jumped overboard. We circled around for about an hour or so while they looked for him. I believe that the body washed up to shore a few days later. Does anyone else have any recollection of this event? | ||
Jokerman Member Username: Jokerman Post Number: 151 Registered: 07-2005 |
Bump! Does anyone have any info about the guy overboard mentioned in my previous message? | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1703 Registered: 11-2006 |
I just tried Google a bunch of different ways and found nothing. I did go to www.waterwinterwonderland.com site and there is a discussion board about Bob Lo. Maybe you could ask there. |
