Boblo Boat Reappears Along The Detroit River
DETROIT (WWJ) - A little piece of history has reappeared along the Detroit River.
The historic S.S. Ste. Claire — one of the two vessels nicknamed 'The Boblo Boat' — is currently tied up along the river. It's being restored, hopefully to become a shoreline attraction.
Jerry Gostenik of Dearborn, a fishing guide who uses the St. Jean Street boat launch, said the old boat is a pretty cool sight to see.
"Actually, I think it was a little bit before my time — you know, I never remember it on the river or anything like that," he told WWJ's Mike Campbell. "But I hear and remember the stories from my grandparents taking it down from downtown over to Boblo."
"It looks like an old classic riverboat, so it kinda takes you back a little bit to, I guess, what? The 50s-60s? When it was real popular," Gostenik added. "It looks neat. It kinda looks like a ghost ship right now; but I think, from the looks of it, the haul's been redone and I've seen some guys welding it down here on he inside...But it's still got a ways to go."
The S.S. Ste. Claire was built in 1910 along with sister ship, the S.S. Columbia. Both carried visitors to and from Boblo Island which was the site of an amusement park which closed in 1993. The Columbia has been hauled off and is also being rehabbed elsewhere.
[Learn more about the Ste. Claire and restoration efforts at this link.]
