Boblo boat Ste. Claire on the move to new dock

DETROIT - Part of the grand history of Detroit was on the move Wednesday.

The SS Ste. Claire also known as one of the two old Boblo boats is now docked on the Rouge River in Detroit.




The 105-year-old ferry steamer once took families from Detroit to the Boblo amusement park, located on Bois Blanc Island, Ontario, 18 miles south of Windsor. The park opened in 1898 and closed in 1993.

The historic boat was evicted from its old dock site in Ecorse at US Steel because the owner needed the space for work planned along the shoreline.  Now that the 200-foot ship has been moved, restoration work will resume.

In its present condition, the boat has seen better days with paint peeled and some parts inside dismantled, but the local landmark is still a stunner.

"This is exclusive to Detroit," said Tony Laginess, a Boblo enthusiast. "These two ships, the Columbia and the Ste. Clair, are the last two, day-excursion steamers left in the country. They are very historical.

"They still have their original steam engines intact and everything. There is nothing else like this around."

Laginess said that the Boblo boats are a key piece of Detroit's history for those who grew up here.

"Anybody who is from Detroit, you can ask (them), and they have memories of the Boblo Boat."

The other Boblo boat, the SS Columbia was moved earlier this year from Toledo, Ohio to Buffalo, New York.

The Ste. Claire was featured in the movie "Transformers 4, Age of Extinction" when portions of the film were was produced in Detroit in 2013.