Boblo Island

[TheFugitive]

Boblo Island was a popular local amusement park in the Detroit area for almost 100 years.  It opened in 1898 and closed in 1993.  It was located on an island in the Detroit River called Bois Blanc Island. Locals kind of refashioned that pronunciation into "Boblo".

Technically Boblo Island was in Canada.  You could get to it by taking a ferry from either Gibraltar, Michigan on the US side. or Amherstburg, Ontario on the Canadian side. When I moved to Michigan in the late 80's there were lots of radio ads running that promoted the ferries.  Apparently at one time a somewhat longer ferry service from downtown Detroit was also available.

Boblo was a popular diversion for Detroit's industrial working families in the 20th. Century.  Towards the end though it was plagued by violence.  Rival Detroit gangs would get into fights there, which did not make Canadian authorities too happy.  It also began to scare people away from bringing their families to Boblo.  This sparked declining attendance.  This and the proximity of Cedar Point less than two hours away sealed the park's fate.

After the park closed the rides and buildings were demolished.  Bois Blanc Island sat empty for some time, but has now been reinvented as an upscale housing development.

At one time Boblo Island was known to be a convenient back-door for people wanting to cross the border illegally.  Americans trying to get to Canada to evade the Vietnam draft, and others wanting to get from Canada to the US, would simply take the Boblo Boat out to the island for a day of fun, and then "accidentally" board the wrong boat when the time came to leave.