Happy Wednesday! Here today is a neat postcard shot that was from the later years of Boblo Island.
The caption on the back reads:
Also… Don’t forget about your chance to get a copy of the 2013 International Metropolis calendar. It makes a great gift, order now to guarantee arrival for the holidays. Only two more weeks until the pre-sale closes.
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Only went to Boblo once when I was a kid while it was an amusement park. Good times!
Now it's full of summer homes in which (75%) of them were built hastily and have had pipes burst. (I deal with insurance work).
I'm very happy to hear they are restoring or have restored? the single remaining British Block House that served as an outpost for defenses for Fort Malden during the Rebellion of 1838.
Yes, the Block House restoration is complete.
Not sure if this link will work. There is this pic on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33535417@N05/7760271680/in/set-72157629443993050
Readers might be interested to know that Bob-lo was an anglicized version of "Isle aux Bois Blancs". The French at Detroit learned that Huron and Algonkian tribes found the island a plentiful supply of white birch to build and repair their canoes. Fr. de la Richardie, S.J., was sent to Detroit to further the conversion of Hurons on both sides of the river. He built a mission church on Bois Blanc in 1742, calling it "the Mission of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary among the Hurons". French settlers began using land on the Sandwich (Windsor) side of the river, along with the mission church. A Marentette ancestor married in that church on Bois Blanc in 1743, the first recorded marriage of European settlers in Essex County. Hurons continued to resist conversion and even attacked and destroyed the church in 1746. The Hurons built a large village on the south shore at the end of a trail eventually named Huron Church Line. Fr. Richardie's replacement, Fr. Potier built a church at that site in 1749, re-using the mission name from Bois Blanc. This of course became the site of the present Assumption Church at the foot of the Ambassador Bridge. Bois Blanc fell into British hands in 1760 with the French defeat. Bois Blanc eventually emerged as the Boblo amusement park of our childhood.
It's a shame they closed Boblo. Imagine the boost this would give the local economy if it was still open? Hotels, shopping in Amherstburg and Windsor?
talk about a destination attraction
another part of Windsor's colorful history lost
Its a shame they closed Boblo, the last operator of the park went broke. Browning steamship Company sold it to Michigan Automobile Club, they sold to the last operator who closed it.
It seems people preffered to drive to Cedar Pointe instead of taking a boat ride. Cedar Pointe prospered and Boblo went broke.
Unfortunately Boblo just could not compete with Cedar Point and Wonderland.
When I was in grade school, the school board would reward the safety patrol crossing guards with a day at Boblo.
I still have the "Let's Twist Again" theme song in my head from the commercials.
Yes ALde. I remember going as a safety patrol too! I believe it could've competed with the bigger parks because economically it would save families money becuase admission is cheaper and they don't have to spend a fortune on gas.
Great memories of going to Bob-lo every year on Labour day.