| A businesswoman who loves restoring old things
has come to the rescue of one of the two Boblo
boats, the once-magnificent Detroit River
steamers that for the past 10 years have been
rotting at a dock in Ecorse.
Diane Evon, 36, has purchased the Ste.
Claire, and plans to turn it into a floating
attraction such as a restaurant, dinner theater
or conference center at an undetermined
location, probably along the river or on Lake
Erie.
"We had to buy it and save her,"
Evon said. "We went and saw her and felt it
was wrong what was happening. It was so
sad."
Evon lives in Ohio, but don't hold that
against her.
She spent part of her childhood in Dearborn,
and remembers the excitement of boarding the
Ste. Claire or Columbia, which for most of the
20th Century were Detroit icons like J.L.
Hudson's downtown store and Sander's soda
fountains -- all of which are long gone.
Generations of Detroiters boarded the boats
for the 90-minute trip down the river to the
amusement park on Boblo Island or up into Lake
St. Clair for a romantic moonlight cruise.
The boats carried about 2,500 passengers each
and featured dancing to live bands, viewing
areas for the powerful steam engines and,
between 1953 and 1973, Captain Boblo (real name:
Joe Short), the diminutive mascot who waved
good-bye to children from the dock.
"My grandparents are probably more
excited about this than anyone," Evon said.
The Ste. Claire had been owned by a nonprofit
foundation that has been trying to find a way to
restore it. The purchase price was not
disclosed, but both sides said it was less than
$100,000, which is going toward paying bills for
the boat's storage and upkeep.
Evon, who owns a garden center and gift shop
in Cleveland, said she will spend up to $1
million to restore the Ste. Claire so it can
accommodate the public in some way. Fixing it to
sail under its own power would cost several
million dollars.
William Worden, one of the principal
caretakers of the Boblo boats who also is
director of historic designation for the City of
Detroit, said Evon and her associates spent
months investigating the boat and its
possibilities.
"This isn't some crazy person who came
in waving money in our face," he said.
Tugboats towed the Ste. Claire a month ago to
a drydock in Toledo, where its hull was
repaired. On Thursday, it is scheduled to be
towed to a nearby dock where renovation will
begin. Evon said she is doing marketing studies
to determine its future use.
Both boats made their last trips to and from
Boblo on Labor Day 1991. Since then, they have
endured Michigan summers and winters -- plus a
few thieves. The once-proud vessels now are
encrusted with rust, covered with crud and
pockmarked with holes.
"There is an amazing amount of
rot," Worden said.
The Ste. Claire, built in Toledo, was
launched in 1910; the Columbia was built in
Detroit and Wyandotte and launched in 1902. Both
are National Historic Landmarks, being among the
last steamers of that type on the Great Lakes.
The boats were such a part of Detroit that one
radio station incorporated the blustery whistles
into its on-air identification ditty.
People still write their recollections of
Boblo cruises on a couple of Web sites, talking
about falling in love on the boats, getting to
steer them, or working on them as summer jobs.
"You always had a good time on the Boblo
boat," Worden said. "You're dealing
with some very fundamental childhood, 'Happy
Days'-type memories. It's very much the same
thing as the toy department at Hudson's at
Christmastime."
Now that the Ste. Claire is gone, what will
happen to the Columbia, which is owned by
another nonprofit foundation?
"It's bleak," Worden said.
"It's deteriorating rapidly. It's something
that can't be equaled in popularity in southeast
Michigan, but we can't get any real financial
support.
"I don't doubt . . . if someone would
wave some money, we would sell it in a
second." For more information about the
Boblo boats, go to: www.steamercolumbia.org. |
