A walk down memory lane: Revisit the Boblo Island Amusement Park in its heyday

As demolition of the old Boblo Island Amusement Park ferry dock began on Amherstburg's mainland last week, community members reflect on their memories of the island. 

The park ran from 1898 until 1993. It was a beloved hot spot for families outings and a favourite place to work for local teenagers. Now, it's a privately-owned island, developed by Amico as a residential community and for the most part, public access is no longer permitted.

"It was a lot of fun to work on Boblo," recalled Sarah Gibb. She worked on the island from the late 1980s until the park closed. 

"It was kind of a place that everybody worked in the summer. So, you know, there was always parties on Friday nights and that kind of thing."

Working on Boblo ran in her family: her mom, her aunts, her grandmothers, and even her great grandmother worked in the cafeteria back in the day.  

"It's kind of something that is a big part of our history," she said. 

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) officially began demolition work on the ferry dock on the mainland earlier this month. 

Amherstburg's mayor had been asking for its removal for some time. 

According to a DFO spokesperson, the federal agency "recognizes the significance fo the dock in the community and the experiences it enabled for local residents and tourists alike."

It went on to say that the removal was necessary for the safety of the community and the environment given that the unused dock had fallen into "irreversible disrepair."

Diane Coutts, who grew up in Windsor but now lives in Toronto, worked on a few of the rides as a teenager in the 1970s, including the roller coaster and the flume. 

"A lot of it was teenagers supervising teenagers really is what it was," she described. "It was just a lot of fun."

A freer time

She used to ride her bike from Riverside, then switch to a bus to get to the dock, and then take the ferry across to the island. The journey could take up to two hours, and she happily did it every day because she loved it so much. 

"We were in the sun from like early morning until late at night. I remember seeing the sun go down. It was so beautiful," she said. 

"But we were outside with all our friends, and you made friends."

A stand out memory was when she used to test out the roller coasters in the mornings. She said day after day, even though she loved roller coasters, eventually it got a bit boring. But as a self-described "daredevil" she decided to push the limits one day. 

"What I did was I turned backwards [and put] my arms underneath the safety bar," she said, explaining that she rode the roller coaster in that position with her feet flipping over her head and turning sideways. Luckily, she was able to hold on the whole way through. 

When it was done, she said it was "so much fun," but now years later, she laughs and points out that she could have died. 

She knows something like that would never happen today, and she does have some nostalgia for the kind of freedom that setting and that time allowed.

Collecting memories

For Amherstburg town crier and Boblo Island resident Norm Ross, the island is special place full of history and special memories for him as a child and a teenager. 

He started working on the island in 1974, and took on various jobs including painter, street sweeper, washroom cleaner, park appearance supervisor and manager — and entertained visitors one summer as a trumpet-playing clown. 

As a history buff, Ross is also a collector of Boblo Island memorabilia. He's got old ticket stubs, Boblo island plates, photographs, key chains and his personal favourite: old Boblo Island salt and pepper shakers shaped like feet.

A favourite memory was when the staff who worked on the log ride would fill it with detergent. 

"We'd have floating clouds of suds all over the entire island," he said. 

One of his earliest memories of Boblo was when the British freighter, the Montrose capsized and sank underneath the Ambassador Bridge in 1962 and drew in huge crowds.

"It was quite a big event for people in Windsor and Detroit," he said, recalling that his family was among many that took the ferry across the river to the island to get a good look at the Montrose.

Not only was the amusement park of significance to the community, he points out that it was also of historical importance related to British battles with the Americans in the 1800s. An old blockhouse from the time, a national historic site, is still standing on the island.

Liz Grady, a life-long friend of Gibb's, worked as a ride operator and a ride manager in the years before the park closed, her father worked there in the 50s where he started dating her mother. Her paternal grandmother worked on the island as a nurse and her paternal grandfather was at the dedication of the renovated historic Blockhouse on the island.

"I believe everyone in the Windsor-Essex area my age or older has been touched by Boblo," she told CBC in an e-mail. "It was so special."

"We bonded over long, summer days, the constant and annoying soundtracks, the ongoing battle to wear socks, have enough ice water for the day, how much vomit you cleaned up and hot, angry customers," she recalled.

"It's heartbreaking to me that public access is no longer allowed. I understand the privacy of the residents, but the island is so significant to the memories of so many, not to mention its historic impact on Windsor-Essex and Canada."

Gibb wishes that more of the amusement park had been preserved, like the old ticket booth for example. 

She'd love to see the old passenger dock on the island side fixed up, saying that it would be nice to have something like that on the island that serves as an homage to the island's amusement park days, and that it would draw in people who'd want to see it and reminisce. 

Amico has said that it does intend to re-purpose some of the old buildings like the dance hall potentially. It has also said that the island will reopen to the public once again in the coming years after construction on more of the island's homes is completed.