Ron Kattoo, a doctor at Henry Ford Hospital, purchased the ship last year. It has been docked at Tri-Centennial State Park for the last few months, and the ship has drawn a lot of interested visitors.
The short-term goal includes gaining a non-profit status. Recently, the ship was tugged back to the Steel yard and covered with a tarp for the winter where it will begin renovations. Plans are to take her down all the way to the steel and replace every piece of wood that isn’t salvageable.
Once the $5.5 million, three-year renovation is complete, the ship will be re-launched on her 100th anniversary, May 7, 2010. Katoo plans to house a museum and a restaurant on the boat, and make the Ste. Clair available for parties. He hopes to have her permanently docked between the Ambassador and Belle Isle Bridges.
And when that happens, you can bet we'll be hosting a Detroit Reunion on the Ste. Claire!
My sister Diane and I took the Diamond Jack Boat Tour which departs Bishop Park in Wyandotte and travels downriver past the Ste. Claire and the Columbia.
The Columbia, recently sold to
a New York business, will be leaving the Detroit area to undergo $6 million in renovations. It will be used for historical tours on the Hudson River.
At this time, the Ste. Claire restoration work continues.
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OCTOBER 16, 2005
My aunt and I visited the
Ste. Claire where it was docked at Belanger Park in River Rouge.
We had the coincidental good fortune of meeting Linda Benedict aboard the ship. She is a restoration volunteer and
member of the Detroit Memories Discussion Group. Linda gave us a personal tour of the old girl which at that time was decorated for the annual 'Nautical Nightmare' Halloween tour.
Now a registered National Historic Landmark, this steamer was built in Toledo, Ohio, christened in
1910 and served on the Detroit River taking passengers to the now-closed Bob-lo Island Amusement Park.
The Ste. Claire was docked at Belanger Park in River Rouge the fall of 2005.
Restoration volunteer, Linda Benedict and Eileen pose against the Detroit skyline
The Ste. Claire's concession counter
View of the Detroit skyline from the Ste. Claire
My thanks to Linda Benedict for these photos
The boats made their last runs in October 1991.
Since then, the Columbia has been in storage.
The Ste. Claire is in the process of being restored and was used as a haunted house in 2005.
Both ships were designated as National Historic Landmarks in 1992.
Bob-Lo Island Park closed in September 1993. Dozens of luxury homes and condominiums have been built on the
272-acre island since a Detroit-area developer purchased it in 1994. Recently, it was purchased by a new developer, Dominic Amicone, of Windsor who, like many of us, grew up going to Bob-Lo Island. He intends to restore many of the historic landmarks of the island, including the Dance Pavillion.
Approaching the Columbia and Ste. Claire Bob-Lo boats.
Ste. Claire, undergoing continuous renovation.
The wrapped Columbia was sold to a New York concern and will be leaving Detroit once all of the logistics to move her have been worked out.
Neither steamship can move under its own power and must be tugged.
The following is a video of the Ste. Claire being 'tugged' from downtown Windsor to
River Rouge since the ship is unable to move under its own power.
While the headline states '1910', that's actually the year the Ste. Claire was built, not the year the video was taken, which in 2005.
I highly recommend turning off the sound when viewing. In my opinion, the song is inappropriate and annoying. Why it was chosen to accompany this video is beyond me. Also, the narrative describing this video was very poorly written and combines (and confuses) information about Bob-Lo Island with the ships. Surprisingly, it was uploaded by
