Bois Blanc Island (Ontario)

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For the island in northern Michigan with the same name, see Bois Blanc Island (Michigan)

Bois Blanc Island, commonly called Boblo Island, is an island located directly west of Amherstburg, Ontario in the Detroit River (on the Canadian side of the border). The island is about 3 miles (5 km) long, 0.5 mile (1 km) wide and 240 acres in size.

The main north-bound shipping channel of the St. Lawrence Seaway currently lies between Bois Blanc Island and the Amherstburg mainland. A stone lighthouse built in 1836 on the southern tip of the island marks the historical beginning of the Detroit River navigation channel for ships traveling upriver from Lake Erie.

Bois Blanc means White Woods, a name derived from the many birch and beech trees in the area. "Boblo" is an English corruption of the French pronunciation of the name. Several islands with the same name dot the Great Lakes, and nearly all are known as "Boblo" or "Bob-lo" by the local populations.

The island gained strategic importance when Fort Amherstburg (now Fort Malden) was built in 1796 to guard passage along the Detroit River after Detroit was turned over to the Americans. Guns from the fort could reach the island across the navigable waters and hence secured the river.

The island has minor historical footnotes as the site of a French Catholic mission for Wyandot or Huron Indians in the 1700's, as the site of headquarters for the Shawnee chief Tecumseh during the War of 1812, and as an invasion point for 60 Canadian "Patriots" on January 8, 1838 during the Upper Canada Rebellion.

Bois Blanc is known regionally as the former home of the Boblo Island Amusement Park, which began operation in 1898 and closed on September 30, 1993. The Boblo Island Amusement Park was famous for the steamers SS. Columbia and SS. Ste Clare which went between Detroit and the island. A lawsuit concerning the power of the state of Michigan to prohibit racial discrimination on the ferries, Bob-Lo Excursion Co. v. Michigan, 333 U.S. 28 (1948) , reached the U.S. Supreme Court and resulted in a notable decision construing the Commerce Clause.

[edit] Today

The island is currently being developed as Boblo Island and Marina Resort Community by Amicone Properties Limited. Boblo Island now has a community of homes and condominiums. The island is served by a private ferry.