The steamers Columbia and Ste. Claire
represent the typical propeller-driven excursion steamer of the turn
of the century, a type once found in many parts of the country.
Excursion steamers are steamships built primarily for passengers for
day trips. Columbia and her running mate Ste. Claire
represent the "ocean-going" type of excursion vessel although they
were used on lakes.
The steamer Columbia and
Ste.
Claire are the last two remaining classic excursion
steamers in the country; and the last essentially unaltered
passenger ships designed by
Frank E. Kirby;
and for their essentially unaltered propulsion machinery of a type
becoming increasingly rare ; as the two last vessels
of the Detroit and Windsor Ferry Co.; as two of the few surviving
vessels built by the Detroit Dry Dock Company, and for their
unaltered propulsion machinery, which is of a rare type. Columbia
is the oldest passenger steamer in the United States, excepting
vessels properly classed as ferries. Columbia and her
running-mate Ste. Claire are the last two steamers of their
type with integrity left in the United States. The pair shared their
original run from Detroit to
Bob-Lo Island for 81 years, a record of service on a single run
unequalled in U. S. maritime history.
Columbia
is docked at the Great Lakes Steel dock in Ecorse Michigan
where she has been laid up since 1991. The Steamer Columbia
Foundation had a goal of returning the ship to service on the
Detroit river by 2002, sadly that effort was unsuccessful. In 2002 I
formed the non-profit 501c 3 group The Friends of the Bob-Lo Boat
Columbia in an effort to keep Columbia in Detroit and return her to
service. On January 8, 2003 the National Trust Loan staff
and the National Trust Loan Committee voted to consider a New York
maritime preservation group. This groups plan is to restore her and
return her to service on the Hudson River in New York.
As of December 2003 there has been no further news on the New York
group. Late 2003, The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy announces
proposal to return her to service on the Detroit river pending a
feasibility study which was conducted in 2004. As of this writing
there has been made public, if any news is released we will post it
on this page. Summer 2006 the New York group "The Columbia project
acquires the Columbia and plans to move her o New York for service
on the Hudson River. She is still in her slip located in Ecorse as
of 12-1-06
Ste. Claire
is currently docked in Toledo Ohio where she is in
the first year of her restoration by volunteers and the Maximus
Corporation. She will be moved to Detroit for the
Riverfront Days festival
and the remainder of the summer/fall 2007.
Any additional information or photos that become available will be
posted on the site. This site is dedicated to Columbia and
Ste. Claire and the men and women who served aboard these two
wonderful ships for 81 years.
Portions of this text was taken from When Detroit Ruled the Waves,
by Michael Dixon, the State of Michigan Historic preservation web
site and the Steamer Columbia and Bob-Lo Boat Ste. Claire web site
