Thursday, June 26, 2014

The G.A. Boeckling


The steamer G.A. Boeckling was built by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Encorse, Michigan in 1909, named in honor of George A. Boeckling, the president of Cedar Point.


This vessel was designed to carry 2,000 passengers, and cost $120,000 to build. On June 26, 1909, the G.A. Boeckling was christened with a bottle of Hommel’s White Star Champagne. The next day the Boeckling began ferrying passengers from Sandusky to Cedar Point, and continued to do so until the end of the season in 1951. The 155 foot long steamer had a pilot house at each end, which enabled it to travel in both directions without the need to turn around. A crew member is pictured outside the pilot house about 1949.

There were two passenger decks on the G.A. Boeckling.


While onboard the Boeckling, a lovely view of the city of Sandusky was visible as the vessel traveled to Cedar Point across Sandusky Bay.


Because of rising costs for fuel and maintenance, along with changes in laws requiring an increased number of crew members, the Bay Transportation Company decided to retire the G.A. Boeckling. Her last trip to Cedar Point was on Labor Day Weekend of 1951. 

For several years the Boeckling was used as a floating warehouse and machine shop in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. In the early 1980s, a local group was organized in an attempt to restore the steamer. This project ceased when the Boeckling was destroyed by a fire of suspicious origin as she sat in a Toledo shipyard on June 21, 1989. The G.A. Boeckling carried thousands of passengers to Cedar Point for over forty years. Have you ever heard your parents or grandparents mention their travels aboard the Boeckling

8 comments:

Garret Fractolin said...

Hey guys great post :) Love the old pics! I'm sure you already know - but you can find more records over at you local county clerks office if you're up to it! Just updated all listings for ohio county clerks and for every other state in the USA this July!

Cheers,

-Garret

mike said...

I thought the Boeckling burned while berthed in Sandusky's harbor. Nothing to do with Toledo...

Sandusky Library Archives Research Center said...

The G.A. Boeckling was taken to Toledo in 1988 for inspection and was stored in a Toledo shipyard while plans were being made on how to restore the boat. It was burned by a presumed arson in Toledo on June 21, 1989. The Sandusky Register had front-page articles on the fire in the June 21 and 22 papers.

mike said...

Wow, my memory must be WAY off. Yipes.

Unknown said...

I inherited two things from my grandfather who grew up in Sandusky in the early 1900's. One is a photo of him at age 8-9 after a great ice storm of the early 1900's and the other a glass paperweight of the Boeckling. He had worked on the boat in his younger years before he went to college. I recall some story of him using what sounded like a mop to grease the pistons. I remembered seeing this item as a kid and saw it amongst family heirlooms being distributed to my generation in our 60's.

Amy said...

My Mother, Sarah Ellen Vermilya Buddelmeyer, took my older brother and I to the beach at Cedar Point when we were toddlers as often as she could. We rode the ferry but it was not the Boeckling because the year would have been at 1955. My brother and I were born in Sandusky Ohio.

Unknown said...

My aunt, Mary Bouy, would often pick me up on a warm summer's evening and we would board the G A Boeckling for a trip across the bay to Cedar Point. I was born in 1942 so it would have been in the late 1940s. We would often follow the ride by a hot fudge sundae at Walgreens. With extra hot fudge sauce, of course. Thanks for the memories Aunt Marie and Uncle Ed.

Jim Tight said...

On the Boeckling, the fare for the trip across the bay was twenty-five cents...round trip. No fare was collected on the Cedar Point side. Just walk on and go. Departure from Columbus Ave. was on the hour; return from Cedar Point on the half-hour. Speedboat service was available at any time; for about a dollar each way as I recall.