Tashmoo Park and the Steamer Tashmoo

Tashmoo Park, located 20 miles north of Detroit on Harsen’s Island, opened in 1897. Owned by the White Star Line excursion boat company, the park was a pleasant two-hour ride from the city. To reach the park, visitors traveled aboard one of the White Star Line’s excursion boats, the most famous of which was–without question–the steamer Tashmoo. Completed in 1900, the Tashmoo was the grandest excursion steamer of her day. The park was a 60-acre resort that included picnic grounds, a large dance pavilion, two baseball diamonds, a bicycle track, amusement rides, and at the water’s edge, a bathhouse and swimming beach. For nearly 50 years, Tashmoo was Detroit’s most popular park destination, and a trip aboard the Tashmoo was a highlight of the summer season. Sadly, after the steamer sank in 1936, the park went into decline and finally closed in 1951. Today, Tashmoo, the park and the steamer, are only a happy memory of a far simpler time.