Contact: Sal Sclafani at 734-285-8374
The Wyandotte Boat Club is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the sport of rowing and to developing the physical, mental and moral well-being of the youth of Wyandotte and the Southeastern Wayne County area.
In the year 1875 a group of Wyandotte men led by one John McKnight met to form a boat club. John McKnight's zeal and activity became so much a part of rowing, that he was considered as important to rowing "as the Statue of Liberty is to New York Harbor".
The Wyandotte Boat Club was officially organized and purchased a ten-oar barge out of Detroit. A small boat house was erected at the foot of Vine Street to shelter the barge. It was a two story wooden structure, roughly constructed of wide boards with some trim at the top. Around the building were wide verandas where young ladies vied for seats of honor when the town was competing on the broad river below. It was the first official home of the Wyandotte Boat Club.T hrough the boat club's consistent winning of races both at home and on the waterways of the eastern seaboard and Canada, it grew in reputation and membership. In 1944, through the efforts of William E. Kreger, who has been a life long rowing enthusiast and benefactor, the boat club was incorporated as a non-profit corporation. Soon after, the Wyandotte Chemical Corp. deeded a seven and a half acre parcel at the foot of Mulberry to the club. the parcel included a small body of water known at the time as Burrell Slip. Solely through donations, the club built a new boat house on the site. It was 90 ft by 36 ft and although it had been expanded over the years it was the home of the Wyandotte Boat Club for fifty years.
In the mid 1940's, the boat club began a program to sponsor rowing for high school students. The purpose was to promote the sport of rowing and to foster the ideals of the club's constitution. Theodore Roosevelt High School was the first followed soon after by Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School. In May, 1947 The Wyandotte Boat Club hosted the 13th Annual National Schoolboy Regatta. Bleachers were set up along the river for 3,000 spectators although many more were expected. Entries had been received from crews throughout the east and mid-west including St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia, Buffalo, St. Catharines Ont. and Hamilton Ont. Since that time, the boat club has brought three other local schools into it's family, Riverview High School, Carlson High School and Grosse Ile High School. Today the club supports rowing at elementary, middle and high school levels. The school programs are open to all students and there is no charge to the student or the school for participation in the sport or use of the facilities. The high school oarsmen are known both nationally and internationally as a force to be reckoned with in the rowing arena.
In order to obtain a permanent source of income to support its growing rowing programs and to inspire more young people, the boat club organized a separate club known as the Wyandotte Yacht Club. The boat club built a club house on the river and docking facilities in the bay and leased them to the yacht club. This arrangement provides the needed funds for maintenance and up-keep of buildings and equipment and allows the club to provide food and lodging for it's rowers at regattas.
It must be mentioned at this time that the Wyandotte Boat Club is an all volunteer organization. The baot club has no payroll and its members serve with no compensation. The club is now comprised of approximately 625 members who assist in coaching, maintenance and administration of the club's activities and regattas. Members have one primary goal to help nurture and instill good moral character in the young people they work with. This good work is evidenced in the fact that there are young rowers today who have fathers and grandfathers that rowed for the Wyandotte Boat Club. The club is proud to claim that many of it's students are enrolled in colleges on rowing scholarships. Wyandotte oarsmen have rowed at Fordham University, Michigan State, Georgetown. Notre Dame and the United States Naval Academy. The crews of today build on the respect and foundations of the past which have been developed and fostered over the years by the devotion of outstanding members of the Wyandotte Boat Club and by the tutelage offered by the club's coaches.
In the early 1990's the future of the Wyandotte Boat Club was encouraging. The high school programs had swelled in number to over 350 young people and the club programs were growing as well. The shell house was full to capacity and the club continued to have winning seasons. Due to its success and the surge in growth, the club found itself in need of larger facilities or it would be put in the difficult position of refusing young people interested in the sport. The club embarked on a process of designing a new world class, Olympic caliber facility to be built one mile south of its present location on the Detroit River, on land generously provided by BASF and the City of Wyandotte. The new 1.8 million dollar facility would enable the club to increase its family to include four more local schools that have expressed interest in starting a rowing program. The funds for construction would be raised through tax deductible donations and bank loans. On January 14, 1997, after sixteen months of construction, the first high school and club crews began winter training in the new facility. The success of the project was primarily due to the cooperation between community leaders, the City of Wyandotte, and the dedicated members of the Wyandotte Boat Club.
The Wyandotte Boat Club was inaugurated 125 years ago in 1875 and it has always held a position high in the annals of rowing. It has grown from a small shell house on the Detroit River to multi-million dollar facility on the Detroit River's Trenton Channel. It has been the aim of the club and its officiers to build a bigger and better facility for the young people of Southeastern wayne County and to encourage them to flourish physically, mentally and morally.
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Bacon Memorial District Library 45 Vinewood Wyandotte, MI 48192 (734)-246-8357
5/11/00