Boblo boat Columbia on its way to New York

The Boblo boat SS Columbia is on its way to New York.

About 8:45 Tuesday morning, a pair of tugs pulled the beloved steamship out of a Toledo shipyard and began towing it toward Buffalo, N.Y. There, it will stay for a year or two as the 113-year-old steamship is prepared for its next adventure: being restored in order to ply the waters of the Hudson River Valley in New York.

It will be a long journey, as Columbia is not expected to arrive in Buffalo until about 4 p.m. today. Then again, the effort to save the steamer has been a long journey in its own right: The SS Columbia Project acquired the Columbia in late 2007. Now, eight years later, the boat is finally on its way to its new home.

"It was spectacular watching the boat go out on the river again," said Ian Danic, a board member of the SS Columbia Project, the organization that is restoring the boat. "She looked absolutely magnificent in the morning sun. ... Today was a very emotional moment for all of us."

The Columbia Project plans to spend an estimated $10 million to $20 million to get the vessel up and running again. Members of the effort hope that getting the boat to New York will help them raise more money than having the boat in Ohio.

Coincidentally, the Columbia's journey Tuesday came almost 24 years to the day that it made its final run to the Boblo Island amusement park -- Sept. 2, 1991. Since then, the boat has fallen into disrepair.

Eight years after the Columbia was launched in 1902, it was joined by a little sister, the SS Ste. Claire. Together, the two steamers became known as simply the "Boblo boats." The rest is Michigan history.

Late last month, the Detroit Free Press Editorial Board challenged the community to come together and find a way to save the Ste. Claire, the only Boblo boat the region now has left. You can read more about that effort below: