Stony Island, across the water and quiet now,
was a busy place in the past. In the 1870s, when Canada Southern Railroad built a railway to Canada, trains ran on tracks where Grosse Ile Parkway is now and over a bridge to Stony Island. . . . — — Map (db m152752) HM
Angus Keith (1819-1899), a Great Lakes steamship captain, was born on Grosse Ile. In 1850 he purchased this property and later built this house. In 1858, Keith married Isabella Norvell, the daughter of John Norvell, who was one of Michigan's . . . — — Map (db m152535) HM
From 1787 until about 1840 a horse-driven grist mill occupied the triangle of land north of Horsemill Road bounded by the river and Thorofare. Ten acres were cleared and enclosed as meadows for the mill horses. Equipped with "a pair of Stones 3 feet . . . — — Map (db m152604) HM
Here, on high ground near the aged maple, an identification point in old surveys, stood the Mansion House built by William Macomb in 1783-84. He died in 1796 leaving Grosse Ile to his three sons. Michigan's Gov. William Hull and British Lt. Col. . . . — — Map (db m152553) HM
Few islands have been so impacted by transportation.
Grosse Ile witnessed shipping on the Detroit River before the Canada Southern railway opened bridge access between the mainland and the island in 1873. Later, Michigan Central Railroad . . . — — Map (db m152702) HM
This point marked the northeast corner of the stockade of a post that was maintained on Grosse Ile by the United States Army for a short time after the War of 1812. The post was garrisoned by detachments of the Fifth Infantry Regiment which were . . . — — Map (db m152621) HM
The Canada Southern Railroad built the first bridge
connecting Grosse Ile with the mainland about 1873. To link the agricultural products of the West (via Chicago) with the markets of the East Coast (via Buffalo), the railroad's most direct . . . — — Map (db m152682) HM
This building has seen a lot of travel.
The U. S. Customs House was built about 1873 by the Canada Southern Railroad along its railroad track, now Grosse Ile Parkway. Along this railway, people and freight traveled both ways across Grosse Ile . . . — — Map (db m152647) HM
St. Anne Church
The first building used by Catholics on Grosse Ile was originally the island's first school. It was moved here from Thorofare and Church Road. Named St. Anne Church, it was recognized as a mission in 1863. Among its supporters . . . — — Map (db m152548) HM
Lisette Denison, a freed slave, willed her life savings to build Saint James Episcopal Chapel. With supplemental funds from her employer, William S. Biddle, and his brother James, this Gothic chapel was constructed in the summer of 1867. The . . . — — Map (db m152607) HM
There are clues that this was a railroad depot,
like the flat ground area where the train track used to be. Or the angled windows where the station master could watch trains come and go. From this Michigan Central Railroad depot, built in . . . — — Map (db m152655) HM
Great Lakes shipping and waterways had to be ready
for industry in the early 20th Century. Like roadways on land, the development of harbors and channels were critical to the growth of the economy. By 1906, the Detroit River was the busiest . . . — — Map (db m152767) HM
This vernacular house was built by John A. Rucker, Jr., in 1848. Rucker was the great-grandson of William Macomb, who with his brother, Alexander, purchased Grosse Ile from four Indian tribes on July 6, 1776. In 1873 Robert Lee Stanton, Rucker's . . . — — Map (db m152536) HM
Grosse Ile was an isolated farming community,
accessible from the mainland only on boats (or ice in the winter) until this bridge was built about 1871. As part of a railroad that was built across Grosse Ile and the Detroit River and into . . . — — Map (db m152542) HM
