Grosse Ile sits in the lower Detroit River between the Downriver communities of Wayne County and Canada. Native populations inhabited the island for thousands of years before French explorers arrived in the 17th century and gave the island its name.

On July 6, 1776, two days after the Second Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence, 18 Potawatomi chiefs signed a deed transferring ownership of Grosse Ile to brothers Alexander and William Macomb. The British fur traders became the first Europeans to lay claim to the island.

Grosse Ile residents celebrate the 250th anniversary of that signing on July 6, 2026. Residents can view the original deed at the Grosse Ile Township Hall from July 6-8.

Tony Krukowski is the vice president of the Grosse Ile Historical Society. He met WDET’s Pat Batcheller at the island’s history museum.

Krukowski says the Potawatomi chiefs likely viewed the deed transfer differently than the Macomb brothers. 

The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Tony Krukowski: To the Potawatomi, it probably meant that they were just sharing the property, just like you couldn’t own the sky and the moon and the air. They felt like it was something that would be jointly enjoyed by both the Potawatomi and the British colonists that were coming here to settle.

Pat Batcheller: It sounds like that didn’t quite happen that way.

TK: Well, in the minds of a European person, somebody from Britain, there was a strong sense of ownership of property, so that was a different concept. The Potawatomi couldn’t quite appreciate what William and Alexander Macomb were attempting to do, and vice versa; they didn’t understand what the Native Americans felt about property.

PB: Who were the Macomb brothers?

TK: Well, they came to this area primarily as traders. They would trade materials in this area to the British and whoever else wanted to buy things. It’s kind of interesting that William Macomb was considered to be a neo-American, but he was also a member of the Canadian Parliament. So, he kind of played both sides, whichever seemed to work best for him financially.

Editor’s note: Alexander Macomb’s son Alexander was the commanding general of the U.S. Army from 1828 to 1841. Macomb County is named for the general.

PB: I looked it up and found that both brothers had enslaved people. Do you know whether any of them were here on Grosse Ile?

TK: We believe that there may have been at least one enslaved person who was maintaining the mansion that was built by William Macomb.

PB: What happened to the Potawatomi after that?

TK: Well, they probably moved farther west. Different tribes would come in and out of this area, depending on whether they were seeking food to eat. They might meet here with other tribes. It was a pretty fluid movement among the Native Americans in this area.

PB: When did Grosse Ile officially become American territory?

TK: It wasn’t until after the American Revolutionary War, and even years after that, the British still had control of this area. We have a picture of a fort that was built here in 1815 because there was still concern about the British and some Native American tribes coming over from Canada and burning some of the homes and the farms.

PB: What has the museum done to preserve or share the Potawatomi history? Do you have artifacts here, for example?

TK: We do have artifacts, and we have tried to get more and more information on Native Americans in this area. They were here for probably at least 25,000 years, so they have quite a story to tell as well.

PB: How did the island evolve after the Macomb brothers arrived?

TK: There were some French residents that came in here, and there was a concept of what they called ribbon farms, where the farms were long and narrow. And access to the river was a lifeline for the people who lived here.

PB: What is Grosse Ile like today?

TK: It’s still a very small community. We have a little over 10,000 people. It’s very rural, but we have the advantages of being close to Detroit. If we want to go to any kind of events and things, that’s available to us. But if you live on the island, what you’re going to sense is you’re surrounded by forest, and we have bike paths, access to the water. It’s really a beautiful place to live.

PB: Do you guide historical tours?

TK: One of the things we’re doing now is we’re going into the second grade at least two or three times a year to talk to the students there about the history of Grosse Ile. If somebody calls us and says, ‘we’d like to come to the museum,’ we’ll try to work some time out that’s convenient for them. We have our lighthouse tour in September, where we actually take people by bus over to the lighthouse, take them out to the lighthouse, go up to the top, and tell them about some of the reasons why we have a lighthouse and some of the history behind Grosse Ile.

PB: When you talk to the kids, or when somebody comes here to the museum, what is the most common question they ask, and how do you respond?

TK: It depends on where their interests lie. Say an engineer comes in, he’s very interested in the invention of the outboard motor. We have kids come in, they’re very interested in Native Americans and look at some of the arrowheads. Some of the people who are really into railroads are very interested in that this building that we’re operating out of used to be the railroad depot and that we have a customs house just about 100 feet away.

PB: The railroad depot is important because there used to be rail traffic that came across the island.

TK: Exactly. There used to be a railroad track where current road, Grosse Ile Parkway, runs to the free bridge. That free bridge used to be a trestle, and the road used to be a railroad track, and the railroad track ran across to Stony Island, which is just to the east of us. And then between Stony Island and Canada, there was a ferry service that ran that would carry railroad cars over to Stony Island, where they would be coupled and then brought to Grosse Ile and beyond.

PB: Are there still remnants of that bridge over here?

TK: Yes, if you go across the road and down the steps at what we call Sunrise Park, and turn to your left, you can still see some of the stone abutments. And then in low water times, you can still see parts of the supports for the for the trestle that used to run the Stony Island.

PB: Anything that we didn’t talk about that you’d like to mention?

TK: I think it’s really important that this was where the ZMC-2, the only all metal-clad dirigible was launched. Orville Wright actually came to the island to see the launching of that. We also have a hotel registry that shows that President Calvin Coolidge and his wife came here, probably to negotiate with Henry Ford about having support on his campaign.

The Grosse Ile History Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursdays and 1-4 p.m. Sundays.

Have you ever wondered which communities in Metro Detroit are part of the Downriver area, and how it got that name?

Listener Scott Troia of Ann Arbor wonders.

“I was curious about where the term ‘Downriver’ originated from: Who, when, why they started using it. Is it a geographic boundary, or is it cultural? Who identifies as being from Downriver?”

WDET’s Pat Batcheller does. He was born and raised in Trenton and has lived in Southgate with his wife Amy since 1999. Pat’s happy to answer Scott’s question.

What does “Downriver” mean?

As the name suggests, Downriver refers to those communities on the Detroit River as it flows down into Lake Erie. Humans have lived in the area for thousands of years. The term Downriver is more recent. It appears as two words in a 1917 magazine published by the city of Wyandotte. In 1963, Thomas J. Anderson wrote a book called “The History of Southgate and Downriver”—one word. Today, the term covers a lot more territory than just the riverfront.

Which communities make up Downriver?

That depends on who you ask. Lisa Wayne is the CEO of the Downriver Community Conference. The nonprofit helps people find jobs through the Michigan Works program. It also coordinates grants for its 20 member communities. 

“We serve Allen Park, Brownstown, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Ecorse, Flat Rock, Gibraltar, Grosse Ile, Huron Township, Lincoln Park, Melvindale, River Rouge, Riverview, Rockwood, Romulus, Southgate, Taylor, Trenton, Woodhaven and Wyandotte,” Wayne says.

The DCC started with 11 communities and includes Dearborn and Dearborn Heights. Many consider those cities to be outside of the traditional definition of Downriver. Ron Hinrichs grew up in Dearborn but didn’t consider himself a Downriver resident. 

“I remember someone asking me once, ‘where are you from?'” Hinrichs recalls. “And I said, ‘I’m from Dearborn.’ And they said, ‘oh, so you’re—you’re from Downriver.’ And I said, ‘I’m not from Downriver, I’m from Dearborn.'”

Hinrichs leads the Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber, which promotes the Downriver area. He says if you ask ten people where Downriver is, you’ll get ten different answers.

Where does Downriver end?

Downriver does not have defined borders, but most descriptions stop at the Huron River separating Wayne and Monroe counties. That would make Rockwood part of Downriver, but not its next-door neighbor, South Rockwood, a village in Monroe County’s Berlin Township. Stephanie Hawkins is the president of the Berlin Charter Township Historical Society. She says if you ask South Rockwood residents, they’ll say they feel closer to Downriver than Monroe.

“They mentioned that when they want to do something like go shopping, they go north because it is closer than driving all the way down to Monroe,” Hawkins says. “So, I think that’s why you’ll find that the folks who live in the village itself do identify with being Downriver.”

So do people in Taylor, which is not on the Detroit River. Karl Ziomek is Taylor’s communications director and a former journalist at the area’s paper of record, the News-Herald. He recalls newsroom arguments about how far west Downriver reaches.

“And there are a lot of people I think to this day who would believe that Taylor is even stretching it,” Ziomek says. “Certainly, Romulus does. It goes on the other side of Metro Airport, then people start going, ‘well wait a minute, is this really Downriver?”

Pearl Varner laughs at the suggestion that Romulus is part of Downriver because of its distance from the Detroit River. Her family has lived in Romulus for over a century. She runs the city’s historical museum. But Varner says if it brings more visitors to the museum and the downtown area, she’s fine with being considered Downriver.

“You want people to come and see what you’re doing, what your museum is like, what your city is like, what your people are like,” Varner says.

What are people like Downriver?

Each community is unique, but they all share common roots. Many are descendants of European immigrants who worked in factories or started their own businesses. Some settled in Wyandotte, where Ted Butkin has lived his whole life.

“We had a German festival, a Polish festival, a Mexican festival and there was one other that were just huge because everyone was represented in this melting pot of Wyandotte,” Butkin says.

Wyandotte is the second oldest incorporated city in Wayne County, after Detroit. Joe Gruber is the city’s economic development director. He says its vibrant downtown attracts people from Downriver and beyond.

“All of the small business owners and entrepreneurs in our community are really, really engaged and hard working,” Gruber says. “We try to offer a lot of fun quality-of-life events and opportunities for families to come, especially those events that are free.”

Anthony Beitel moved to Wyandotte a couple of years ago. Before that, he had lived in Detroit and the northern suburbs. Beitel says he didn’t know much about Downriver before relocating with his partner, who is from the area. He says he loves how people support the local economy.

“They have this whole ‘Shop The Dotte’ initiative, which is all about promoting small businesses,” Beitel says. “And it’s just really great to see that sense of community and everybody kind of supporting each other and lifting each other up.” 

Industry drove Downriver for decades, for better or worse

Small businesses have always been a vital part of the Downriver economy, but through much of the 20th century, heavy industry was the main source of jobs and tax revenue. It was also a major source of pollution, such as coal dust. Lisa Donovan lives in Brownstown Township but grew up in Wyandotte. She says sometimes when the wind blew, it turned houses black with ash.

“And they would have piles of coal next to the park in Wyandotte that’s on the waterfront, and you’d come home with ash on you.”

More: New book explains how working class shaped Downriver

Because of that, Donovan says some people—mainly outsiders—saw Downriver as a dirty place to live. That reputation lingered long after downturns in the automotive and steel industries forced many factories to close. Business and civic leaders suggested dumping Downriver in favor of something they thought sounded more attractive—Metro Shores. But, unlike coal dust, that name didn’t stick.

People have pride in Downriver, even those who are new to the area

Michael Echols moved from Detroit to Ecorse a couple of years ago. Ecorse started as one of Wayne County’s original townships in 1827. Today, the cities of Ecorse, Allen Park, Lincoln Park, Melvindale, River Rouge, Southgate, and Wyandotte comprise what used to be Ecorse Township.

Echols says Ecorse is a peaceful place.

“It’s a different variety of people down here, but it’s everybody getting on, and that’s the most beautiful part,” he says.

The river itself defines the region

Just a few hundred feet offshore from Ecorse is Mud Island, part of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. John Hartig once managed the refuge, which includes Grosse Ile and the entire Michigan shore of Lake Erie. He says it took decades to repair the industrial damage to the environment and restore the river’s natural habitat.

“We’ve seen some dramatic improvements in water quality,” he says. “Bald eagles are back, and peregrine falcons, osprey, lake whitefish, lake sturgeon, river otter and beaver are back.”

Downriver has its own culture

Hartig says the river’s revival is changing perceptions of Downriver, its people, and its culture. Linda Francetich is trying to do the same. 15 years ago, she started a website called Discover Downriver to promote the area’s cultural activities, such as festivals and concerts. Francetich says the area might not have the vibe of Royal Oak or Birmingham, but that’s OK.

“Everyone has their own regional culture,” she says. “But I think Downriver has a very unique culture because of how close everybody is and how supportive everybody is.”

Francetich says Downriver has a lot of musical talent, including bands such as 50 Amp Fuse and the Transit Brothers. Chris French plays trumpet for the Transit Brothers and the Downriver Community Band. He also owns a family law firm and organizes yearly concerts to benefit Downriver veterans. French says the region has a lot to offer, including a variety of real estate.

“You want a farm, we have farms,” he says. “We’ve got water everywhere, so you can buy a house on the water.”

Some of the most impressive homes on the water are on Grosse Ile, which sits in the middle of the Detroit River. Tony Krukowski is the vice president of the Grosse Ile Historical Museum. He says the island’s scenery is a big draw.

“People just love to drive around the island, especially around East River Road and West River Road to take in the natural scene,” he says.

Two bridges connect Grosse Ile to the rest of Downriver.   Listener Scott Troia, who asked the question, says he understands the area better now that we’ve connected the dots for him.

“What are the boundaries of it and do people from different communities actually self-identify with being part of Downriver that might be on some of those fringe cities? You very much covered those topics, really.”

Thanks, Scott. It’s why we’re here. 

WDET’s CuriosiD series answers your questions about everything Detroit. Subscribe to CuriosiD on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

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