Wayne County, Michigan
Healthy Home Assessments in Grosse Ile Township
Grosse Ile is a township made entirely of islands, twelve of them scattered in the Detroit River about 18 miles southwest of downtown Detroit, and it is the largest and most populated island in that river. We assess the indoor environment and hand you one plan.
Grosse Ile Township at ground level
Affluent island township ten miles long and one mile wide in the Detroit River, reached by bridge from Riverview, with among the highest owner-occupancy rates in Wayne County. Worth knowing: The largest island in the Detroit River. Roughly 10,160 residents live across about 4,073 households. During Prohibition the island became a crossing point for bootleggers running liquor from Canada, with some drivers taking cars across the frozen river.
How the housing sits
Detached single-family homes are 83.3% of the stock; owner-occupancy is 91.2% of occupied units, on 2023 five-year Census estimates. Some 48.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. The building record here reaches back to 1848, and an older envelope moves air and holds moisture on its own terms. One landmark on the ground here: St. James Episcopal Church, an 1867 Carpenter Gothic frame church built in part with a bequest from Lisette Denison Forth (recorded elsewhere as Elizabeth Denison), a formerly enslaved woman. Its red doors are dedicated to her memory, and it holds an 1898 Tiffany window titled Angel of Praise.
With owner-occupancy at 91.2%, the report can follow moisture from the roofline down to the slab without stopping at a lease boundary.
Local ground in Grosse Ile Township:
- Grosse Ile Lighthouse. Island lighthouse first built in 1892 and rebuilt in its present form in 1906, the only lighthouse remaining on the island.
- Former Naval Air Station Grosse Ile. Naval air base commissioned in 1929 that trained pilots until late 1969; the site is now the township airport.
- Grosse Ile Toll Bridge. Bridge connecting the island to Riverview, open to cars since 1913.
- Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge waters. Refuge units around the island, including neighboring Calf Island, within North America's only international wildlife refuge system on the lower Detroit River.
- Island water trails. Paddling access around the ten-mile-long island on the Michigan Water Trails network.
Corners of the map
Addresses fall in 48138, 48183, 48192 and 48193. The 1859 Samuel Lewis House is known locally as the Wedding Cake House, and the 1881 Frederick Anderson House in the same historic district contains a secret passage.