Grosse Pointe
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Grosse Pointe refers to a region in Metro Detroit, Michigan, United States that comprises five relatively wealthy adjacent individual cities in Michigan:
- Grosse Pointe, city
- Grosse Pointe Farms, city
- Grosse Pointe Park, city
- Grosse Pointe Shores, village (technically consisting of two townships, Grosse Pointe Township in Wayne County and Lake Township in Macomb County).
- Grosse Pointe Woods, city
It one of the most affluent suburban areas in the United States. In Robb Reports listing of the Top Ten Affluent Communities in the United States, Grosse Pointe Farms was ranked fourth in the nation.[citation needed] The complete region of 'Grosse Pointe' is twelve square miles, bordered by Detroit on the north and west, Lake St. Clair on the east and south, Harper Woods on the west of some portions, and St. Clair Shores on the north of some portions. The area has multi-million dollar mansions and the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club along the scenic Lake Shore Drive.
It is home to a reputed private school, University Liggett School, and two high schools mentioned in Newsweek's America's Best High Schools list: Grosse Pointe South High School and Grosse Pointe North High School.
Typically, when natives of the region refer to "Grosse Pointe" they are speaking collectively of all five "Pointes", or individual cities (which are often casually referred to as "the Shores," "the Farms," "the Park," "the Woods," and "the City" (that is, The City of Grosse Pointe)). Newspapers and community organizations generally serve all five, as does the public library and school system, but municipal services are separate. Each has at least one municipal park along the lake; the landlocked Grosse Pointe Woods has its park at the southern tip of St. Clair Shores, adjacent to Grosse Pointe Shores. Each park is restricted to residents of its municipality. Jefferson Avenue is the scenic carriageway of these cities, skirting the eastern border of Detroit, although the segment that runs through Grosse Pointe Farms and Grosse Pointe Shores is called Lakeshore Road, and was featured on HGTV's Dream Drives.
The nine elementary schools in Grosse Pointe are Defer, Ferry, Kerby, Maire, Mason, Monteith, Poupard, Richard, and Trombly. The three middle schools are Brownell, Parcells, and Pierce. The two high schools are Grosse Pointe North High School and Grosse Pointe South High School.
"The Park," "The City," and "the Farms" encompass most of Grosse Pointe's older homes and shopping districts. The streetscapes in these cities are, generally, urban in nature, and laid out in a grid that flows into Detroit. Three shopping districts are found along Kercheval Ave. in this area, one in each city. The Farms has "The Hill" district, located on a small bluff, which includes offices, some stores and restaurants, schools, and the central library, and it also has "The Village," which is widely viewed as 'downtown' Grosse Pointe. The Park has a retail district integrated into a high-density, mostly rental-flat neighborhood near the Detroit border, and a greater variety of shops and eateries are found here. A farmer's market is held weekly during the warm months in this shopping district. Grosse Pointe South High School services 9-12th grade students from these three Pointes. "The Woods" and "the Shores" municipalities in Grosse Pointe have a considerably newer housing stock, with these neighborhoods, especially away from the shoreline, being constructed well after World War II, with a few exceptions. Neighborhoods in these Pointes are planned in a typical post-war manner, with numerous cul-de-sacs and winding roads. Retail activity in the Woods (the Shores, in actuality a village, has never been zoned for retail activity) is focused along a strip on Mack Avenue, which skirts the northern and western fringes of the Grosse Pointes from the Detroit border to Saint Clair Shores. Several famous lakeshore estates, new and old, are found in Grosse Pointe Shores. The Woods and Shores are in the Grosse Pointe North High School district. This high school was opened in 1968.
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[edit] Grosse Pointe in literature, film and television
Mentioned in Studio 60 episode "B-12."
Grosse Pointe was mentioned in Lisa Birnbach's 1980 Official Preppy Handbook for its preppy qualities. Included were references to a stereotypical way of speech, the "Grosse Pointe Monotone," and a guide to the preppy hotspots (private clubs, restaurants, etc.) in the area.
The Grosse Pointe area is the setting of two novels by Grosse Pointe-raised writer Jeffrey Eugenides: The Virgin Suicides, which is partially a parody of his real-life high school University Liggett School (ULS), and Middlesex. The film version of The Virgin Suicides takes place in Grosse Pointe but was not filmed there.
Grosse Pointe is also the setting for the novel 'Grosse Pointe Girl by Grosse Pointe native Sarah Grace McCandless.
There is also a film named Grosse Pointe Blank starring Minnie Driver, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, and Dan Aykroyd which takes place almost entirely in Grosse Pointe but was filmed in Chicago. The opening drive sequence was the only scene filmed on location along Lakeshore Dr. in Grosse Pointe.
A television program named Grosse Pointe starring Lindsay Sloane, Bonnie Somerville, and Nat Faxon aired on The WB Television Network for a short time.
In the television series Northern Exposure, pilot Maggie McConnell was a native Grosse Pointer who had moved to Alaska.
In the television series Hey Dude, the character of Brad was from Grosse Pointe.
In the television series The Simpsons, episode title "Dude, Where's My Ranch?", the character Homer refers to City Slickers, wearing fur coats and pointy hats.
In the television series X-play after a review of a game that takes place in Detroit, Morgan talks about a game that should take place in Grosse Pointe about a teen traveling to Windsor, Canada.
[edit] History
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Grosse Pointe in The Modern Era
The five distinct incorporated communities now collectively known as "Grosse Pointe," particularly along the shore of Lake St. Clair, became a popular location for the elite of Detroit to build summer, and later, permanent family residences in the 19th Century. At the outset of the 20th Century, Grosse Pointe was well established beyond its agrarian roots dating back centuries, thereafter showcasing some of the nation's finest examples of Tudor, Georgian, French and Italian Renaissance, and eclectic residential architecture constructed at the close of the "gilded" age.
The larger area was first explored and settled by the French, and many French roots remain. The first industries in the Pointes were farming and fishing. Later, fortunes in the Detroit area and the Pointes came from transportation along the Great Lakes, and Michigan lumber and furniture. The advent of the mass production of the automobile created the bulk of the wealth necessary to put the Pointes on the national map as a large, suburban residential community of note.
During the earliest years of the development of the Pointes on the lake, the shallow, very marshy lake had not been sea-walled. An Inter-Urban (light passenger rail line) that connected Detroit to Mt. Clemens along the shore was operational by the late 1890s, making Grosse Pointe more accessible to day-trippers from the City. Out of necessity for auto traffic, and over the years, the shore road was improved, the rail line was decommissioned, and the lakefront itself was likewise largely contained by concrete. The frontages of the lakeside estates already serviceable from Jefferson in the Park and City did not fall victim to the need for a dedicated shore transportation route, and continue to extend to lakefront.
During the first 70 years of the 20th Century, Grosse Pointe was recognized as perhaps the most notable large "suburb" in the Midwest, if not the nation. The wealth of a booming Detroit, recreational activities afforded by the Great Lakes waterway, an international border with Canada, and a focus on quality of education over the years each contributed to the development of the Pointes.
The Great Depression brought changes to the Pointes. The institution of higher income taxes on the very wealthy, combined with the extraordinary cost of maintaining a true estate - which could require a staff of dozens to properly run - resulted in the closing of many grand estates, usually with a sale to developers. Other estate homes were simply abandoned in place, literally for decades. The process that began in the 1940s, and hit its stride in the 1960s, continues somewhat to this day. When sold, the large estate houses were typically demolished and the land divided to accommodate several or more smaller, more modern, residences. Even as the process of subdivision of estates took place, Grosse Pointe continued to grow and flourish with the steady construction of more modest homes off the lake. The larger Grosse Pointes are essentially now "fully developed," and construction of modern homes generally necessitates the demolition of functionally-obsolete antiquated structures, particularly on the lake, where new manses have risen over the last 20 years.
The roster of famous people who owned some of the early grand estate homes includes Edsel Ford (son of Henry Ford) and his wife, Eleanor Clay Ford; Henry Ford II (grandson of Henry Ford); and David C. Whitney, an early lumber baron. Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, choose to reside at his "Fairlane" estate in Dearborn; Dearborn remains the headquarters of Ford to this day.
"Rose Terrace," the Horrace Dodge Lakeside Estate formerly located essentially at the foot of Lincoln, has been redeveloped with smaller, yet exquisite modern homes. The sprawling Mrs. Edsel Ford Estate on the lake endures, and is open to the public, remaining as a testimony to life in the Pointes before the demolition of many of the great estates for subdivision. The estates that met the wrecking ball, such as the Glancy Mansion and Rose Terrace, rivaled any private homes in size, grandeur, and grounds anywhere in the country, including the Hamptons, Tuxedo Park, and Beverly Hills.
Beyond the very large mansions (or the small enclave subdivisions which later replaced them) near the lake, large tracts of the Pointes were originally large, swampy "strip" farms which extended from near the lake to Mack Avenue and beyond; these are the lands which now constitute a long border with the City of Detroit. The Rivard and Moran Farms, e.g., were some of these. In the early 20th century, these farms were subdivided into the upscale subdivisions that are now the bulk of "the Park" and "the City." Meanwhile, estate owners on the lake in what are the Farms, Woods, and Shores also sold off rear farm tracts for subdivision, as the value of the land for sale exceeded any income that might be derived through farming and rents.
The development of the Farms, Woods, and Shores (behind Lakeshore), generally came later, with much of the building in the modern Woods and Shores occurring after World War II. The remainder-estates "proper" on Lakeshore in the Farms generally extended to Grosse Pointe Blvd. between just past Fisher Rd. and Provencal; later, even the building complexes of the estates were parceled in the rear, as the need for staff living quarters, etc., either waned or became too costly. Some of the larger homes in the Pointes are actually former staff quarters that formerly served mansions which no longer exist.
Provencal fronting the Country Club is the only large gated enclave within the Pointes. Lee Iacocca, as well as other auto and business magnates, have made Provencal their home address. "City-side" Provencal between the lake and the Blvd. was the former Henry Ford II estate, and was demolished by Mr. Ford in the early 1980s. The main house reportedly had an annual heating bill of $60,000, plus other upkeep expenses.
Windmill Pointe, lakefront in the Park, is the location of many very large homes, and shares prestige similar to Provencal. Some of the homes on Windmill Pointe are reputed to have tunnels connecting them, hearkening back to the days of Prohibition when endless shipments of Canadian whiskey were smuggled over the lake by boat in summer, or by truck over ice in winter, into the "dry" U.S. for national distribution.
There are two principal shopping areas entirely within the Pointes: "the Village" and "the Hill" which are both located in the Farms. Another retail area bounds Detroit at the corner of "7 Mile & Mack," anchored by the ever-growing St. Johns Hospital complex. Within the Pointes proper, two smaller hospitals serve most of the needs of the local residents: Bon Secours Hospital in the City, and Cottage Hospital in the Farms, each formerly independent, but now run under common management. Mack Ave., whether within the Pointes or Detroit, constitutes a substantial extended retail area offering all general services between Alter Rd. and 9 Mile Rd, the extent of the Pointes along Mack.
The nearby community of Harper Woods reportedly, recently considered incorporation as "Grosse Pointe Heights," perhaps to the chagrin of current property owners. The also-adjacent community of St. Clair Shores has at times claimed the highest percentage of boat ownership in the nation. Nearby Eastpointe was formerly East Detroit. All are part of the larger East and Lakeside Communities that remain integral to the larger residential area.
The Grosse Pointes remain home to some of the more prestigious private clubs in the country. The Country Club of Detroit in the Farms features a notable classic course, tennis, and the attendant club amenities for the very well heeled and their families. The Grosse Pointe Yacht Club at the foot of Vernier Rd. on the lake is home to many fine yachts and lavish events. Crescent Sail Club is a small, exclusive refuge for serious sailors. Likewise, the Little Club (The Grosse Pointe Club), adjacent to the War Memorial Center (the former Alger Mansion), itself a fixture of community life in the Pointes for generations. The Hunt Club is perhaps the finest private equestrian club in the Midwest. Each of these clubs require high entrance fees and annual dues, yet, over decades, each generally seem to maintain long waiting lists. State-of-the-art security is necessarily impeccable at each of these establishments, and zero entrance is tolerated without a proper invitation and credentials for non-members.
Residents of the Pointes also enjoy gated waterfront municipal parks, which feature swimming, picnic and play areas, and boat harborage. The vast majority of watercraft owned within the Pointes are anchored at the various municipal parks: Windmill Pointe in the Park, the City Park, the Farms Pier, and the parks in the Woods and Shores.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- Socia, Madeleine and Suzie Berschback (2001). Grosse Pointe: 1890 - 1930 (Images of America). Arcadia. ISBN 0738508403.
[edit] External links
- Edsel & Eleanor Ford House
- Grosse Pointe Historical Society
- Grosse Pointe Public School System
- Grosse Pointe Public Library
- Grosse Pointe News - weekly newspaper
- Grosse Pointe War Memorial (Russell Alger Mansion)]
