Fordson Island
Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Michigan |
Coordinates | 42°17′37″N 83°08′52″W / 42.29361°N 83.14778°W[1] |
Area | 8.4 acres (3.4 ha)[2][3] |
Length | 0.25 mi (0.4 km)[4] |
Width | 0.125 mi (0.201 km)[4] |
Highest elevation | 574 ft (175 m)[1] |
Administration | |
United States | |
State | Michigan |
County | Wayne |
Fordson Island is a 8.4-acre (3.4 ha) artificial island in the
Geography
Fordson Island is in
History
Fordson Island was created in 1918 by the
I never knew an island existed. Nobody in the firm knew it existed. I sent a woman down there to look at it and she couldn't find it. And she's lived in Dearborn for 10 years.[5]
During
It's changed a lot since we lived there. It was much more wild and full of nature. Across the little dirt road, it was just kind of like a swamp. You'd see a lot of birds. It was a pretty place to live. It was very exciting to see the big boats go by. We used to skate out in back of the house, when the Rouge would ice over [...] It was pretty rustic. If you didn't look in the direction of the Rouge plant, you could always see pheasant.[11]
By the 1980s, Marathon Oil had constructed a transfer facility on the island, the Fordson Island Terminal;[8] for which they had applied for a permit in 1979 to discharge treated ship ballast water.[12] In 1981, only four men lived on the island: William, Robert, Willie and Frank.[8][10] Joseph, with whom William had maintained a violent rivalry over the course of multiple decades, had died several years earlier; his abandoned house was destroyed by vandals in April 1981.[8] Rev. Leslie Lamb, a retired ship captain and electrician, purchased part of the island around 1976, which he used to restore shipwrecks and old boats.[13]
William operated a marina for many years,[8] which closed after his death in 1984.[4] Three years later, plans were submitted to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for the marina to be reopened; the proposed site would have dock space for 13 boats up to 30 ft (9.1 m) long.[4] The plan was still mentioned as a potential future development in a December 1999 Detroit Free Press article.[14]
In 1987, the city of Dearborn condemned two of the island's residences, and the Marathon facility occupied "most of the island" by 1987.[4] In 1987, Marathon was discharging up to 15,000 US gal (57,000 L; 12,000 imp gal) of treated ballast water to the River Rouge on an intermittent basis.[15]
By the 2000s, marine debris had become a nuisance, as Fordson Island started to become a "boat graveyard".[16][17] Abandoned boats first reported on the shore of the island in 2005 remained there in July 2007,[18] even after a June campaign to pick up trash and remove weeds from the island.[19] In 2010, the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority removed debris (including abandoned boats) from the western shores of the island,[20] and in May 2011, 21 boats were removed.[17]
References
- ^ a b c d U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Fordson Island
- ^ "Fordson Island". Michigan Water Trails.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Montemurri, Patricia (12 July 1981). "The island life in Dearborn, out of the main stream". Detroit Free Press. p. 94 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Gerdes, Wylie (19 March 1987). "Plan for marina floated in Dearborn". Detroit Free Press. p. 134 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d Montemurri, Patricia (12 July 1981). "The island life in Dearborn, out of the main stream". Detroit Free Press. p. 96 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Page 5". Saint Joseph Herald-Press. 2 June 1936. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Page 5". Detroit Free Press. 3 June 1936. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f Montemurri, Patricia (12 July 1981). "The island life in Dearborn, out of the main stream". Detroit Free Press. p. 98 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Strangest hunting". Detroit Free Press. 2 December 1952. p. 32 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Montemurri, Patricia (12 July 1981). "The island life in Dearborn, out of the main stream". Detroit Free Press. p. 99 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Montemurri, Patricia (12 July 1981). "The island life in Dearborn, out of the main stream". Detroit Free Press. p. 100 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Public notice". Detroit Free Press. 4 August 1979. p. 31 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Montemurri, Patricia (12 July 1981). "The island life in Dearborn, out of the main stream". Detroit Free Press. p. 101 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Transformation". Detroit Free Press. 4 December 1999. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Public Notice". Detroit Free Press. 23 October 1987. p. 27 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Helping the Rouge". Detroit Free Press. 20 October 2005. p. 25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Fordson Island: Bayside Nikkas". Nailhed. August 2014.
- ^ "Page 125". Detroit Free Press. 8 July 2007. p. 125 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "De-junking the Rouge". Detroit Free Press. 29 April 2007. p. 126 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Public notice to vessel owners". Detroit Free Press. 28 November 2010. p. 83 – via Newspapers.com.