Times of Change

Grosse Ile was an isolated farming community, accessible from the mainland only by boat or by ice in winter until about 1871, when this bridge was built as part of a railroad running across Grosse Ile and the Detroit River into Canada. The bridge opened transportation for residents and visitors, but after the Grosse Ile Toll Bridge for automobiles was built at the island's north end in 1913, the railroad lost business and closed in 1928. In 1931, the bridge and railway were converted to road traffic, and the Wayne County Bridge came to be often called the Fee Bridge; about three-quarters of traffic to and from Grosse Ile now crosses there.

Grosse Ile, Michigan · United States