From 1867 to 1969, the Religious of the Sacred Heart owned this site, which is now an independent school. The narrow shape of the property reflects its original use as a French ribbon farm extending inland from Lake St. Clair. At Grosse Pointe Academy are an 1868 structure first used as a public school for village children, the present Academy building erected in 1929, and a place of worship modeled after a French convent chapel, and each of these edifices remains in use.