About Harsen's Island

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Harsens Island is named after Jacob Harsen, a Dutch immigrant who came to this country in 1747. He made it the island that bears his name in 1778 and had five sons and two daughters to insure the legacy of the Harsen name would carry on.

Legend has it Jacob bought the island from the Chippewa Indians for a keg of whiskey and a string of beads. In 1797 a 990 year lease was recorded by the Wayne County Register of Deeds. The reality was that the United States Government had taken control of the land and did not consider the Indians owners of the island. Jacob received Government patents to the land along with a few others. They had three homes on the island in 1797.

Jacob picked a very good spot to settle. This was almost a hundred years before the St Clair ship canal was dredged. The North Channel was the deep one back then and where the traffic was. Jacob was a gunsmith and his son-in-law, Isaac Graveraet, was a silversmith. They had the weapons to trade with the hunters and trappers and the silver to trade with the Indians.

Jacob died somewhere around 1800. Shortly after his death, both a son and a daughter died in a gunpowder explosion of some kind. Another son high tailed it to Canada. Jacob Jr. and William stayed on the island. Another son, Francis, who was Governor Cass’s Indian interpreter for the Michigan Territory. No Harsens are left on Harsens Island today.

Now you can come over on the Champion’s ferry and drive the whole island on good roads and enjoy all the different styles of homes represented, from Southern Plantation to Gingerbread Victorians to modern. Many of the lower Island homes face canals and some are even built on piers out over the water.

The turn of the century was the boom time for the Island. Pleasure boats by the score would make the trip from Detroit and other ports for holiday getaways to Harsens Island. Hotels sprouted up in the “Flats’, where a character named Joe Bedore ruled the roost. This feisty Frenchman was “ King of the Flats “and has many a colorful legend attached to his name.

The jewel of the hotels was the Grand Pointe on the upper end of the island. It was run for years by Agusta Harsen and featured a bowling alley and big swimming pool. It burned down in 1909.

Just buy a ticket on Champion’s Ferry and after about a 3-minute ride you will be on a nice road that will take you around the island. A nice Sunday afternoon drive and maybe discovering a new hideaway close by urban Detroit.