GROSSE POINTE

name applied to five exclusive northeastern residential communities of Detroit, Wayne county, southeastern Michigan, U.S. On the southwestern shore of Lake St. Clair and known as the Gold Coast, they comprise the cities of Grosse Pointe Park (incorporated village, 1907; city, 1950), Grosse Pointe (1879; 1934), Grosse Pointe Farms (1893; 1949), Grosse Pointe Woods (1927; 1950), and the Village of Grosse Pointe Shores (1911). The French, who defeated the Fox and Sauk Indians in the Grosse Pointe Park area (1712), established ribbon farms along the swampy shore that became part of Grosse Pointe Township (organized in 1846 and named for a point of land projecting into the lake). The area was developed by wealthy Detroiters for summer homes. Later, notable Michigan industrialists, such as Edsel Ford, built large lakeshore estates there. The Alger Mansion, former home of Governor Russell A. Alger, is now the War Memorial Center. Pop. (1990) 49,300.