Grosse Ile historians consider the beginning of ownership and governance of the community by residents of European heritage to have begun on July 6, 1776 when the Potawatomi Indians deeded the island to prominent Detroit merchants William and Alexander Macomb who were brothers. Although the Potawatomi Indians, like most Native Americans, did not believe in the European legal concept of land ownership, they did consider the island to be part of their ancestral lands. The Potawatomi Indians called the island Kitcheminishen.
The flags of three nations - France, England, and the United States -- have flown over Grosse Ile since the first Europeans, French explorers, visited the island during the late 17th Century. The early French explorers named the island as la grosse ile -- the "big island" in French. The British, whose control of Michigan was established in 1763 after their victory in the French and Indian War, Anglicized the spelling to Grosse Isle. This form was commonly used until early during the 20th Century when local residents succeed in an effort to re-establish the French version as the official name of the community. To the dismay of historic preservationists and long-time residents, it is still common for the uninformed to mispronounce the name of the community.
Grosse Ile played a minor role in the founding of the City of Detroit by the French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. Cadillac and his convoy of 25 canoes sailed down the Detroit River and camped on the shore of Grosse Ile during the evening of July 23, 1701. On the morning of July 24, Cadillac returned upriver and reached a spot on the shore near the present intersection of West Jefferson and Shelby streets in Detroit where he claimed French possession of the territory under the authority of King Louis XIV.
Although Grosse Ile maintained its own name and identity as a community beginning in the 1700s, it did not obtain status as an independent unit of government until October 27, 1914 when the Wayne County Board of Supervisors agreed to separate the island from Monguagon Township.
