Editing Grosse Pointe (section)

==History==
[[File:Victorianhomes GP.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Some of the historic homes that can be found in [[Grosse Pointe, Michigan|The City of Grosse Pointe]]]]

{{US Census population
|1900= 1160
|1910= 1982
|1920= 5088
|1930= 21462
|1940= 29648
|1950= 40181
|1960= 55141
|1970= 58899
|1980= 52022
|1990= 49300
|2000= 47780
|2010= 45598
}}

Grosse Pointe, recognized for its historic reputation for scenery and landscape, has grown from a colonial outpost and a fertile area for small orchard owners and farmers to a coastal community with prime real estate chosen for grand estates.

The Grosse Pointes were first settled by [[French people|French]] farmers in the 1750s after the establishment of the French [[Fort Pontchartrain]]. Members of the [[British Empire]] began arriving around the time of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]. In the 19th century, Grosse Pointe continued to be the site of lakefront [[ribbon farm]]s: long narrow farms that each adjoin the lake, useful for irrigation and early transportation needs. Beginning in the 1850s, wealthy residents of [[Detroit]] began building second homes in the Grosse Pointe area, and soon afterward, [[hunting]], [[fishing]], and [[golf]] clubs appeared. Some grand estates arose in the late 19th century, and with the dawn of the [[automobile]] after 1900, Grosse Pointe became a preferred [[suburb]] for business executives in addition to a retreat for wealthy Detroiters. By the 1930s, most of the southern and western areas of Grosse Pointe contained established neighborhoods, with remaining gaps and the northern sections such as [[Grosse Pointe Woods, MI|Grosse Pointe Woods]] developing after the 1930s.

In 1960, it was revealed that realtors in suburban Grosse Pointe ranked prospective home buyers by using a point system with categories such as race, nationality, occupation, and “degree of swarthiness.” Southern Europeans, Jews, and Poles required higher rankings than Northwestern European people in order to move into the community, while Asians and Blacks were excluded from living in Grosse Pointe altogether. Private detectives were used to investigate potential residents’ backgrounds. The revelation of this practice moved the state corporation and securities commissioner to issue a regulation to bar the licensing of real estate brokers who discriminated on the basis of race, religion, or national origin. Public hearings brought the national attention to the real estate discrimination situation in Detroit, which resulted in the expansion of open housing activity in the city.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sugrue |first1=Thomas |title=The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit |url=https://archive.org/details/originsofurbancr00thom |url-access=registration |date=1996 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, New Jersey |page=[https://archive.org/details/originsofurbancr00thom/page/193 193]}}</ref>

A passenger [[Rail transport|rail]] line that connected [[Detroit]] to [[Mt. Clemens, Michigan|Mt. Clemens]] along the shore was operational by the late 1890s, making Grosse Pointe more accessible. As the [[automobile]] became the primary method of [[transportation]] and the rail line was decommissioned, the vista of what became Lake Shore Drive gradually improved. Lakeside estates are accessed from Lake Shore Drive and [[Jefferson Avenue (Detroit)|Jefferson Avenue]].

Over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries, Grosse Pointe has gained a reputation as a notable American suburb; entrepreneurial leadership, recreational activities afforded by the [[Great Lakes]] waterway, an international border with [[Canada]], and a focus on quality of [[education]] contributed to the successful development of the region. The Russell Alger Jr. House, at 32 Lake Shore Dr., serves as the [[Grosse Pointe War Memorial]] community center. Grosse Pointe contains fifteen recognized Michigan historical markers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.michmarkers.com/Frameset.htm |title=Michigan Historical Markers |access-date=2008-01-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140717055930/http://www.michmarkers.com/Frameset.htm |archive-date=2014-07-17 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>