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Grosse Pointe is an affluent suburban area bordering the east side of the city of Detroit, in the U.S. state of Michigan, and situated along the western shores of Lake St. Clair. The twelve square mile area consists of four cities and one village, all included within the Metro Detroit area:
- Grosse Pointe, city
- Grosse Pointe Farms, city
- Grosse Pointe Park, city
- Grosse Pointe Shores, village
- Grosse Pointe Woods, city
Grosse Pointe Shores is comprised of two townships—Grosse Pointe Township in Wayne County and the smaller Lake Township in Macomb County—but both are rarely referred to.
Typically when natives of the region say "Grosse Pointe" they are referring collectively to these five Grosse Pointes. A Grosse Pointer refers to them individually as "the Shores," "the Farms," "the Park," "the Woods," and "the City" (that is, the City of Grosse Pointe). Newspapers and community organizations generally serve all five, as does the public library and school system, but municipal services are separate. Each has at least one municipal park along the lake; the landlocked Grosse Pointe Woods has its park at the southern tip of St. Clair Shores, adjacent to Grosse Pointe Shores. Each park is restricted to residents of its municipality. Jefferson Avenue is the scenic carriageway of these cities skirting the eastern border of Detroit, although the segment that runs through Grosse Pointe Farms and Grosse Pointe Shores is called Lakeshore Road. The nine elementary schools in Grosse Pointe are Defer, Ferry, Kerby, Maire, Mason, Monteith, Poupard, Richard, and Trombly. The three middle schools are Brownell, Parcells, and Pierce. The two high schools are Grosse Pointe North High School and Grosse Pointe South High School.
Grosse Pointe in literature, film and television
Grosse Pointe was mentioned in Lisa Birnbach's 1980 Official Preppy Handbook for its preppy qualities. Included were references to a stereotypical way of speech, the "Grosse Pointe Monotone," and a guide to the preppy hotspots (private clubs, restaurants, etc.) in the area.
The Grosse Pointe area is the setting of two novels by Grosse Pointe-raised writer Jeffrey Eugenides: The Virgin Suicides, which is partially a parody of his real-life high school University Liggett School (ULS), and Middlesex. The film version of The Virgin Suicides takes place in Grosse Pointe but was not filmed there.
There is also a film named Grosse Pointe Blank starring Minnie Driver, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, and Dan Aykroyd which takes place almost entirely in Grosse Pointe but was largely filmed in California. Plans to film at Grosse Pointe South High School were scrapped when the school refused on grounds that the scenes included adults of legal age drinking at their high school reunion.
A television program named Grosse Pointe starring Lindsay Sloane, Bonnie Somerville, and Nat Faxon aired on The WB Television Network for a short time.
In the television series Northern Exposure, pilot Maggie McConnell was a native Grosse Pointer who had moved to Alaska.
In the television series Hey Dude, the character of Brad was from Grosse Pointe.
History
As a suburb of an economically booming Detroit, by the mid 19th century, Grosse Pointe, particularly along the shore of Lake St. Clair, became a popular location for the elite of Detroit to build summer or family residences. Before the new century dawned, Grosse Pointe was well on its way to beginning an era of grandeur, boasting some of the nation's finest examples of Tudor, Georgian, French and Italian Renaissance architecture.
Grosse Pointe's decline from elegance began with the Great Depression in 1929. High income tax, combined with the cost of maintaining a mansion which could require 30 to properly run, saw the descendants of original Grosse Pointers losing their houses to the government or selling out. If sold, more often than not, the house was demolished and the land divided to accommodate several smaller residences. This process has continued up through modern times.
Famous people who owned such homes include Edsel and Eleanor Ford, and David C. Whitney.
External links
"Grosse Pointe"