Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan
Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan
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Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan

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Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan

Grosse Pointe Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. One of the five "Grosse Pointe" suburbs of Detroit, Grosse Pointe Park is located on the shore of Lake St. Clair and borders Detroit to the north and east, roughly 7 miles (11.3 km) east of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, Grosse Pointe Park had a population of 11,595.

Grosse Pointe Park was incorporated as a village in 1907 and again as a city in 1950.

Before incorporation as a city, the area that would become the city of Grosse Pointe Park was incorporated as the Village of Fairview, which spanned Bewick Street in the west to Cadieux Road in the east in Grosse Pointe Township. The city of Detroit annexed part of the village in the township from Bewick Street to Alter Road in 1907. Fearing further annexation, the part of the village east of Alter Road incorporated as the Village of Grosse Pointe Park later that year. Seeking further annexation protection from Detroit and independence from its township, the village reincorporated as a city in 1950.

In November 2021, Grosse Pointe Park elected its first female mayor, Michele Hodges.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.71 square miles (9.61 km2), of which 2.17 square miles (5.62 km2) is land and 1.54 square miles (3.99 km2) is water. The water is part of Lake St. Clair. Grosse Pointe Park has about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of borders with Detroit, with one border between Alter Road and Wayburn to the southwest, and another along Mack Avenue to the northwest; its third border on land is with the city of Grosse Pointe along Cadieux Road to the northeast.

The neighborhoods in Grosse Pointe Park are built on a standard grid street pattern which flows out of Detroit, and housing ranges from tightly-packed single- and multi-family brick houses on the far west side of the Park, to rows of traditionally-styled single family homes generally averaging over 3,000 square feet (280 m2), to multimillion-dollar mansions, some of which are found on the lakeshore. The west side of the city features mixed-use neighborhoods, where retail, schools, and churches are within close walking distance. The rest of the city is basically residential, but at the eastern edge residents are in close walking distance to "the Village" shopping district in Grosse Pointe. Many of the houses in the Park were built prior to World War II, and many of these were designed by noted architects using the finest materials. Windmill Pointe Drive, and streets such as Bishop, Kensington, Yorkshire, Edgemont Park, Three Mile Drive, Devonshire, Buckingham, Berkshire, Balfour, Middlesex, and Nottingham among others, each have dozens of large, architecturally significant homes. These mansions and mini-mansions were often placed on large lots which were often split up, the result being that some post-war ranch style homes are mixed in with homes of traditional design.

Grosse Pointe Park includes a large neighborhood located on Windmill Pointe, the edge of which marks the entrance to the Detroit River and the end of Lake St. Clair. A large lakefront park with a pool, gym, movie theaters, and gathering spaces for residents only is found at this spot. At the base of the point, at the foot of Three Mile Drive, is another large park, Patterson Park, which is known for its skating rink and walking trails. One way that people distinguish geography in Grosse Pointe Park is by location north or south of Jefferson Avenue, the south side being generalized as Windmill Pointe.

The Park also includes a section known as the "cabbage patch," an area of town with multi-family houses in contrast to the single-family homes with larger lots that populate the vast majority of the Grosse Pointes. The cabbage patch is generally considered to be the northwest corner of the city, bounded by Mack, Wayburn, Jefferson, and Somerset, with a small extension south of Jefferson on Nottingham and Beaconsfield. The region's name can be seen in various local establishments such as the Cabbage Patch Cafe and Cabbage Patch Saloon.

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