About: Fordson Island

Fordson Island is a 8.4-acre (3.4 ha) artificial island in the River Rouge, in southeast Michigan. It was created by the Ford Motor Company in 1918, while dredging the River Rouge, and the land was donated to Springwells Township by Henry Ford. It eventually became part of the City of Dearborn, which became aware of its existence in 1980; since its creation, it has been home to liquor smugglers, industrial facilities, several residents, a marina, and numerous abandoned watercraft. By the mid-1980s, the island was mostly uninhabited; in the early 2000s numerous abandoned vessels were dumped on its shores.