Russell Island is a small

private island A private island is a disconnected body of land wholly owned by a private citizen or corporation. Although this exclusivity gives the owner substantial control over the property, private islands remain under the jurisdiction of national and som ...

in the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River (french: Rivière Sainte-Claire) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron int ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

between Algonac and

Walpole Island Walpole Island is an island and First Nation reserve in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the border between Ontario and Michigan in the United States. It is located in the mouth of the St. Clair River on Lake St. Clair, about by road from Wind ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is immediately upriver from Sand Island which is itself immediately upriver from

Harsens Island Harsens Island is a wet marshy location at the mouth of the St. Clair River on Lake St. Clair, in the U.S. state of Michigan. Politically, the island is in Clay Township of St. Clair County. History The island was named for its first Euro-Ame ...

; it includes two smaller islands, Anderson Island on the northwest, and "The Gold Coast" on the southwest. The island, which is accessible only via passenger ferry or by private watercraft, contains about 150 cottages. There are no cars on the island; the only motorized vehicles are golf carts. Russell Island is part of Clay Township in St. Clair County and is an acceptable name for the Algonac ZIP code 48001, which serves most of the township on the mainland.48001 5-Digit ZCTA, 480 3-Digit ZCTA - Reference Map - American FactFinder
U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census

History

Russell Island was settled in 1802 by Christian Frederick Denke, a Moravian missionary to the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

; the mission was abandoned in 1803. The island takes its name from Samuel Russell, who owned the island from 1855 to 1858. In the years 1905-1910 the island was leased by the Detroit, Belle Isle and Windsor Ferry Company (DBI&WFCo) as a summer resort colony, where visitors arrived on excursion steamers and lived in tents. In 1914, the owners of the island, justices

William L. Carpenter William Lewis Carpenter (January 13, 1844, at Dunkirk, Chautauqua County, New York, Chautauqua County, New York – July 10, 1898, at Madison Barracks, Jefferson County, New York) was a U.S. Army Officer, naturalist and a geologist who helped ...

and Flavius L. Brooke of the Michigan Supreme Court and Detroit real estate developer

William W. Hannan William Washington Hannan (July 4, 1854 – December 24, 1917) was a real estate developer and the first president of the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges (now National Association of Realtors). Early years Hannan was born in Ro ...

, formed the Russell Island Company and subdivided the island for sale as individual plots. The three founders built the first three cottages in 1915-16. The island was accessible via the White Star Line's steamer Tashmoo. Today the Russell Island Property Owners Association (RIPOA) provides amenities such as a park, docks and ferry service for cottage owners.

References

Bibliography

* Donald F. Eschman and John Adam Dorr, ''The Geology of Michigan'' * Harry W. & Katharine D. Theisen, ''Remembrance of Things Past: A Fond Look Back at the Yesteryears on Russell Island in the St. Clair River'' (St. Clair, Michigan: Independent Printing Company, 1985)
Russell Island in Clay Township History
{{authority control River islands of Michigan Islands of St. Clair County, Michigan Islands of the St. Clair River Car-free zones in the United States Private islands of Michigan