Metro Detroit Wayne County City
Grosse Pointe
Heart of the five Pointes: the Village shops on Kercheval and lakeside mansions
- People (2025 estimate)
- 5,490
- Land area
- 1.1 sq mi · 2.8 km²
- From downtown
- 8.1 miles · 13 km · northeast
- Incorporated
- 1934
Nothing on our calendar here this week yet.
01 / Why it matters
Why Grosse Pointe matters
Five separate cities carry the Grosse Pointe name along Lake St. Clair, right at Detroit's eastern edge, and this is the one called just Grosse Pointe; locals call it “the City.” It's small and laid out on a grid, with the houses getting bigger the closer you get to the lake south of Kercheval.
Kercheval Avenue between Neff and Cadieux is “the Village,” which locals treat as the shared downtown of all five Pointes. Jacobson's department store anchored it from 1944 to 2002, and Detroit's Sanders candy shop had a store here until it closed in 2020.
In the mid-1800s the Pointes were summer retreats for rich Detroiters, and after 1900 they became the auto executives' suburb of choice. The dark side: in 1960 it came out that local realtors ranked buyers with a point system based on ancestry and “swarthiness,” shutting out Black and Asian buyers entirely. The scandal led the state to bar licensing for brokers who discriminated. Good to know: the city's lakefront parks are open to residents only.
02 / Known for
What Grosse Pointe is known for
The Village on Kercheval Avenue, the shared downtown of all five Grosse Pointes.
Blocks of mansions south of Kercheval on Lakeland, Washington and Lincoln, including Rosecroft, a 1912 Tudor by Albert Kahn.
The 1960 point-system scandal, which exposed racial and ethnic screening of homebuyers.
03 / What’s on
What’s on in Grosse Pointe
Nothing on our calendar in Grosse Pointe right now. Try the neighbors:
04 / Places
1 places on our site in Grosse Pointe
05 / What to do
If you’re in Grosse Pointe
The Village (Kercheval Avenue)
A walkable shopping street between Neff and Cadieux with shops, cafés and restaurants: Main Street for all the Pointes.
Official site ↗
06 / History
Grosse Pointe through the years
- 1760
After Detroit surrendered to the British, many French settlers moved out to their farms in Grosse Pointe.
- 1879
The Village of Grosse Pointe was incorporated, the first municipality among the Pointes.
- 1893
The village split at Fisher Road, and the eastern part became Grosse Pointe Farms.
- 1934
The Village of Grosse Pointe reincorporated as a city.
- 1944
Jacobson's department store opened in the Village and stayed until 2002.
- 1960
The realtors' point system for screening buyers was exposed, and public hearings drew national attention.
07 / Born here
7 people in our lexicon were born here
Sources
Population and area are Census Bureau figures (Grosse Pointe city).
- 2020 Census, Michigan (PL 94-171)
- Census Bureau population estimates: cities and towns
- grossepointecity.org/how_do_i_/learn_about_grosse_pointe/history.php
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grosse_Pointe,_Michigan
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grosse_Pointe
- grossepointecity.org
Change since 2020, per the Census Bureau estimate: −3.2 percent.
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