Downriver Actors Guild at 2nd Street Performing Arts Center1123 2nd St, Wyandotte, MI 48192
Metro Detroit Wayne County City
Wyandotte
Old riverfront mill town where America first made Bessemer steel
- People (2025 estimate)
- 24,072
- Land area
- 5.3 sq mi · 13.7 km²
- From downtown
- 10.1 miles · 16 km · southwest
- Incorporated
- 1867
Nothing on our calendar here this week yet.
01 / Why it matters
Why Wyandotte matters
Wyandotte is one of Downriver's most charming towns: right on the Detroit River, with a walkable downtown along Biddle Avenue and a riverfront park with a fishing pier. It's been a city since 1867, which makes it Wayne County's oldest after Detroit.
In the 1800s this was America's steel lab. At Eber Ward's Eureka Iron Works the first commercial Bessemer steel ingots in the country were poured in 1864, and the first Bessemer steel rails followed a year later. The shipyards launched the nation's earliest steel-hulled vessel, a tug called the Sport, in 1873.
Then came chemicals: John Baptiste Ford founded the Michigan Alkali Company in 1893, BASF bought it in 1969, and the company is still here. Every July the whole downtown turns into a gallery for the Wyandotte Street Art Fair, running since 1961 and one of the biggest art fairs in Michigan.
02 / Known for
What Wyandotte is known for
Eureka Iron Works, where the first commercial Bessemer steel ingots in America were made in 1864
Shipbuilding from 1871 to 1922, including the steamers Tashmoo and Columbia
The Michigan Alkali Company founded by J. B. Ford, forerunner of today's BASF works
The Wyandotte Street Art Fair, every July since 1961, with 300 artists and over 200,000 visitors
The 1896 Ford-MacNichol Home, the city's Victorian house museum
03 / What’s on
What’s on in Wyandotte
Nothing on our calendar in Wyandotte right now. Try the neighbors:
04 / Places
14 places on our site in Wyandotte
Downriver Actors Guild at 2nd Street Performing Arts Center1123 2nd St, Wyandotte, MI 48192
Downriver PrideDowntown Wyandotte, Parking Lot 1 (near Bishop Park), Wyandotte, MI 48192
Maple Street Tavern166 Maple St, Wyandotte, MI 4819205 / What to do
If you’re in Wyandotte
Ford-MacNichol Home
A four-story 1896 Queen Anne mansion on Biddle Avenue with free tours Thursday through Sunday, April to October and in December.
Official site ↗Bishop Park
A 12-acre riverfront park next to downtown with a big fishing pier, picnic shelters and wide Detroit River views.
Official site ↗Wyandotte Street Art Fair
A free four-day art fair on Biddle Avenue each July; the 2026 edition ran July 8–11.
Official site ↗
06 / History
Wyandotte through the years
- 1732
A branch of the Huron known as the Wyandot settles the area.
- 1854
On December 12 the Village of Wyandotte is founded along with its first industry, the Eureka Iron Works.
- 1864
The first commercial Bessemer steel ingots in America are made here.
- 1867
Wyandotte becomes a city on April 8.
- 1873
The nation's earliest steel-hulled vessel, the tug Sport, is built here.
- 1969
BASF buys the Michigan Alkali Company.
07 / Born here
3 people in our lexicon were born here
08 / People
Famous names from here
- Lee Majors the Six Million Dollar Man star was born in Wyandotte on April 23, 1939
- Lucille Ball lived here as a small child; her father died of typhoid in Wyandotte in 1915
Sources
Population and area are Census Bureau figures (Wyandotte city).
- 2020 Census, Michigan (PL 94-171)
- Census Bureau population estimates: cities and towns
- wyandottemi.gov/492/History
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyandotte,_Michigan
- detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/eureka-iron-works
- wyandottemi.gov/591
- wyandottemi.gov/572/Tours-Events
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_P._MacNichol_House
- wyandottemi.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Bishop-Park-7
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Majors
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_Ball
- wyandottemi.gov
Change since 2020, per the Census Bureau estimate: −3.9 percent.
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