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Fox Island

Islands of Wayne County, MichiganIslands of the Detroit RiverRiver islands of MichiganUse mdy dates from January 2024
NASA Worldwind, USGS imagery map, Fox Island, Michigan
NASA Worldwind, USGS imagery map, Fox Island, Michigan

Fox Island is a naturally formed island in the Detroit River, in southeast Michigan, United States. In the late 1800s, it was used by the Dunbar & Sullivan Company to store explosives used for engineering projects in the Detroit River's shipping channels. When this was forbidden by a court injunction following an 1879 explosion, the company constructed Powder House Island several hundred yards to the east and relocated their explosive facilities there. Since then, Fox Island has served as a picnic location and campsite; in the early 20th century, it was the site of a vacation home owned by C. F. Parent. The island is now privately owned, but remains a fishing spot (notably for perch).

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Fox Island (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Fox Island
Elba Drive,

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
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Wikipedia: Fox IslandContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 42.105833333333 ° E -83.141666666667 °
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Address

Elba Drive
48138
Michigan, United States
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NASA Worldwind, USGS imagery map, Fox Island, Michigan
NASA Worldwind, USGS imagery map, Fox Island, Michigan
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Nearby Places

Powder House Island
Powder House Island

Powder House Island (also known as Dynamite Island) is an artificial island on the lower Detroit River in southeast Michigan, directly adjacent to the Canada–United States border. It was constructed in the late 1880s by the Dunbar & Sullivan Company to store explosives during their dredging of the Livingstone Channel. It was constructed in a successful attempt to circumvent an 1880 court order forbidding the company to store explosives on nearby Fox Island. Powder House Island was the location of dynamite storage sheds, as well as a dynamite factory and several ice houses. During this time, it was the site of a series of accidents, including fires in 1895 and 1919 (which both burned the island "to the water's edge"). Twenty short tons (18,000 kg) of the island's dynamite exploded in 1906 after two men "had been shooting with a revolver" near it; while there were no deaths (and only minor injuries to the two men), windows were shattered 3 mi (4.8 km) away and the explosion was clearly audible from 85 mi (137 km) away. After the completion of the Livingstone Channel in 1912, the island continued to be used for storing explosives, including during later projects to deepen the channel in the 1930s. By the 1980s it was completely unused, and by 2015 the island was owned by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, managed by its Wildlife Division as part of the Pointe Mouillee State Game Area, and accessible to the public for hunting.