A 30 million dollar tourist attraction

(This information was taken from the Detroit News website detnews.com which in turn came from clips and photo files from The Detroit News Library.)

 

E.J. Harris purchased 109-acre Peche Island from Canada for $1,500 a month payments, and planned to make it into a $30 million tourist attraction accessible by ferry. He planned to use fill to enlarge the island by 500 acres on the American side. He planned for a 1,000-boat marina accessible by cable car from the Grayhaven (US) mainland.

But Harris ran into stiff opposition from neighbors and local political leaders and by 1971 had lost $700,000, and was over $500,000 in debt. He offered Peche island for auction and the Canadian government bought it back for $400,000.

 

Real estate developer E. J. Harris outlines his plans to build a $30 million tourist attraction on Peche Island, which he had purchased from the Canadian government in 1965.