Detroit River Story Lab
The University of Michigan’s Detroit River Story Lab is an interdisciplinary, grant-funded initiative that partners with regional organizations to reconnect communities with the river and its stories. Through collaborative research, education, and engagement projects, our partnerships amplify marginalized voices and foreground the role of the river and its shores as sites of connection, stewardship, and healing.
Featured News
- Gordie Howe International Bridge becomes part of binational trail system
Imagine if the world’s longest trail (located in Canada) connected people even further, into another country, via Michigan’s longest trail. That happened last month when the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority announced that the Gordie Howe International Bridge would become part… Read more: Gordie Howe International Bridge becomes part of binational trail system - How Coleman Young transformed Detroit’s Riverfront, starting with Chene Park
As we celebrate the completion of the Riverwalk to include the link along the former Uniroyal site adjacent to the Belle Isle Bridge, it is appropriate and fitting to acknowledge the roots of this wonderful people-space along the Detroit River.… Read more: How Coleman Young transformed Detroit’s Riverfront, starting with Chene Park - What the Bridges to Windsor Represent to Detroit
In 1929, the longest suspended central span bridge in the world at that time – The Ambassador Bridge – was completed linking Detroit to Windsor, Ontario. It is the busiest United States/Canada truck crossing, handling 8,000+ trucks and 68,000 travelers… Read more: What the Bridges to Windsor Represent to Detroit - Lest we forget: a history of Detroit River oil pollution
Today, the Detroit River is much cleaner, and sentinel wildlife species have returned. It is good to look back at the 1960s pollution of the river, notably oil pollution, and recognize how far we have come. However, we still have… Read more: Lest we forget: a history of Detroit River oil pollution - Grosse Ile’s Hennepin Point is full of toxic waste. Is it a threat to wildlife and humans?
The terrain covering Grosse Ile’s Hennepin Point, at first blush, appears like any other of the myriad areas around Michigan’s Great Lakes shorelines. Brush and trees grow among patchworks of sand, and the crystal blue Detroit River flows past on… Read more: Grosse Ile’s Hennepin Point is full of toxic waste. Is it a threat to wildlife and humans? - A River Runs Through Us — and with it, Countless Stories
Virtually hidden behind grimy industrial sites, unsightly infrastructure and bland parking lots, the Detroit River was practically an afterthought for decades. But as the city continues its renaissance, centering the river’s historic, ecological and cultural importance has become a higher… Read more: A River Runs Through Us — and with it, Countless Stories
