Grosse Pointe Farms Water Filtration Plant

In 1893 summer residents organized the Grosse Pointe Water Company. Soon after, a village waterworks was built on Lake Shore near Moross Road to serve houses along the lake. The Peninsular Electric Light Company (forerunner of the Detroit Edison Company) bought the facility in 1905 and provided service to Grosse Pointe Farms, and later, Highland Park. During the 1920s Grosse Pointe evolved into a suburb and required a larger water system. In 1929 a waste water pumping station was erected on Chalfonte Avenue. The following year this filtration plant was built. Detroit architect Robert O. Derrick designed the elegant Neo-Georgian exterior to mask the building’s utilitarian use.