Ira Township

In 1679, French explorer Fr. Louis Hennepin planted a cross on the shore of Anchor Bay beside Michigan's Lake St. Clair. There, Ira Township was incorporated on March 11, 1837, and the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church was founded. A settlement called Anchorville, for Anchor Bay, formed around the church. Down the road was another community, first called Swan Creek and later known as Fair Haven. Ira Township was once the nexus for the Interurban Railroad, had one of the first oxen-driven rai