Michigan’s Zug Island…..It Ain’t No Paradise

That's right - Zug Island ain’t no paradise or tropical getaway, that’s for sure.

From the air it looks dirty, dismal, dank, and industrial. And it is. It’s full of steel mills and blast furnaces. But it wasn’t always this way...

Zug Island started out as a part of the mainland. This hunk of 334 acres was purchased in 1859 by Sam Zug, a furniture king who wanted to build his home there. However, the land was way too swampy for a suitable residence. In 1888 the River Rouge Improvement Company contacted Zug and between Zug and the company, it was decided to dig a canal around the land, cutting it off from the mainland and turning it into an island.

Get our free mobile app

But why? Zug sold his island in 1891 to George Brady and Charles Noble, who were believed to have the intention on turning the island into a dump for industrial waste.

Then, in 1902, steel mills and blast furnaces began popping up on the island and began producing coke (one of the very few in the U.S.) and making steel…and it’s been thus ever since, currently owned by United States Steel.

In the past number of years, there has been a weird vibrating ‘hum’ coming from the island – very noticeable to the residents of Windsor, Ontario. Even though it hasn’t been officially announced or proven, it’s believed Zug Island, with all its hoo-rah steel mills, is responsible for the strange ‘Twilight Zone-ish’ noise.

Now take a little tour of this steel mill Shangri-La in the photo gallery below…

MORE MICHIGAN ISLANDS: