page_title: Grand Marais, Michigan
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Grand Marais, Michigan / History
caption_attribution_description: Grand Marais, Michigan state historic marker
context_page_description: Grand Marais is an unincorporated community in Burt Township, Alger County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located on Lake Superior, and is the eastern gateway to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore via H-58.
context_section_description: The name Grand Marais (French: great marsh) is a reference to the large, shallow harbor. French explorers used the word "marais" to mean "harbor of refuge" as well as "marsh."
  A breakwater was later built that extends from the bay into Lake Superior. The Grand Marais Outer Range Light is at its end, and the Fresnel lens is still operative. It is one of only 70 such lenses that remain operational in the United States; 16 of these are in use on the Great Lakes, eight of which are in Michigan. Many controversies in the little town relate to the costs of dredging and breakwall-repair operations to keep the harbor functioning.
  Grand Marais was one of five U.S. Life-Saving Service Stations established along the coast of Lake Superior between Munising and Whitefish Point in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  It was part of the U.S. Life-Saving Service District 10 (later part of District 11).  The other four Life-saving Stations were Deer Park, Two Heart, Crisp Point Light, and Vermilion Point.  In 1915, these stations became part of the U.S. Coast Guard.  In 1939 the U.S. Lighthouse Service also merged under the control of the U.S. Coast Guard.
  The community was home to the Grand Marais Air Force Station from 1954 to 1957.  The station was part of the Air Defense Command, and provided general surveillance radar along the northern frontier of the United States.
caption: Grand Marais, Michigan historic marker
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