The name comes off the river
French settlers called the waterway here Riviere aux Echorses, the river of the barks, for the bark stripped along it to build canoes. The English-speaking settlement that followed was called Grand Port from 1836 before the older name stuck.
The steel and the shipyards set the pace
Michigan Steel opened its rolling mill here in 1923, supplying sheet steel for the car plants, and the Great Lakes Engineering Works yard built ships on the same riverfront. The housing followed the work, which is why so much of it dates from between the wars.
Most of the housing predates 1950
Ecorse peaked at 17,948 residents in 1950 and counted 9,305 at the 2020 census. Doors from that era are usually solid wood in a frame that has moved with the house, which is why a new slab on its own rarely fixes a door that needs a shoulder.
The river is the international border
The Detroit River forms the city's eastern edge and the boundary with Canada. Homes on that side take weather off open water, and an exterior door on a wall like that earns its weatherstripping.