Ecorse Creek Overview
The Ecorse River is part of a small river system in southern Metro Detroit. It was originally named the Riveriere aux Ecorses by French settlers, which means the “bark river”. The “bark” came from the local Native American tribe’s tradition of wrapping their dead in birch or elm bark and burying them at the mouth of the river. The Ecorse River is formed by the North Branch of the Ecorse Creek and the Sexton-Kilfoil Drain and empties into the Detroit River. The actual length of the river is only about a half mile.
The North Branch of the Ecorse Creek is formed by the Trouton and Freeman Drains and Black Creek in Romulus and the Douglas and Kelly Drains in Taylor. It flows for approximately 16.6 miles before joining flows with the Sexton-Kilfoil Drain in the City of Lincoln Park to create the Ecorse River.
The North Branch of the Ecorse Creek drains over 19,000 acres (30-square miles) of primarily residential, commercial, and industrial land uses. The entire Ecorse River watershed is over 43 square-miles. It flows through Romulus, Dearborn Heights, Allen Park, Melvindale, Lincoln Park and Ecorse. Almost the entire stretch of the North Branch of the Ecorse Creek is open and has a primarily low gradient. There are over 46,000 properties within the North Branch of the Ecorse Creek’s watershed.