Quote:
Originally Posted by benp
There were no bridges to Grand Island until 1935, so before then the island was mainly farms with some summer resort areas accessible by ferry. The few large estates on the island were summer homes of the very wealthy. By WW1, as automobiles allowed easier travel on the US side and Canadian mainland, recreational use on Grand Island fell out of favor. The large estates also eventually gave way to become Beaver Island State Park after the Depression, and none of the original large homes remain.
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Grand Island was much more rural than people really know. I once came across a little booklet on Grand Island from the 1970s or 1980s at my uncle's house, and I don't know what came of it. In the booklet, it said that the last timberwolf on the island was killed some time in the 1950s. It's hard to believe that wolves existed that close to Buffalo just 75 years ago!
There is a boathouse on the west side of the island that is a remnant of a somewhat richer past.
President Grover Cleveland's uncle had a house near where Beaver Island is today, and Cleveland spent time there during summers. That might be the last mansion on the island.