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Also known as Anchor Bay, Anchorville is an unincorporated village on the northern shore of Anchor Bay, which is the northernmost part of Lake St. Clair, and the village is situated on its northern shores.

M-29 connects Anchorville with New Baltimore to the west-southwest and Fair Haven to the east-southeast. As an unincorporated community, Anchorville does not have clearly defined boundaries, and it might just be referred to as Ira Township, which it is a part of. The unincorporated communities of Copeland Corner, Fair Haven, and Perch Point are also in Ira Township. The village and township are in St. Clair County, in the eastern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, below the Thumb.

Before its settlement by European-Americans, the area was inhabited by the Chippewa people. The first record of European-American entry into the region was in 1679, when Father Louis Hennepin, a Belgian Franciscan missionary, planted a large cross on the beach in Anchor Bay. He arrived on a ship known as the Griffin, captained by Robert de LaSalle, who went on to sail down the Mississippi, claiming the territory for France all the way to Louisiana.

It would be some time, yet, before the area was settled by European-Americans, but French fur traders and trappers began to visit the region from time to time. Overall, the French maintained good relations with the local tribes, learning from them how to flourish in the land, and eventually, some of them settled in the area.

After the French and Indian War in the 1750s, the English began to gradually take control of the area, which became a US possession, known as the Northwest Territory, after the American Revolution. Several French settlers remained, however.

The Reverend Charles Chambille came to the area in 1853 to found a church to meet the needs of French Catholics who were living in the area. Built in 1854, the community that rose around the church was originally known as the Swan Creek Settlement, although the French knew it as AuLac.

In 1876, it was renamed to reflect its position on Anchor Bay. A post office was established in a general store owned by Crocket McElroy on December 4, 1885, with George Augustus Christie as the first postmaster. Anchorville became a port town, with two or three general stores, three or four saloons, a blacksmith shop, and a church.

In the early 1900s, an interurban railroad ran along the coastline of Ira Township. In Anchorville, an express route broke off, with one set of tracks continuing along the lake, while the other followed what had been a Native American path, known later as Shortcut, as it served as a shortcut to Port Huron.

Although the focus of this category is on the village of Anchorville, it can be difficult to determine which locations are in the community, given that it does not have set boundaries.

 

 

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