A beloved Detroit River fishing spot in Delray waits on talks between the state and DTE

Along the southwestern edge of Detroit, where the river bends and the steel frame of the Gordie Howe International Bridge rises across the water, there is a fishing spot that most Detroiters don't know about.

Delray Park sits on the Detroit River, on land owned by DTE Energy at the site of the utility's former Delray power plant. Anglers who find it pull walleye, white bass, and perch from a shoreline wide enough to cast from solid footing. There is a boat launch. Access is free. The park has operated informally for years, maintained at a minimal level, and it shows — local fishermen describe it as a spot with real potential that needs work.

What happens there next depends on a negotiation currently underway between the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and DTE Energy, linked to a broader settlement involving DTE's Ludington Pumped Storage facility. The outcome will determine whether the park gets the investment it needs to serve the community around it.

Delray's story is inseparable from its geography. The neighborhood sits in the far southwest corner of Detroit, pressed between the river and the rail yards that fed the heavy industry that defined it for most of the 20th century. It was platted in 1836, originally called Belgrade, and renamed Del Rey in 1851 at the suggestion of Augustus D. Burdeno, a Mexican-American War veteran who had encountered a village called Molino del Rey during his service in Mexico. The area incorporated as a village in 1897 and was absorbed into the city of Detroit in 1906.

Detroit Edison began building the Delray power plant in 1903, the first industrial anchor on that stretch of riverfront. Factories followed. Hungarian, Polish, and other Eastern European immigrants moved into the neighborhood in large numbers, drawn by manufacturing jobs. By 1930, roughly 24,000 people lived in Delray. Then industry expanded further, pollution worsened, and residents left. The population has dropped dramatically since World War II, making Delray one of the least-populated neighborhoods in the city today.

What remained, along the waterfront, was a park on land that DTE Energy has held for more than a century. The utility has operated it as a public amenity without significant maintenance investment. Fishermen who know about it appreciate what it offers — the Detroit River at that bend produces solid catches — but the infrastructure has been allowed to wear down.

The ongoing negotiations between the state and DTE raise the possibility of a different future for the site. A public fishing park with river access and a functioning boat launch, if properly developed, would be one of the few assets in that part of southwest Detroit oriented around community use rather than industrial function. The Gordie Howe International Bridge construction nearby has already reshaped the area's geography and displaced households from the immediate neighborhood. A revitalized Delray Park would give something back.

What the negotiations produce, and on what timeline, has not been announced. But the conversation between the DNR and DTE is the first formal mechanism in years for determining what Delray's riverfront becomes next.