Ecorse, city, Wayne county, Michigan, U.S. It lies along the Detroit River and is one of several contiguous southern suburbs of Detroit known as downriver communities. Settled about 1795 on the site of a Native American camp and burial ground, it was called Grandport and developed in the early 20th century with the growth of the Ford Motor Company in nearby Dearborn. Its name was derived from the French name Rivière aux Écorses (“Tree-Bark River”), denoting a small stream along which Native Americans procured bark for canoes. A large steelmaking plant, built in Ecorse in 1929, produces auto parts and tools. The city’s economy went into decline along with the auto and steel industries in the 1970s and ’80s. In 1986 it became the first U.S. city to go bankrupt, but Ecorse was out of receivership by 1990. Anchored at Ecorse is the lake steamer Ste. Claire (built 1910), an excursion vessel that operated between Detroit and Bois Blanc (Boblo) Island in the Detroit River for 81 years; it was designated a national historical landmark in 1992. Inc. village, 1903; city, 1941. Pop. (2000) 11,229; (2010) 9,512.