[2] In the late 1800s, it was used by the Dunbar & Sullivan Company to store explosives used for engineering projects in the Detroit River's shipping channels.

Since then, Fox Island has served as a picnic location and campsite; in the early 20th century, it was the site of a vacation home owned by C. F. Parent.

[24][25][26] Fox Island was initially deeded on June 22, 1829, on which date the United States granted it to Sarah Macomb along with several other parcels.

[34][35][36] While nobody was injured in the explosion,[33] the shock wave destroyed the windows and chimneys of nearby houses, and was "plainly felt" as far as 36 mi (58 km) away.

[35] The noise, heard in Wyandotte (9 mi (14 km) away) as "heavier than that of artillery fired close at hand",[35] was audible in the city of St. Clair, some 60 mi (97 km) to the north:[34] Noises were heard in various houses in this city, principally on the higher parts, thirty-five or forty feet above the St. Clair River, the character of the sound being described as nearly the same, similar to a blow or shaking on a door.

As this was doubtless caused by an earthwave arising from the Fox Island explosion, the amove information may be interesting from a scientific point of view, showing the distances to which such vibrations extend.

[33] As the three tons of nitroglycerin was valued at around $5,000 (equivalent to $164,000 in 2023), it was suspected that a large portion may have been stolen beforehand, and the rest intentionally destroyed to conceal evidence of the theft.

He arrived in this country last fall and took up his residence on Fox Island, a little bit of land in a lonely part of the Detroit River, far from the track of vessels.

It caught the Czar just as he was splitting wood to prepeare his noonday meal and it landed him in a haystack thirteen miles southwest of Toledo.

With tears in his eyes Alexander told a reporter of The Free Press that he thought it wasn't likely that lightning would strike twice in the same place, so he again took up his residence among the lower islands of the Detroit, and spent the time fishing at Lime-Kiln Crossing.

Again he was short of cash and it took ten trains to take him consecutively into Detroit and over then he had to walk from the Junction to The Free Press office, where he arrived at a quarter past 6 last evening.

[46] No deaths occurred, but two men were injured, when 20 short tons (18,000 kg) of dynamite detonated;[46] thousands of windows were shattered on Grosse Ile alone, plate glass was broken 3 miles (4.8 km) away in Trenton, and the shockwave from the explosion was felt as far as Cleveland, Ohio, 85 mi (137 km) away on the other side of Lake Erie.

[47] The cause of the explosion was not known with certainty, as it had been a hot day, but it was suspected to be related to Rogers and Perry firing revolvers near the dynamite storage area immediately before it exploded.

Parent, who in 1909 sought to build a large summer home on the island (and to secure electric lighting for Grosse Ile from Trenton).

[49] In 1949, a man was brought to safety on Fox Island after a fishing boat capsized in the Detroit River, although his companion could not be saved.