[3] Whiskey Island was the first piece of solid land amid the swamps lining the river one-quarter mile down the Cuyahoga when Moses Cleaveland visited the area in 1796.

The Lake Erie Iron Works made steamboat shafts and railroad axles on the island and thirteen saloons were located in the area.

[2] The Irish moved from Whiskey Island when better employment and housing opportunities became available and except for a Depression-era Hooverville, Whiskey Island was left largely to the railroads, a salt mine owned by Cargill, and the set of four large Hulett ore unloaders[2] at the Pennsylvania Railway Ore Dock, which when built in 1911 was the largest ore-unloading dock on the Great Lakes.

[8] The area's protection was due in large part to the efforts of activist Ed Hauser, known as the "Mayor of Whiskey Island".

[9] Wendy Park at Whiskey Island opened to the public in 2005, and includes sand volleyball courts, a prairie garden, and a restaurant-bar.