GROSSE POINTE, MICHIGAN, US, May 23, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — The 14th annual Grosse Pointe Historical Society Gala fundraiser will be held on Thursday, June 20, 2024, 5:30 – 10:30 p.m., at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Seth Krueger on Lake Shore Road in Grosse Pointe Shores. Proceeds from the event benefit the general operations of the Society, which protects historic artifacts, shares and educates Grosse Pointe history through its collections and web site, and brings history to life for current and future generations through programs, lectures, exhibits and activities.

Tickets sales for the event are open to all, but are limited in number. General admission tickets are $185 each, and may be purchased through the GPHS web site: www.gphistorical.org, or by contacting the Society office at 313 884-7010. Sponsorship opportunities are featured on the web site and through the office.

“Soiree at the Stone Manor”

Guests will enjoy valet parking and enter through the main entrance on Lake Shore Road. The tented party includes open bars, hors-d’oeuvres a catered, strolling supper and entertainment. A photo booth will be available with pictures to take home. Vintage cars will be on display.

Sponsors will be welcomed at a pre-Gala preview reception in the home, with cocktails, special hors-d-oeuvres, and entertainment in the flowing spaces of the home.

Very special afterglow benefitting Gianna House

A very special afterglow will take place following the Gala. Guests will enjoy a concert on the Marquis de Riviere Stradivarius violin in the spacious lower level of the home. This 1718 violin was owned by the Marquis in the early part of the 19th century. Over the centuries, the violin passed through a prestigious list of owners and performers. In 1964 it was owned by Daniel Majeske, concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra. Upon his death in 1993, his son Stephen continued to play the violin until his retirement. In 2004 the Majeske family sold the Marquis de la Riviere to the Gerald and Lynne Krueger family of Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan. The proceeds of the afterglow will benefit Gianna House in Eastpointe. Gianna House works to improve the lives of at-risk pregnant young women, mothers, and their babies by providing them with the opportunity of a community-based environment that offers education, life skills training, and career planning that positively impact them, their children, and their families. www.giannahouse.org.

Sponsors & Major Donors To Date

Dr. & Mrs. Peter C. Dodenhoff

The Blake Company

MGM Grand Detroit

Thomas B. Jones II

Mr. & Mrs. Ronald Lamparter

Ann & Jim Nicholson

Grigg Graphic Services

Northern Trust

Dr. Patricia E. O’Brien

Grosse Pointe News

Dr. Clark Okulski

Louisa St. Clair Chapter

National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR)

Mr. & Mrs. Philip MacKethan

Mr. & Mrs. Paul D. Alandt

Edsel & Eleanor Ford House

Sponsorships are still available.

The home

663 Lake Shore is the 21st century chapter of a quintessentially Grosse Pointe story.

In the 18th century long, narrow ribbon farms ran to the lake’s edge. In the 19th century, elaborate summer homes for well-to-do Detroiters dotted Lake Shore. By the turn of the century, the farmland was subdivided and new roads developed for the interurban and very quickly, the automobile. The summer homes were replaced by mansions where the residents lived surrounded by exquisite furnishings and attended by fleets of servants.

In 1907, Benjamin S. Warren, a prominent Detroit attorney, bought a 107-acre “gentleman’s farm” with barns, outbuildings and a racetrack. Warren continued farming as an avocation. Eventually he sold much of the acreage, including what is now Oxford Road. The Warrens lived in the original farmhouse, at 655 Lake Shore. They added on and remodeled through the years to create a home of more than 20 rooms, with an “easy, rambling charm.” Warren died in 1930, his widow lived in the home, which was known as Fairlawn until her passing in 1965, when the house was raised and the property divided.

Through three centuries, this stretch of Lake Shore Road has attracted homeowners who live an elegant and engaged yet relaxed family lifestyle. It truly is a Grosse Pointe story.

Patti Timmins
Grosse Pointe Historical Society
+1 313-884-7010
[email protected]