Grand Beach: a resort community that became its own village

Grand Beach was planned as a resort rather than growing around a mill, mine, or railroad stop. In the early 1900s, Floyd R. Perkins bought 600 acres of dunes in western New Buffalo Township. He first considered a shooting preserve, then recognized the land’s potential as a Lake Michigan resort.

Perkins and George Ely formed the Grand Beach Company and assembled land that included four miles of beach. The company built roads, bridges, waterworks, and a nine-hole golf course. Residents bought 20 Sears and Roebuck cottages in 1907, and the community had 48 homes by 1911.

The resort continued with an 18-hole golf course, a clubhouse, and three Frank Lloyd Wright homes. The Golfmore Hotel opened in the early 1920s and burned in 1939. By then Grand Beach had incorporated as a village in 1934.

Grand Beach still has both summer and year-round residents. Its municipal status grew directly from the resort plan, which is why beaches, cottages, wooded streets, and golf remain central to the village’s identity.