Steiner in the area's history

I recently spent time in the Detroit Beach area of Monroe while participating in the CAR/MCCC EV Summit, held on the MCCC campus.  I noticed some of the familiar road names of Steiner and Laduke in the area.  It prompted me to dig into the history of the lost area of Steiner, in what it now Frenchtown Township.

Wikipedia defines Steiner as a small farming settlement near the intersection of today’s CSX Railroad crossing.    According to MichiganRailroads.com, Steiner was a station stop on the Flint & Pere Marquette main line 5.1 miles north of Monroe.   In 1898, the station was unmanned.  In 1927, Steiner was staffed by an agent-operator. Rate of pay 60¢ per hour.  There was also a spur line that connected the Steiner depot with the nearby sand quarry located in Maybee.

Steiner was founded by William Steiner, who was born in 1835 to George and Helen Biegler Steiner.  In 1864, he married Mary Louise Fix (born in 1844).  The Steiners were in the hardware business but were also involved in many of the other enterprises in the settlement, including the creamery, granary, freight scales, a sawmill, basket factory, pottery and brick works, and a saloon (the Steiner Inn).  Other businesses and services, including the Laduke general store and the Steiner Post Office, were also thriving during the time period.

The Steiners were active members of the St. Antoine/St. Mary Parish in Monroe and contributed to the building of the Centennial Statue of the Recording Angel in 1889.  As described in The Cross Leads Generations On: A Retrospect – St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, formerly known as St. Antoine at the River Raisin , the Recording Angel Donors were a cross section of French pioneering families and mid-1800s German immigrants who attended the St. Mary parish since its founding in 1788 as the only Catholic church in Monroe until the founding of St. Michael’s for the Germans in 1852 and St. John the Baptist in 1872 for English-speaking members of the community.

William and Mary Louise Steiner had 15 children, including son Edward Charles “Edwin” Steiner, who was born on July 16, 1879 and died at age 80 on September 1, 1959.  Edwin Steiner worked in the family hardware business and recalled his grandfather George Steiner’s emigration from Germany – first to Paterson, New Jersey and then to East Front Street in Monroe, where George set up his homestead and worked as a tailor.  Edwin Steiner also served as a Monroe City alderman, commissioner, a member of the Monroe County Board of Supervisors, Monroe County Red Cross, Monroe Council 1266, Knights of Columbus, Volunteer Fireman.

Older brother Thomas Steiner – born September 11, 1877 – became a priest as a member of the Indiana-based Congregation of the Holy Cross order.  Father Seiner served as Provincial of the order from 1938 to 1952.   In 1941, Father Steiner was contacted my local members of the committee working to build Monroe Catholic Central High School for Boys, as the bequest of the Archbishop of Detroit to support operation of the school if members of a religious order would operate it.  School organizers contacted Father Steiner. Fr. Steiner happily agreed to send members of the Congregation's order of Brothers to staff the school. Brother. Christian Stinnett, Brother Remigius Bullinger, and Brother Gerontius McCarthy. The brothers lived next door to the school on the second floor of what was then the Maurice Funeral Home.

The Steiners were a musical family, with many playing multiple instruments.  Edwin Steiner played the French horn in the Monroe Cornet Band, the American Legion Drum & Bugle Corps,(Carl F. Payson Post 60), and the Monroe Civic Orchestra.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Steiner in the area's history