In 1679, French explorer Fr. Louis Hennepin planted a cross on the shore of Anchor Bay beside Michigan's Lake St. Clair. There, Ira Township was incorporated on March 11, 1837, and the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church was founded. A settlement called Anchorville, for Anchor Bay, formed around the church. Down the road was another community, first called Swan Creek and later known as Fair Haven. Ira Township was once the nexus for the Interurban Railroad, had one of the first oxen-driven railroads in the state, and has one of the oldest Little League baseball organizations in the country. Shipbuilding has long been a major industry of the area, and the winter carnival known as Shantytown attracts hundreds of ice fishermen to Ira each winter.