792 Fort Street
Detroit, MI, USA

Eber B. Ward Mansion

Built in 1869, for Eber Brock Ward (1811-1875), it is not to be confused with the first mansion he built four years earlier across the street at 807 Fort Street that was then occupied by his unmarried sister, Emily. Eber was the son of a Lighthouse Keeper who became known as the "Steamship King of the Great Lakes" and was said to be Detroit's first millionaire leaving at his death a fortune of $6 million....

His mansion was a showpiece of his wealth, built of marble it stood on the corner of 19th and Fort Street. After his death, he left the mansion to his five surviving children by his first marriage with a very paltry $200 a year each. His widow (his second wife who was thirty years his junior) also continued to live there with their two children (including the future Princess de Chimay) until she moved to Europe. In 1883, the mansion was sold to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd who renamed it Good Shepherd House. By the 1930s, the Sisters had grown out of the mansion and moved to new premises. In 2017, the Woodfords wrote: "Long a familiar west side landmark, it stood until comparatively recent years".