Aronson Island is named after A.V. “Art” Aronson, who served the city of Escanaba for 39 years, first as city engineer and then as city manager.
Aronson was a driving force behind the creation of the Escanaba Marina, for which the island served as a barrier against the open waters of Lake Michigan. In 1936, Aronson oversaw the digging of a channel to the south of Sand Point.
Using huge barges called “sand suckers,” Sand Point was extended and filled and Sand Island was created out of lake bottomland. The city received financial help from the federal Works Progress Administration, designed to provide jobs in an effort to reduce the impact of the Great Depression.
The island remained little more than a sand bar until the late 1970s, when it was upgraded by the city in conjunction with private donors and state and federal grants.
In recognition of Aronson’s role in its creation, the newly-beautified Sand Island was renamed “Aronson Island” by the Escanaba City Council in 1981.
