Located in Wayne County, Ecorse is named after the Ecorse River. Formerly named "River Aux Echorches", which means "The River of the Barks" in English, it was originally used as a burial ground for the Native American tribes of the area, and later settled by the French in the last two decades of the 18th century. Parts of the organized township were incorporated as a village in the 1820s. Ecorse became a significant economic force in the region when its first steel mill, Michigan Steel Mill, began operation in 1923.