Located at the confluence of the Belle and the St. Clair rivers and surrounded by agricultural land, Marine City prospered from its lumber mills and shipbuilding industry. It was incorporated in 1865. The most prominent historical thoroughfare is Main Street between Jefferson and Woodworth streets, home to major figures in the city's early shipbuilding and shipping industries. Their fine houses date from the 1830s to the 1890s and display the various styles fashionable over the years. Also notable are two extraordinary works: Holy Cross Church (1903–1904; 610 S. Water Street), a pinnacled twin-towered Gothic Revival limestone building by Harry J. Rill, with its St. Michael and the Three-Headed Dragonstained glass window created by the Artistic Glass Painting Company of Cincinnati and installed in 1904; and the orangish-red brick towered Richardsonian Romanesque Marine City Hall (303 S. Water Street) designed by Mason and Rice and built with a theater on the second floor in 1884–1885.
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