Grand Island

Grand Island has been home to the Attawandaron Nation and an acquisition of both French and English colonial pursuits. In 1945, Grand Island was part of a plan to make a new World Peace Capital on the international border between Southern Ontario, Canada, and Western New York. The plan proposed placing the United Nations headquarters on adjacent Navy Island (Ontario), which was considered an ideal location because it lay on the boundary between two peaceful countries. An artist's rendering of the World Peace Capital showed the property with bridges spanning both countries (between Grand Island in the United States and the Canadian mainland). The proposal was turned down in favor of the current U.N. headquarters in New York City.

The town of Grand Island is in the northwestern corner of Erie County, and on the Canada–US border, although there is no river crossing to Canada.