Detroit Historical Museum
Encyclopedia
The Detroit Historical Museum is located at 5401 Woodward Avenue in the city's Cultural Center Historic District
in Midtown Detroit. It chronicles the history of the Detroit area from cobblestone streets, 19th century stores, the auto assembly line, toy trains, fur trading from the 18th century, and much more.
Attorney and historian Clarence M. Burton
donated his collections to the Detroit Public Library
in 1914 leading to the development of the Detroit Historical Museum. In December 1921, Burton brought together 19 prominent local historians to found the Detroit Historical Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation of the city’s history. In 1927, membership offices were leased and Society treasurer J. Bell Moran was appointed to set up a museum. A curator was hired and on November 19, 1928, the “highest museum in the world” opened in a one-room suite on the 23rd floor of the Barlum Tower, now the Cadillac Tower
.
On July 24, 1951, the 250th anniversary of Detroit’s founding by Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac
, the new museum was dedicated in an elaborate ceremony. In attendance were such dignitaries as Governor G. Mennen Williams
, Mayor Albert E. Cobo, U.S. Senator
Homer S. Ferguson
, the French and British ambassadors and Detroit native and Nobel Peace Prize
recipient Ralph Bunche
of the United Nations
.
In 1949, the Detroit Historical Museum acquired one of the last commercial sailing vessels on the Great Lakes, the J. T. Wing. It operated the ship as a museum until 1956 when it shuttered because of its deteriorating condition. On July 24, 1961, it was replaced by the Dossin Great Lakes Museum
which opened on Belle Isle Park
as a branch of the Historical Museum devoted to maritime history.
From the 1949 through 2006, the museum also operated Fort Wayne
, a former military installation constructed in 1845 on the banks of the Detroit River
approximately 4 mi (6.4 km) southwest of the city's downtown area. Portions of the fort were deactivated after World War II
and the barracks and fortification was turned over to the City of Detroit to operate as a museum. The remaining parts of the installation were ceded by the army to the city through 1976. In 2006, operation of the fort was given to the Detroit Recreation Department.
Shortly after the death of The Detroit News style columnist Charlotte "Tavy" Stone in 1985, the museum established the Tavy Stone Fashion Library. The library and costume gallery consolidate the museum's holdings on historical costumes and design in space on the second floor.
, its first president. Initially a literary society bent on studying and discussing Detroit history, its direction changed in 1927 when under the leadership of one the DHS directors, J. Bell Moran, the Society founded the Detroit Historical Museum (DHM).
Since the first museum opened in the Barlum Tower as "Detroit's best kept secret," prominent Detroiters as trustees of the Society and the public have added to the collection until today, it has over 200,000 items.
However, by the late 1930s the Society had become more of a social club than a historical Society. In 1941, the Society recruited The Detroit News
columnist George Stark into membership. It was later said the DHS was seeking mention in Stark's daily column, but "what they got was George instead." With J. Bell Moran being called into government service due to the war, George Stark took over the leadership of the DHS and instituted a building campaign in 1942.
By this time, the Museum was in the former Homer Wiliams home on Merrick Street across from what is now the Cass Avenue entrance to the Detroit Public Library
. The Williams home, where future Michigan Governor G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams
grew up, has been replaced by part of the Wayne State University
Campus.
After a 1946 referendum spearheaded by the DHS and the City of Detroit, the City of Detroit Historical Commission was created to manage the Detroit Historical Museum. The Detroit Historical Society turned its collection and sizable building fund over to the city and assumed the role of being the principal outside financial backer to the museum.
Cadillac Division
Clark Street Plant
. In 1998, the Museum opened another permanent exhibition, Frontiers to Factories: Detroiters at Work 1701–1901. This exhibit depicts the city’s first two hundred years, as it grew from a French fur trading post to a major industrial center.
In March 2006, the Detroit Historical Society once again assumed operational responsibility for the Museum, after signing a formal agreement with the City of Detroit. Four months later, the Museum closed for an extensive “Museum Makeover” reopening on September 29, 2006 with six new exhibits, a facility with improved lighting, signage and building upgrades.
Today, the Museum receives more than 250,000 visitors annually, including more than 50,000 school children. Visitors peruse exhibits showcasing more than 300 years of the region’s history – from the time when the French first came to Detroit through the city’s rise.
Cultural Center Historic District
The Cultural Center Historic District is a historic district located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, which includes the Art Center : the Detroit Public Library, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Horace H. Rackham Education Memorial Building were listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
in Midtown Detroit. It chronicles the history of the Detroit area from cobblestone streets, 19th century stores, the auto assembly line, toy trains, fur trading from the 18th century, and much more.
Attorney and historian Clarence M. Burton
Clarence M. Burton
Clarence Monroe Burton was a Detroit lawyer and businessman, historian, and philanthropist.- Early years :...
donated his collections to the Detroit Public Library
Detroit Public Library
The Detroit Public Library is the second largest library system in Michigan by volumes held , and is the 20th largest library system in the United States. It is composed of a Main Library on Woodward Avenue, which houses DPL administration offices, and twenty-three branch locations across the city...
in 1914 leading to the development of the Detroit Historical Museum. In December 1921, Burton brought together 19 prominent local historians to found the Detroit Historical Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation of the city’s history. In 1927, membership offices were leased and Society treasurer J. Bell Moran was appointed to set up a museum. A curator was hired and on November 19, 1928, the “highest museum in the world” opened in a one-room suite on the 23rd floor of the Barlum Tower, now the Cadillac Tower
Cadillac Tower
Cadillac Tower is a Beaux Arts skyscraper designed by the architectural firm of Bonnah & Chaffee located at 65 Cadillac Square in downtown Detroit, Michigan, not far from the Renaissance Center. The building's materials include terra cotta and brick. It was built in 1927 as the Barlum Tower and has...
.
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac was a French explorer and adventurer in New France, now an area of North America stretching from Eastern Canada in the north to Louisiana in the south. Rising from a modest beginning in Acadia in 1683 as an explorer, trapper, and a trader of alcohol...
, the new museum was dedicated in an elaborate ceremony. In attendance were such dignitaries as Governor G. Mennen Williams
G. Mennen Williams
Gerhard Mennen "Soapy" Williams, , was a politician from the US state of Michigan. An heir to a personal grooming products fortune, he was known as "Soapy," and wore a trademark green bow tie with white polka dots....
, Mayor Albert E. Cobo, U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Homer S. Ferguson
Homer S. Ferguson
Homer Samuel Ferguson was a United States Senator from Michigan. He was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Harrison City, Pennsylvania to parents Samuel Ferguson and Margaret Bush Homer Samuel Ferguson (February 25, 1889 December 17, 1982) was a United States Senator from Michigan. He was born in...
, the French and British ambassadors and Detroit native and Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
recipient Ralph Bunche
Ralph Bunche
Ralph Johnson Bunche or 1904December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Palestine. He was the first person of color to be so honored in the history of the Prize...
of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
In 1949, the Detroit Historical Museum acquired one of the last commercial sailing vessels on the Great Lakes, the J. T. Wing. It operated the ship as a museum until 1956 when it shuttered because of its deteriorating condition. On July 24, 1961, it was replaced by the Dossin Great Lakes Museum
Dossin Great Lakes Museum
The Dossin Great Lakes Museum is an historical maritime museum in Detroit, Michigan. Located on The Strand on Belle Isle Park along the Detroit River, this museum places special interest on Detroit's role on national and regional maritime history...
which opened on Belle Isle Park
Belle Isle Park
Belle Isle is a island park in the Detroit River, between the United States mainland and Canada, managed by the Detroit Recreation Department. It is connected to the rest of Detroit, Michigan by the MacArthur Bridge...
as a branch of the Historical Museum devoted to maritime history.
From the 1949 through 2006, the museum also operated Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne (Detroit)
Fort Wayne is located in the city of Detroit, Michigan, at the foot of Livernois Avenue in the Delray neighborhood. The fort is situated on the Detroit River at a point where it is about a mile to the Canadian shore. The original 1848 limestone barracks still stands, as does the 1845 star...
, a former military installation constructed in 1845 on the banks of the Detroit River
Detroit River
The Detroit River is a strait in the Great Lakes system. The name comes from the French Rivière du Détroit, which translates literally as "River of the Strait". The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Detroit and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The river...
approximately 4 mi (6.4 km) southwest of the city's downtown area. Portions of the fort were deactivated after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the barracks and fortification was turned over to the City of Detroit to operate as a museum. The remaining parts of the installation were ceded by the army to the city through 1976. In 2006, operation of the fort was given to the Detroit Recreation Department.
Shortly after the death of The Detroit News style columnist Charlotte "Tavy" Stone in 1985, the museum established the Tavy Stone Fashion Library. The library and costume gallery consolidate the museum's holdings on historical costumes and design in space on the second floor.
Detroit Historical Society
The Detroit Historical Society (DHS)was founded in December, 1921 with prominent Detroit historian Clarence M. BurtonClarence M. Burton
Clarence Monroe Burton was a Detroit lawyer and businessman, historian, and philanthropist.- Early years :...
, its first president. Initially a literary society bent on studying and discussing Detroit history, its direction changed in 1927 when under the leadership of one the DHS directors, J. Bell Moran, the Society founded the Detroit Historical Museum (DHM).
Since the first museum opened in the Barlum Tower as "Detroit's best kept secret," prominent Detroiters as trustees of the Society and the public have added to the collection until today, it has over 200,000 items.
However, by the late 1930s the Society had become more of a social club than a historical Society. In 1941, the Society recruited The Detroit News
The Detroit News
The Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival Free Press's building. The News absorbed the Detroit Tribune on February 1, 1919, the Detroit Journal on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960,...
columnist George Stark into membership. It was later said the DHS was seeking mention in Stark's daily column, but "what they got was George instead." With J. Bell Moran being called into government service due to the war, George Stark took over the leadership of the DHS and instituted a building campaign in 1942.
By this time, the Museum was in the former Homer Wiliams home on Merrick Street across from what is now the Cass Avenue entrance to the Detroit Public Library
Detroit Public Library
The Detroit Public Library is the second largest library system in Michigan by volumes held , and is the 20th largest library system in the United States. It is composed of a Main Library on Woodward Avenue, which houses DPL administration offices, and twenty-three branch locations across the city...
. The Williams home, where future Michigan Governor G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams
G. Mennen Williams
Gerhard Mennen "Soapy" Williams, , was a politician from the US state of Michigan. An heir to a personal grooming products fortune, he was known as "Soapy," and wore a trademark green bow tie with white polka dots....
grew up, has been replaced by part of the Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
Campus.
After a 1946 referendum spearheaded by the DHS and the City of Detroit, the City of Detroit Historical Commission was created to manage the Detroit Historical Museum. The Detroit Historical Society turned its collection and sizable building fund over to the city and assumed the role of being the principal outside financial backer to the museum.
Recent history
By the 1990s, the Museum rode a wave of success. In 1993, the Detroit Historical Society raised nearly $4 million for exhibits, educational programs and an endowment fund for the Museum. A new permanent exhibit, made possible by the success of the campaign, opened in 1995 – The Motor City Exhibition. This exhibit traces Detroit’s development into the Automobile Capital of the World and includes an operating assembly line with a two-story body drop from the General MotorsGeneral Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
Cadillac Division
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
Clark Street Plant
Detroit Assembly
Detroit Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Detroit, Michigan. Originally opened as Cadillac Fleetwood Assembly in 1921, the factory produced Cadillacs and closed on December 23, 1987, whereupon production of Cadillac's D-bodies moved to Arlington Assembly in Texas...
. In 1998, the Museum opened another permanent exhibition, Frontiers to Factories: Detroiters at Work 1701–1901. This exhibit depicts the city’s first two hundred years, as it grew from a French fur trading post to a major industrial center.
In March 2006, the Detroit Historical Society once again assumed operational responsibility for the Museum, after signing a formal agreement with the City of Detroit. Four months later, the Museum closed for an extensive “Museum Makeover” reopening on September 29, 2006 with six new exhibits, a facility with improved lighting, signage and building upgrades.
Today, the Museum receives more than 250,000 visitors annually, including more than 50,000 school children. Visitors peruse exhibits showcasing more than 300 years of the region’s history – from the time when the French first came to Detroit through the city’s rise.