25 MotorCities Programs
Wayside Exhibit Program
MotorCities National Heritage Area covers 10,000 square miles, touching parts of 16 counties and 1 Canadian province. The story is even broader, touching every element of communities from its roads to its homes and people. The wayside exhibit program seeks to tell the stories of the people, places and ideas that made these communities and our region great. The project started with a grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation via the Federal Highway Administration. The project was truly driven by the people of these local communities who dug deep into their archives and treasure troves of memories to immortalize their stories. Since 2008, we have installed 270 of these interpretive exhibits around the heritage area, and there is no end in sight. Learn more here.
The Creation of the MakingTracks Website
The auto industry provided a new opportunity for those who lived in Michigan, as well as those who traveled from near and far. MakingTracks.org looks back at the African American experience in the auto industry. This culture represented the migration of workers and families to the Motor Cities. Their work was hard, and their paths were not smooth. The website talks about adjustment to the north; the climate in their communities and treatment at their jobs. It also highlights the triumphs and tragedies of a people who contributed to building the auto industry.
Ford Piquette Plant Museum
One of the things that draws visitors to the MotorCities National Heritage Area is the authenticity of the historic resources. There is no place in the world with a higher concentration of automotive and labor sites. One site that truly reflects the efforts of the heritage area is the Ford Piquette Plant Museum. This is the first factory that Henry Ford built for the Ford Motor Company. It is the birthplace of the famed Model T, the vehicle credited with making auto ownership an affordable reality in the early 20th century. Over the years, MotorCities has supported projects like its master planning, facade restoration, roof repair and fire suppression system. All of these projects assure that this National Historic Landmark is there for the tens of thousands who visit each year from around the globe. They relish standing in the same space where ideas and innovation changed the world.
Michigan Auto Heritage Day
In 2014, MotorCities launched Michigan Auto Heritage Day. This day has also featured the annual MotorCities Awards of Excellence, which recognize outstanding auto-related projects from across the region that have excelled in heritage tourism, preservation or education. The launch of the special day also marked the creation of the Michigan Legislative Automotive Caucus. It is difficult not to find a person who is not touched by the auto industry in Michigan, so it is not hard to understand why this caucus makes sense to a legislature that boasts more than a century of automotive history.
Highland Recreation Area
Though we work at it everyday, it is difficult to frame how influential the auto industry has been on our culture and way of life. Just one example is our concept of recreation. The advancement of cars necessitated roads, and roads connected cities and people. The ability to travel with relative ease allowed those who were now making a fair income to drive their new automobiles to places that would have otherwise entailed many hours of travel. The idea of road trips and weekend getaways was far more attainable. Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford, was able to have a second "getaway" home called Haven Hill in what is now White Lake. This land is now part of the State of Michigan's Highland Recreation Area, having been donated by Eleanor Ford. The property entailed a number of buildings (garage, barn, lodge house, etc.). Though some of those structures have been lost or compromised, there is still a story of an auto magnate and his family sitting by the fire in the lodge or their children running through the trails. The Friends of Highland Recreation Area endeavor to tell that story. Over the years, MotorCities has supported multiple grants to restore and repair parts of the property, as well as installing interpretive signage throughout. Visitors today can stand where Edsel Ford's lodge stood and think back to how he and his family took a little break at what he called his "nerve retreat."
Packard Proving Grounds
It is difficult to imagine a time when icons like Chevrolet, Buick, Chrysler, Olds, Dodge, Ford and Leland were all working to find their place in this relatively new automotive industry. Whether it was cost, style, audience or craftsmanship, they were all contemporaries who were fighting to distinguish themselves from their competition. One name that stood out and became synonymous with luxury and reliability was Packard. The company began manufacturing in 1899. With the Packard Plant in Detroit undergoing demolition now, the only vestige of the Packard Motor Car Company that remains is its proving grounds in Shelby Township. Not to be overlooked was the need for these auto companies to test their innovations in a controlled, yet real world setting. Originally, this 560-acre site was the place where Packard would test their vehicles for reliability and comfort in order to ensure buyer satisfaction. Today, the Packard Motor Car Foundation operates 14 acres of the original property, which was gifted by Ford Motor Company. This portion of land includes the remaining historic structures (lodge, engineering building, garage, hangar), and MotorCities has supported grants for restoration or renovation of many of those structures. It is easy to stand in the garage and imagine the work that went into calibrating the highest quality. If you ever question the quality of a Packard, as their ads stated, simply "Ask the man who owns one."
MotorCities Kidz/Stephen Yokich Education Program
The story of the automotive industry has touched many generations. It has built communities and allowed families to flourish. The appreciation for the accomplishments of auto and labor must be passed along so as not to be forgotten. That was the exact intent in 2002 when the UAW began their support of MotorCities' educational programming. The educational outreach was aptly titled the Stephen Yokich Education Program, in honor of the former UAW President who had recently passed away. The goal was to bring these stories of ideas, innovation, social change, triumph and tragedy to schools across the region. After the first wave of schools engaged, the program expanded to a web-based curriculum called MotorCities KidZ, which served to inspire a new generation of auto enthusiasts.
The Cherry Hill Village Center in Canton
Every preservation project begins at a different point and may launch with different motivations. Some are emergency intercessions that literally make the difference between saving a building and letting it crumble. Others are an opportunity to reclaim a piece of history that may have lost its luster. In the case of the Cherry Hill Village Center in Canton, the motivation was to restore an original Henry Ford Village Industry site to its former prominence. In 2012, the Partnership for the Arts & Humanities acquired the Cherry Hill factory, one of Ford's famed factories, where he didn't just develop the production facility, but the entire surrounding area. There would often be schools and homes built near these factories to accommodate children and families. In the case of Cherry Hill, Ford purchased the dormitory for disabled veterans working at the factory, which supplied parts to the larger Willow Run Plant. We are proud to have supported multiple grants over the years from master planning to window replacements. The Partnership has restored the factory and dormitory building with the purpose of providing services and programming for veterans again.
The Passport Program
Passport seekers travel the country from Alaska to the Everglades and from Niagara Falls to Pearl Harbor, collecting stamps and making memories. Since 2004, passport seekers have also been able to visit many of the sites around our heritage area to receive a coveted stamp the same as what would be available at any other National Park Service site. For a number of years, our MotorCities attractions offering a stamp have been collected in their own book form. It is a great honor to be recognized on a national level for the stories of the people, places and ideas that put the world on wheels. Visitors travel from near and far for the authentic auto heritage experience. For many visitors, these places are at the heart of our story and being official sites on the NPS passport listing makes them all the more alluring.
Fort Street Bridge Interpretive Park
On October 22, 2020, a group of community partners known as the Fort-Rouge Gateway Partnership (FRoG), along with government officials including Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, the Friends of the Rouge (FOTR) and funders, cut the ribbon and opened the new Fort Street Bridge Interpretive Park, located at the foot of the new Fort Street Bridge in southwest Detroit. On March 7, 1932, during the Great Depression, auto workers organized a march from Detroit to the Ford Rouge Factory in Dearborn. Known as the Ford Hunger March, the event was one of the most significant events leading to the creation of the United Auto Workers union. Five protesting workers were killed in a clash with Ford security and Dearborn Police. The park, which culminated years of work by MotorCities and the FRoG partnership, ensures that the history of the Hunger March, the significance of the original bridge and its importance to the region is now recognized.
MotorCities At Home/MotorCities On The Road
In the Fall of 2019, MotorCities launched a Speakers Bureau, a resource for groups around the region to learn more about us and automotive history. The idea was to book presentations for groups like libraries, local historical societies and others for in-person experiences.
And then in March 2020, the pandemic happened.
Suddenly, all of the momentum generated by the launch came to a screeching halt, and the first wave of scheduled presentations had to be cancelled or postponed. In May, MotorCities At Home was launched, a way to share the same Speakers Bureau presentations – but virtually via Zoom. In 2020, 10 of these presentations were offered with an average of 50 to 100 guests for each session.
Since then, an additional 15 presentations have taken place, and the series was rebranded in the Fall of 2022 as MotorCities On The Road after the pandemic to facilitate evolving to do both in-person and virtual programs. Each session is now broadcasted via Facebook Live and posted for anytime viewing on MotorCities’ YouTube channel.
Sloan Museum of Discovery
In July of 2022, the new Sloan Museum of Discovery opened to the public after a five-year $30 million reinvention. The new Museum combined elements of the previous Sloan Museum, including Flint’s history and the story of the birth of General Motors, with an interactive, more STEM-focused set of galleries and experiences. MotorCities played its part in the reinvention process, providing a grant in support of a new permanent exhibit on the construction of I-475 and its positive and negative effects on the Flint community.
COMING IN JANUARY: Watch for the start of our next series featuring 25 MotorCities Champions over our quarter century!
25 MotorCities Champions - Coming in January!