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Site 8 I 96 EB ramp to I 75 SB Detroit CROPPED and RESIZEDI-275 Northbound at US-12 Michigan Avenue in Canton
Drivers around the Michigan are likely to notice something new along the highways -- those familiar brown National Park Service signs with a message welcoming them to the MotorCities National Heritage Area! The first nine signs were installed in November and December 2019 and are the culmination of many years of work with the Michigan Department of Transportation. An additional five signs were added in the Spring of 2020 to bring the total to 14!

Site 6 WB I 96 before US 127 RESIZEDWestbound I-96 before US 127 near Lansing

You can find the signs at the following locations:

  • Southbound I-75 before the Mt. Morris exit north of Flint;
  • Eastbound I-69 near Lansing Road northeast of Lansing;
  • Eastbound I-96 near the I-69 interchange northwest of Lansing;
  • Eastbound I-96 near the US 127 interchange southeast of Lansing;
  • Westbound I-96 near the US 127 interchange southeast of Lansing;
  • Westbound I-94 before the M-59 exit in Chesterfield Twp.;
  • Eastbound I-96 on the ramp to southbound I-75 in Detroit;
  • Northbound I-75 on the ramp to westbound I-96 in Detroit;
  • Northbound I-75 near Monroe-Wayne County border;
  • Northbound US-23 near Exit 15 in Dundee;
  • Northbound I-75 just south of the Michigan Ave. exit in Detroit;
  • Southbound I-75 just north of West Grand Blvd. in Detroit;
  • Northbound I-275 at the Michigan Ave. exit in Canton;
  • Eastbound I-94 near US 127 interchange in Jackson;
  • And Northbound US-23 just south of the I-94 interchange in Ypsilanti.

Site 3 EB I 96 SB I 69 RESIZEDEastbound I-96 near the I-69 interchange

Join Us for our next session coming in November 2022!

Brown Paper Lunch Bag MC

 

Watch our most recent sessions:

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month w/Cindy Estrada of the UAW
Wednesday, October 12, 2022 

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Watch the October 2022 session here.

Building the Auto Industry: The History of Organized Labor
Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Orgzd Labor is Marching WRL.21 Orig

Watch the September 2021 session here.

Individual Members 2025

Robert Andersen
Bruce Annett
John Baker
Larry Baker
Robert Barr
Michael Bauman
John Beck
Joanna Becker
Robert Benko
Sabin Blake
Mallory Bower
Terry Boyce
Paul Bumpus
Robert Burtch
Stephen Burton
Harriet Carter
Robert Causley
Jaclyn Clark
Ed Clemente
John Clor
John Cole
Arnold Collens
Paul Corbett
James Crawford
Chuck Dalton
Michael Darga
John Dau
Randy DeGasperin
Jaqueline Dick
Rich Dobson
Russell Dore
Larry Doyle
Paul Draus
James Dyar
Kenneth Ehrenhofer
David Elsila
Sandra Engle
George Etheridge
Reynolds Farley
Lila Fedokovitz
Nancy Finegood
Frederick Flock
James Fry
Lloyd Ganton
Harvey Geiger
John Gilbert
James A. Glaefke
Peter Glendinning
Donald Graham
Ron Grantz
The Grassroots Historian
Elayne Gross
Allen Grzebyk
Gerald Haller
Patricia Hallman
Deborah Hartwick
Margaret Hehr
Charlie Henry
Mark Heppner
Dennis Hertel
Fred Hoffman
Arthur Howland
Sue Huggett
Daniel Hughes
Bill Jones
Cynthia Jones
Larry & Eleanor Kelsch
Mary Killeen
Richard Kinsey
Kevin Kirbitz
Jean Knowles
Robert Kreipke
Richard Krueger
William Krueger
Lori Lanspeary
William Lawson
Andrew Leitner
Wade Leonard
Barry Levey
Christine Lezotte 
Gina Liburdi
Terry Lindsey
George Linker
Roger & Joan Luksik
David Marold
Michael Mazor
Kevin McCabe
Anne Michelis
David Miller
Stephen Misterovich
Thomas Mudd
Thomas Mullin
Mark Mundorff
Kathleen Mutch
Bruce Nelson
Nick Nerbonne
Don Nicholson
Bill Nickels
Paul Nieuwenhuis
Anne Partington
David & Rebecca Pettengill
David Pierce
Julie Pingston
Charles Pleier
Shawn Pomaville-Size
Ken Poynter
John Pregler
Jerry Preston
Steve Purdy
Richard Ray
Brian Raymond
Charles Reavis
William Romanski
Joseph Ross
James Saliba
Lyle Saunders 
Marjorie Sawruk
Joe Schotthoefer
Kurt Schumacher
Sharon Scott
Jack Seavitt
Steve Shotwell
The Sinche Family
Michael Skinner
Allan Skoropa
William Smith
Harvey Snitzer
David Stevens
Greg Stoner
John Summerville
Amber Taylor
Randy Thayer
Mark Thomas
Nick Thomas
Nancy Thompson
Robyn Tonkin
Christopher Topham
Richard Tweedle
Michael Twomley
James Varty
Roberta Vasilow
Charles Watson
Ed Weichsler
Christopher Welborn
Thomas Winkes
Geneva Wiskemann
Kenneth Yopp
Paul Zaffarano
Carol Zagorowska 
Nelson Zuchetto


Organizational Members 2025

Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation
ASBE Foundation
Classic Car Club of America Museum
Detroit Historical Society
Don Nicholson Enterprises
Durant Dort Carriage Company National Landmark
Fair Lane, Home of Clara & Henry Ford
Ford House
Ford Piquette Plant Museum
Friends of Durant Park
Friends of Highland Recreation Area (FOHRA)
Gilmore Car Museum
Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society
Grigg Graphic Services, LLC
The Henry Ford
Lambda Car Club International-Detroit Region
Lincoln Motor Car Heritage Museum & Research Foundation
Meadow Brook Estate
Michigan Firehouse Museum
Michigan Military Technical & Historical Society
Michigan Rosies (Rosie the Riveter Association of Michigan)
Model A Ford Foundation
Northville Councours d'Elegance
Oh These Irish Hills!
Packard Motor Car Foundation
Plymouth Historical Museum
Pontiac Transportation Museum
Project Arts and Ideas
R.E. Olds Transportation Museum
Roush Automotive Collection
Saline Area Historical Society
Shunpiker Productions, LLC
Society of Automotive Historians, Leland Chapter
Sloan Museum of Discovery
Stahls Automotive Foundation
Ypsilanti Auto Heritage Museum

MotorCities Automotive Themed Tours Now Available!

MotorCities is partnering with five Detroit-area tour operators to offer public tours related to the automotive or labor heritage of Michigan.  

Tour experiences available vary from walking or riding in a bus to pedaling a bicycle – all while visiting key automotive historical sites and learning the story of how the region put the world on wheels.

Antique Touring photo RESIZED 450    Wheelhouse Detroit Auto Heritage Tour DeQuindre Cut RESIZED AND CROPPED 2022

We are proud to offer the following experiences: 

City Institute

  • City Institute - MotorCities Auto Heritage New Center and Dearborn Walking Tours - On the New Center walking tour, guests will experience the past, present and future of the Detroit area, going back in time with a visit to the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant and speak with some of the innovators who now call these neighborhoods home. This tour is offered on June 22 and August 24. The Dearborn walking tours take place on May 25 and July 27 and provide the opportunity to learn how the past and present of this city are interwoven, get to know the people leading some exciting new projects and see the innovations and adaptations of this important city. For more information, please visit http://thecityinstitute.com/public-tours

City Tour Detroit

  • City Tour Detroit - Becoming the Motor City: A Timeline of Detroit’s Auto History Paul Vachon, author of the Reedy Press book of the same name, guides these tours offered in 2024 on June 22, July 21, Aug 24, and Sept 29. The 3-hour walking tours will also utilize the Detroit People Mover and QLine. For more information, please visit https://citytourdetroit.com/

 

  • Michigan Labor History Society – Detroit Labor History Tours This group offers a free two-hour bus tour in June that drives by the Ford Rouge plant, site of the 1932 Ford Hunger March and the 1937 “Battle of the Overpass” with stops of the Ford Piquette Plant Museum, the Motown Museum and the “Transcending” labor legacy landmark in Hart Plaza. A narrated one-mile walking tour of downtown Detroit is also available. For more information, please visit http://mlhs.wayne.edu/.

Russell Brothers City Tours logo RESIZED

  • Russell Brothers City Tours – Get on board for a fun-filled tour of automotive landmarks in the city of Detroit. Your guide, Emmy-winning TV and radio personality Greg Russell, takes guests to places they may know and some sites they might not. If guests have particular sites they’d like to see, just let Greg know. The tours are informative, insightful and most importantly, fun! For more information, visit https://russellbrotherscitytours.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Wheelhouse Detroit

  • Wheelhouse Detroit - Auto Heritage Bicycle Tour - On this 15-mile tour, guests will discover how Detroit became the center of industry. The tour takes in the Globe Building, Dequindre Cut, Packard Plant, the GM Factory Zero (formerly Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant), Milwaukee Junction, New Center (old GM Headquarters and Fisher Building), and TechTown, where we will learn how industry is evolving with advanced technology. Tour dates are June 23, July 28, August 25, September 22, and October 13. For more information, please visit https://www.wheelhousedetroit.com/auto-heritage.