Welcome to MotorCities National Heritage Area (MotorCities), where you can Experience Everything Automotive! We invite you to join us as we take a drive down memory lane, gaze into the future and share with you an amazing automotive journey.
Pull out a calendar, road map and pen, and let the fun begin! We invite you to browse the many wonderful automotive museums, homes and gardens, tours and sporting events located in MotorCities and plot your path through the heart of the American automotive industry. If you need help, we're ready to jump in! Whether your visit lasts a few hours or a few days, you are guaranteed an exciting variety of places to see and things to do.
With over 100 sites and experiences waiting to be explored, go ahead and choose your category of interest - and get ready to Experience Everything Automotive!
The Canada Southern Railroad brought life to Grosse Ile. On top of the accessibility brought by the railway, work brought people. Those who came to Grosse Ile built houses and shops which ended up attracting even more to the area.
The Michigan Central Railroad offered everyday travel to residents and vistors alike to Detroit and other areas. Unfortunately, the Central Railroad could not compete with the automobiles crossing the new Toll Bridge in 1913 and in 1928 it discontinued service.
The result of sediment taken from the bottom of the Detroit River to create room for large freighters, this area once marked the busiest waterway in the world.
The automobile may lie in the heart of Detroit, but industry as a whole exploded in the Great Lakes area in the early 20th century. The Livingstone Channel allowed ships to navigate past the shallow waters near Grosse Ile, further boosting the Great Lakes economy.
This end of the historic Michigan Central Railway brought citizens to and from Detroit three times a day until the beginning of the Great Depression.
One of Ford’s many village industries was built here thanks to the river that flowed through Ypsilanti. This was a big one, with over one million square feet and providing jobs for thousands of people.
Automobile companies couldn’t survive here, but auto parts manufactures had more luck. Ford parts factories, particularly for convertibles, operated in Ypsilanti for decades until moving elsewhere.
Auto dealers sold 31 different brands of cars and trucks during the 1900s. The 1/4-mile was transformed in 1912 into a bustling market when the first dealership opened it's doors. The last dealership closed it's doors in the 1990s.
Why fight between quality and quantity, when you can have both? The General Motors founder followed this philosophy to a fault by combining quality brands like Oldsmobile and Cadillac with so many other subsidiaries that GM was purchasing a company every month at one point. Unfortunately, that practice would also cost him his position at GM.
As Billy Durant was forced out of the company in 1910 and then proceeded to partner with Louis Chevrolet to built yet another automotive empire, the Chevrolet Motor Company. Once the company was brought to Flint in 1912, the area gained the name "Chevy-in-the-hole" because of the companies location in the calley along the Flint River west of downtown.