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!
As the Great Depression hit, tensions ran high as unemployed workers marched through Detroit to Dearborn. The protestors were headed to the Ford Rouge Complex to present their demands for jobs and working conditions. They were confronted by Dearborn police and the march ended in gunfire. Five marchers were killed and four of them were buried in the Woodmere Cemetery, within view of the Rouge complex.
For the Corktown neighborhood, baseball was a blessing that brought millions of people to the streets. As the playing field became a baseball stadium, the streets around it filled with different resturants, bars, shops, and sporting good stores to attract those coming to the baseball games.
When searching for quality bodies for their automobiles, General Motors acquired complete ownership of the Fisher Body Corporation in 1926. The company had the largest and best-equipped body-building plants in the world.
Henry Ford's first exploration into automobiles came when he tinkered with the prototype of the "Quadricycle" in the garage of his home located on Bagley Avenue. In 1896, Ford took his Quadricycle for a spin on the street of Detroit as people passing by stared at this new machine.
When the auto industry started booming in cities, so did the population in the surrounding areas. The Espanore and Westmoreland subdivisions targeted professionals and managers who worked in the city with the 1919 home ownership campaign. This campaign sought to have folks plant their roots in the Westside Neighborhood.
This local eatery will always treat you to a “welcome” at the door. For over 140 years, Haab’s has served Michigan Ave in Ypsilanti.
Breakfast food and history come together in this Ypsilanti restaurant, which got its name from the nearby B-24 bomber plant during World War II.
The Ypsilanti-based automaker tried to capture the post-WWII auto market with his “car of tomorrow,” the Tucker 48. Legal troubles, however, put an early end to production.
Carl Miller famously sold Hudson cars here for 25 years up until 1958, as the last Hudson dealership in the world.