The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant Museum stands as a Michigan Historic Site and National Historic Landmark. It is the first factory that Henry Ford built for Ford Motor Co. The building has stood for 120+ years and yet it still has a huge role to play in contibuting to a new generation of automotive pioneers.
Jill Woodward, President & CEO of the museum, is proud to tout a worldwide visitor base of more than 30,000. They host daily docent tours and accomodate 4,500 school student visits each year.
In summer of 2025 they launch the Automotive Foundations program. This weekend workshop invited students ages 14-21 to learn about the early mechanical simplicity of the Model T and other vehicles of that era. They were able to compare and contrast early combustion and electrical motors. The goal was to illustrate how, though some technology has advanced, there are a lot of common themes through the design and engineering of these vehicle compared to today.
Daniel Hodges, founder of Meknology LLC, leads the program as Piquette's first Engineer-in-Residence. Driven by the findings of the Flint Water Crisis, his company is looking at ways that we can all improve the condition of our water systems. He brings his own unique experiences from his personal journey, citing encouraging influences along the way. His goal is to tie together the past, present and future of automotive technlogy. He hopes to teach stewardship and sustainability to the next generation of mobility leaders.
John McPike participated in the program. It blended his love for mechanics and his appreciation of history (rare for a 14 year old). He had a bit of a head start as his family are already avid Piquette volunteers, so he has been around Model Ts all of his life.
MotorCities Deputy Director, Brian Yopp sat down with Jill, Dnaiel and John to discuss the program. Check out the video interview here
Learn more about the program and how to sign up for summer 2026 at the museum's website.
MotorCities wants to spotlight the variety of programs offered by our partners, who are preserving, educating and promoting our automotive and labor heritage in mnay ways. Watch this space quarterly to see additional partner programs featured.
Our first featured program is Gilmore Garage Works. Located on the campus of the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, this after-school program takes place twice a week and trains high school students on key auto restoration and repair skills on actual vehicles from the museum's extensive collection.
To learn more about this program, check out this video hosted by MotorCities' Deputy Director Brian Yopp with the Gilmore Garage Works team and two recent student participants.
For more than a year encompassing 2022 and part of 2023, MotorCities' board and staff listened to members, key partners and other stakeholders both in-person and via a variety of online surveys about our future direction. The team then worked with Holland, Michigan-based interSector Partners L3C to process all the data and produce a new three-year Strategic Plan.
Click to review the PDF: 2024-2026 MotorCities Strategic Plan
Welcome to our new collection of Automotive Heritage Itineraries, presented via partnership with the destination marketing organizations throughout our National Heritage Area! Explore an array of attractions and experiences, along with food and lodging options where appropriate, for the many "MotorCities" you'll encounter over our 16 counties of Michigan.
We hope you'll enjoy "A Day in the MotorCities," or perhaps two, three or even a week!
We start with our Capital Area, presented with our partners at Choose Lansing:
A Day in the MotorCities -- Choose Lansing!
Check back periodically, as we add more itineraries to this page.