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Local Attractions
Automotive
Hall of Fame
The Automotive Hall of Fame, just northwest of the Henry Ford Museum on Oakwood
Boulevard south of Michigan Avenue, is designed to be a visitor attraction and
educational resource. It is the only international hall of fame for the motor
vehicle industry.
Interactive exhibits and one-on-one demonstrations spotlight achievements of
inductees including the likes of Henry Ford, Louis Chevrolet, Walter P.
Chrysler, Yutaka Katayama and the Opel Brothers, to name a few.
Industrialists, automotive designers, engineers, pioneers of auto racing are all
a part of the mix that make up the illustrious group of industry leaders who are
honored in the Automotive Hall of Fame.
Tickets are $6 general admission, $5 for ages 62 and over, $3 for children ages
5-18 and free for ages 4 and under.
Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. It is open seven days a week Memorial Day-Oct. 31 and
closed Mondays Nov. 1-Memorial Day.
Its website is
www.automotivehalloffame.org.
For more information, call 1-313-240-4000.
Dearborn
Historical Museum
Two of the Dearborn Historical Museum’s three buildings are among the oldest in
the state. These two and two others nearby are the four remaining structures or
parts thereof of the old Detroit Arsenal (see listing below).
The Commandant’s Quarters on the northeast corner of Michigan and Monroe was
built in 1833 and is among the 10 oldest buildings in the state. The facility is
maintained as a public historical site.
The lower level of the McFadden-Ross House, 915 Brady, was originally the powder
magazine of the arsenal, built in 1839. The building is maintained as a
historical facility and houses the archives section of the museum upstairs. The
other museum building is the main office directly north of the McFadden-Ross
House.
Tours of both historic buildings are available.
The museum’s large archive section focuses mostly on the history of Dearborn and
its people. An informed staff is available to help with research. Use of the
archives is free and open to the public.
The museum and archive are open to the public 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays
May-October and 1-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, November-April. It is closed on
Sundays.
For more information on the museum or archives, call
1-313-565-3000.
Henry Ford Birthplace Park
A small park on the southeast corner of Ford Road and Greenfield outside Henry
Ford Village is dedicated to the birthplace of Henry Ford.
The landscaped park includes information on several markers about Henry Ford.
Admission is free.
Henry Ford Estate-Fair Lane
The Henry Ford Estate-Fair Lane, on the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus,
is the only national historic landmark home in Michigan open to the public.
The estate was originally home to the automotive pioneer and his wife, Clara,
from 1915 until their respective deaths in 1947 and 1950. Intensive restoration
and preservation efforts have been going on in recent years.
A restored powerhouse with vintage vehicles in its garage is one of the central
attractions at the Henry Ford Estate.
While small in comparison the homes of other auto magnates, Fair Lane is
considered the original estate upon which the others were created in order to
outdo Henry Ford.
The estate is open to visitors year-round. Daily 90-minute tours, guided by
knowledgeable volunteers and staff members, give a complete view of the
residence and the powerhouse.
Tour fees are $10 adults, $9 for senior citizens and students,
$6 children ages 5-12, and free for
children under 4.
Tour hours for January-March;
Tuesday-Friday at 1:30 p.m. only. Sunday tours begin at 1:00 p.m. and
run every half hour until 4:30 p.m.
Tour hours for April-December:
Tuesday-Saturday: 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Sunday tours begin at 1:00 p.m. and run every half hour until 4:30
p.m.
Year-round office hours are:
Tuesday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Another attraction is the Pool Restaurant, in the room that used to house the
mansion’s swimming pool. The restaurant is open to the public 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Tuesday-Friday.
During the summer, visitors can follow the Ford Discovery Trail, a self-guided
45-minute walking tour of the home’s garden and grounds. The $2 Discovery Trail
charge pays for the illustrated map that guides visitors to some of the unusual
features of the estate, including a 19th century root cellar, the Ford
boathouse, greenhouse and tree house and a 300-year-old oak tree.
The Henry Ford Estate and the University of Michigan-Dearborn are on Evergreen
Road between Ford Road and Michigan Avenue.
For more information on the estate, call 1-313-593-5590
or visit online at
www.henryfordestate.org.
The Henry Ford
The Henry Ford was founded by Henry Ford in 1929 as a home for America’s
heritage of ingenuity, innovation and enterprise. It explores the sweeping
changes that transformed America from a rural, agrarian society into an urban,
industrial nation.
The facility lies on 93 acres, including 12 acres of museum floor space.
Historical information spans more than 300 years, from the 1600s to the present.
The Henry Ford Museum is patterned after Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It
features short-term, long-term and permanent exhibits showing America’s progress
in industry.
Greenfield Village features more than 80 homes, workplaces and community
buildings from throughout America’s history and from all over the nation.
Among the better known exhibits are Henry Ford’s birthplace, Thomas Edison’s
Menlo Park laboratory, the Wright Brothers’ home and cycle shop, and the chair
Abraham Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated.
Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village is on Village Road between Oakwood
Boulevard and the Southfield Freeway.
The facilities are open every day but Thanksgiving and Christmas. The interiors
of the village buildings are closed to the public from January to mid-March.
Tickets for the museum are $14.00 general admission, $13.00 for senior citizens
age 62 and over, $10.00 for children ages 5-12 and free for children ages 4 and
under. Admission to the Village is $20.00 general admission, $9.00 for senior
citizens, $14.00 for children ages 5-12. and free for ages 4 and under. Season
passes are available for families and individuals.
Its website is
www.thehenryford.org.
For more information, call 1-313-271-1620.
IMAX Theatre
An IMAX theater, attached to the southwest corner of the Henry Ford Museum,
offers films on a large scale, some in 3-D. It features a 60-by-84-foot flat
screen and wrap-around IMAX digital sound.
Admission to the IMAX Theatre is separate from the museum. Ticket prices vary
depending on the film. Museum/IMAX ticket packages are available.
For more information, call 1-800-747-4629 or
1-313-271-1570.
Little Red Schoolhouse
The most noteworthy historical building in Dearborn Heights is the Wallaceville
Little Red Schoolhouse, on Kinmore, south of Ann Arbor Trail (behind the Church
of St. Sabina).
The original schoolhouse was the Hickcox Log Cabin, built around 1824 on Gulley
just north of the Rouge River, by early landowner Joseph Hickcox.
John B. Wallace bought the land and schoolhouse from Hickcox in 1836. As a small
village developed, the area soon came to be known as Wallaceville.
Fire destroyed the log cabin in 1876. The current brick structure was quickly
built on the same site. The school continued to be used until 1938, when a
large, new Wallaceville School was opened to accommodate the growing community.
After a variety of miscellaneous uses for 15 years, this building was renovated
in 1953 and again used for classes. The building, then called Hawthorne School,
housed classes December 1954-June 1960, after which it was again closed. Neglect
and vandalism hit the building during the next five years.
The city of Dearborn Heights leased the school from the North Dearborn Heights
School District in November 1965 for use as a public museum, which it continues
as today.
Tours of the facility and nearby cemetery are available to groups and schools.
For more information, call the Dearborn Heights Parks & Recreation Department at
1-313-277-7900.
Arab American National Museum
They're unique among the 15,000
museums in the US, being the only one to interpret and celebrate the
heritage and contributions to the US of the Arab American community.
The Arab American National Museum
collects, documents, and preserves objects that help illustrate the
Arab American experience. Our permanent collection includes: art,
three-dimensional artifacts, documents, personal papers, and
photographs that were created by, owned, primarily used by, or that
illustrate the Arab American experience. Almost all of the objects in
the permanent collection have entered or will enter the collection
through the generosity of individuals and communities, making the
collection truly reflective of the diverse lives and histories of Arab
Americans.
Details on the museum are at
www.theaanm.org
or 1-313-582-AANM.
Other Historical Sites
Ford Rouge Plant
The first section of the Ford Rouge Plant was built in 1916 along the Rouge
River in southeast Dearborn to build Eagle Boats. Henry Ford expanded this
facility into a major automotive producing center starting in 1920.
At its peak, the complex employed more than 100,000 people.
Past Historical Sites
Detroit Arsenal
The Detroit Arsenal was a small military installation north of what is today
Michigan Avenue at Monroe. It operated 1833-75.
The arsenal has its origins in an 1818 treaty the Americans signed with the
British. This treaty required the U.S. arsenal at Detroit to be moved to at
least 10 miles away from the center of the channel of the Detroit River by
Detroit. The government bought land along the Rouge River in Dearborn near the
old Ten Eyck Tavern as a possible site for that facility. Work on the new
arsenal began in 1833 with Lt. Joshua Howard named commander.
The new location for the arsenal was in a newly created but as yet unnamed
township. Howard recommended naming it after Major Gen. Henry Dearborn, whom
Howard had served under previously. Dearborn was a Revolutionary War and War of
1812 hero who died a few years before. The suggestion was accepted. The post
office used this name for its branch that opened near the military arsenal March
7, 1833. The post office was called Dearbornville as was the hamlet around it.
The new Detroit Arsenal was completed in 1839. Its main purpose originally was
to repair artillery and rifles used by the military.
The 11-building arsenal had a wall 12 feet high and 30 inches thick connecting
10 of the buildings, creating a fort. The 11th building was the powder magazine
(today the McFadden-Ross House on Brady), built a short distance away in case of
explosion. The arsenal’s main entrance was on Monroe Street north of Michigan
Avenue. The walls ran along the north sides of Michigan Avenue and Garrison
Street and the mid-lines of the blocks between Monroe and Mason and Monroe and
Oakwood.
At its peak use during the Civil War, nearly 75 men and officers staffed the
arsenal. It was used during the war as a training center for recruits and a
rendezvous for soldiers of the North’s rapidly expanding army.
When the war ended, the country’s western frontier was hundreds of miles farther
west than before the war. The need for the arsenal diminished. The government
closed it in 1875.
Four buildings of the arsenal or parts thereof remain today: the Commandant’s
Quarters and the Power Magazine are used by the Dearborn Historical Museum. (See
listing above for more information.)
The other two are the Sutler’s Shop, built in 1835, on the northeast corner of
Monroe and Garrison, and the Gun Carriage Shop, built in 1836 and now housing
the classical music section of Dearborn Music on Monroe Street. The second floor
of this building was added after the arsenal closed.
Ford Airport
Ford Airport was the best known of the early airports in this area. It is now
the site of the Ford Proving Ground and Ford Test Track, bounded by Oakwood
Boulevard, Village Road and the Southfield Freeway. Rotunda Drive at the time
did not continue west past Southfield.
Ford Airport opened in November 1924 and had two intersecting runways. The first
Ford airplane factory was also on this site. The heyday of the airport was in
the late 1920s and first years of the 1930s. The Dearborn Inn opened as the
Airport Inn July 1, 1931, and was one of the first hotels in the world built
specifically to serve a nearby airport.
A dirigible mooring was constructed on the site to handle the floating airships,
although only two dirigibles, one Army and one Navy, ever docked at it.
Henry Ford’s interest in aviation waned in the early 1930s. The Ford Air
Transport Service’s last flight was in 1932. The field was used sporadically for
local flights for the 15 or so years. The airport officially closed Oct. 21,
1947. The passenger terminal was razed Aug. 11, 1961.
Ford Rotunda
The Ford Rotunda was originally part of the Chicago Century of Progress
Exposition, held in 1934.
Henry Ford had the Rotunda dismantled and brought to Dearborn in 1936. It was
reassembled on the land bounded by Rotunda Drive and Schaefer Road, across the
street from the former Ford World Headquarters. The Rotunda officially opened
here May 15, 1936.
The building was closed at the start of World War II. It was reopened June 16,
1953, with a new exhibit after the building was remodeled.
The facility burned down Nov. 9, 1962. The fire caused $15 million worth of
damage. The building was a total loss. The land was cleared of the rubble. It
remains unused today.
St. Joseph’s Retreat
For eight decades, St. Joseph’s Retreat anchored what is now the northeast
corner of Outer Drive and Michigan Avenue. The old red-colored building was
erected in 1885 by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul for patients
suffering from emotional and mental illnesses. It was the first private mental
hospital in Michigan.
The original site was an old-fashioned farmhouse near Downtown Detroit, built in
1860 and known as the Michigan State Retreat and the Michigan Asylum. The name
was changed in 1883 to St. Joseph’s Retreat. It moved to Dearborn in 1885.
St. Joseph’s Retreat had the first telephone in Dearborn. It was installed in
1889 and was connected to a special phone line running along Michigan Avenue
from Detroit to Ypsilanti.
At first, the retreat grounds covered 140 acres from Michigan Avenue to Cherry
Hill. The facility served the indigent and those with alcohol problems. In 1945,
it was reorganized from an asylum-type institution to a modern mental hospital.
During the 1940s and 1950s, sections of the land were sold or donated for other
uses, including the current Dearborn High School. By 1960, the hospital grounds
were only 31 acres.
The facility closed Feb. 1, 1962, and razed later that year. A historical marker
on the northeast corner of Outer Drive and Michigan Avenue commemorates this
part of Dearborn history.
State-Registered Historical Sites
• Commandants’ Quarters, Detroit Arsenal (Michigan Avenue at Monroe).
• Dearborn Hills Golf Club (Telegraph north of Michigan Avenue).
• Dearborn Inn and Colonial Homes (20301 Oakwood Blvd.).
• Ford Airport, William B. Stout (north side of Stout Middle School, Rotunda at
Oakwood).
• Ford Rouge complex.
• Fordson High School.
• Greenfield Village & Henry Ford Museum.
• Henry Ford birthplace (southeast corner Ford Road at Greenfield).
• Henry Ford Estate-Fair Lane.
• Charles A. Kandt House (22331 Morley).
• St. Alphonsus Parish.
• St. Joseph’s Retreat (northeast corner Outer Drive and Michigan Avenue).
• Springwells Municipal Building (Dearborn City Hall).
• The Lapham Home (22110 Morley).
• Wallaceville School (Little Red Schoolhouse, Gulley south of Ann Arbor Trail).
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