Detroit's history runs far deeper than the assembly line: a French fort of 1701, a Civil War star fort, the last crossing of the Underground Railroad, and the brick loft where the Model T was born. Three days tracing frontier outpost to Arsenal of Democracy.
Cadillac's 1701 landing, the fur-trade era and the 1805 fire that levelled the settlement, told through the Streets of Old Detroit — full-scale cobbled lanes and shopfronts rebuilt in the basement. Open Thu–Sun 10:00–17:00.
Founded 26 July 1701, two days after Cadillac stepped ashore, this is the second-oldest continuously operating Catholic parish in the United States. The 1887 Gothic Revival church holds Father Gabriel Richard's tomb and 1818 stained glass.
A star-shaped brick fort begun in 1842 against a British invasion that never came, still holding its limestone barracks, a Civil War mustering ground where Michigan regiments shipped south, and a 1,000-year-old Anishinaabe burial mound.
Detroit's oldest non-denominational burying ground, laid out in 1846 across the ravine of Bloody Run, where Pontiac's warriors ambushed British troops in 1763. Governors, Civil War generals and Underground Railroad conductors lie here.
Twelve acres under one roof: the Rosa Parks bus from Montgomery, the chair Lincoln was shot in, Kennedy's presidential limousine and the 1896 Quadricycle that Ford built in a Bagley Avenue shed. Open daily 09:30–17:00.
The 1913 Beaux-Arts terminal stood roofless and gutted for thirty years as the emblem of Detroit's collapse. Ford's $950 million restoration reopened it in June 2024 with the waiting room's Guastavino tile vaults rebuilt tile by tile.
The 1904 brick loft where the first 12,000 Model Ts were built. The secret experimental room in which Henry Ford designed the car survives with its original blackboard wall, and some 65 pre-1910 vehicles fill the wooden floors.
Robert Graham's 24-foot bronze fist hangs on chains at Jefferson and Woodward, unveiled in 1986. Five minutes west on the riverfront stands the Gateway to Freedom, marking where escaping enslaved people crossed to Windsor.
The largest institution devoted to African American history anywhere. The And Still We Rise walkthrough runs from a slave-ship hold to the Great Migration, the Detroit factories and the 1967 rebellion, beneath a 100-foot glass dome.
Farmers have traded here since 1891 and the six sheds form the largest historic public market district in the United States. Shed 2 and Shed 3 keep their 1920s brick and steel, ringed by working wholesale butchers and spice houses.
Mary Chase Perry Stratton's 1903 Arts and Crafts pottery still fires the iridescent glazes that tile the Guardian Building, Detroit churches and the People Mover stations. The 1907 Tudor Revival kiln house is open to visitors.
Three blocks of 1895–1915 mansions built for Ford, Dodge and Hudson executives, many designed by Albert Kahn and Louis Kamper. Cast-iron street signs, carriage houses and coach lanes survive on Burns, Iroquois and Seminole.