Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit, Ghid vizitatori și ce de văzut în apropiere

The Detroit Historical Museum is the city's main museum of local history, on Woodward Avenue at Kirby Street in the Cultural Center area of Detroit. It is run by the Detroit Historical Society and tells how a French fur-trading outpost became the Motor City. It is a good first stop for making sense of the streets around it.

The story behind it

Detroit was founded in 1701 by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, and the museum follows the city from that start through its growth as a centre of industry. The Detroit Historical Society, which runs the museum, was founded in 1921. The museum building on Woodward opened in 1951, the year the city marked its 250th anniversary.

The streets around the museum have their own history. Just to the north, the East Ferry Avenue area grew out of farmland that belonged to the Ferry Seed Company, which its owner D. M. Ferry divided into house lots in the 1880s. Prosperous Detroiters built Queen Anne houses of brick and sandstone there, with bay windows, turrets and wide porches. Some of the matching carriage houses still stand behind them, and several of the old houses have since been converted to other uses, including a small inn.

What to look for

• Look for the exhibit that recreates the streets of 19th-century Detroit, which lets you walk through shopfronts and rooms from the city's past. Check what is currently on display before you go.
• Look for the displays on the car industry, which explain how Detroit became known worldwide as the Motor City.
• Look at the museum's frontage on Woodward Avenue, a mid-20th-century civic building that sits among the other cultural institutions along this stretch.
• Look for the Victorian houses and old carriage houses on the side streets just north, in the East Ferry Avenue area, where brick, sandstone, turrets and porches show how the city's well-off lived in the 1880s.

Tips for your visit

• Allow roughly one to two hours inside, more if you like reading every label. Check current opening hours and admission before you go.
• The museum is indoors, so it works well on a hot or rainy day. Walking the nearby streets is more pleasant in dry weather and good light.
• It sits in the Cultural Center, close to the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Public Library and the Wayne State University campus, so it combines easily with another stop.
• Exhibits change over time, so check the museum's website to see what is currently on show.

See it on a quest

The Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in Cultural Center, Detroit passes through this part of the city. You reach the museum on foot as one stop of a longer route through the area, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot. One ticket covers the whole group.

Fans of secrets and intrigue can try Detroit Detective Mystery: Infiltrate a Secret Society., which also takes you through the area. You walk from place to place, hear about each one as you get there and solve a puzzle in front of you. One ticket covers the whole group.

If you prefer a spookier angle, Ghost Hunt in Detroit works the same way. You follow a self-guided route on your phone, learn about each stop on arrival and solve a puzzle on location. One ticket covers the whole group.