Kevin J.
Yelp
I thought I was so special getting in the DHM as a resident of the tri-county area but it wasn't until I logged onto Ye Olde Yelp Site that I realized it's free to everyone. Nice deal for tourists, especially if they've already shelled out for the Detroit Institute of Arts, conveniently located across the street. It's an interesting looking building, mid twentieth century style, looking like a cross between Frank Lloyd Wright and a big concrete bunker. There's a plaza out front on Woodward with the different flags that have flown over Detroit heralding the institution. The entrance is on the side, though, off of Kirby.
When I was a kid The Streets of Old Detroit in the basement seemed magical and otherworldly. Now, as an adult, I dare say they might almost verge on cheesy, but even if I don't feel transported back to the 1840s or 70s or 90s on cobblestone streets, they are a nice nostalgia trip and educational for the young folks. There's also an impressive model train set in the basement and a ton of artifacts from Detroit's late, great sports bar the Lindell AC. I frequented that establishment in the tail end of it's history, after the Tigers had moved from down the block at Michigan and Trumbull to their current digs over off Woodward. It was very pleasant reminiscing over the myriad framed autographed photos of pro athletes, mostly baseball and hockey players. My favorite though is the pic of Andre the Giant. I'll never forget the owner telling me the story of how Andre wolfed down 9 burgers and 9 orders of fries when he was there! The burgers I could totally see but 9 orders of fries? My God, that's a lot of starch!
The main floor has colonial history, documenting Detroit being on French trade routes, a gift shop, a mock assembly line, more Motor City car stuff and ahem, Kid Rock's Music Lab. Fortunately, there's plenty of non-Kid Rock stuff in the music lab, covering the basics of Motown, Seger, the Coop, The Stooges, MC5, Detroit techno, The White Stripes, Eminem, Madonna, J Dilla and more. There's plenty of rich music history in southeast Michigan but Bob Ritchie, son of a Cadillac dealer and most certainly not straight out of a trailer in Romeo, MI ponied up some sizable ducats for this section of the museum, so we do get stuck with a lavish Kid Rock display.
Outside of the Music Lab there's a decade by decade section with little TVs you can punch up videos on, including classic DIA and Detroit Zoo ads from the 80s. There's a small Boblo Island section documenting Detroit's late, great amusement park, accessible only by beautiful steamers that took visitors up and down the Detroit River. Sure, it wasn't half the park Cedar Point was, but damn it! It was ours!
Upstairs you'll find special exhibits. Currently, there's a large exhibition documenting the civil unrest in 1967. It's grim but illuminating, and a necessary look at a crucial chapter in Detroit's history. There's also another exhibit documenting the USA's ugly racial history, looking at the Underground Railroad of which Detroit was a final American stop before crossing into Canada. While there's tons of visual artifacts done up in eye popping 60s style for the 1967 exhibit, the Underground Railroad exhibit has precious little beyond wooden silhouettes and very sparse mock ups giving glimpses of scenery. Printed words do most of the heavy lifting here so it seems like it might be hard to keep kids focused on the history lesson.
There is a third special exhibit space on this floor, which was most recently much more light-hearted focusing on the 1968 Detroit Tigers storybook season culminating in a championship over the St. Louis Cardinals, a much needed breath of fresh air after the tumultuous events of the previous year and ongoing heaviness of the Sixties. It's currently walled off, though, in transition to whatever exhibit is coming next. That's how it goes on this floor and I have no idea how long the other two will be around.
There's also a small auditorium here - and I do mean small, it's no Detroit Film Theatre like you'll find across Woodward - where they occasionally show historical documentaries.
This is a great museum to spend two or three hours at, or maybe even four if you're super into history. It seems like it could be a bit bigger, but you can't really complain for the price, and if you couple the DHM with the DIA across the street, let alone with the Charles H Wright Museum over on Warren or the Michigan Science Center on John R you can definitely have a full day of getting your museum on. And honestly, I don't have any frame of reference to compare the Detroit Historical Museum like I do with the Detroit Institute of Art. See, I always go to art museums when I travel to other cities, but I never go to historical museums. Maybe eventually I will and then I can revisit this review. But more likely that will happen when the next special exhibit rolls around.
