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Site 8 I 96 EB ramp to I 75 SB Detroit CROPPED and RESIZEDI-275 Northbound at US-12 Michigan Avenue in Canton
Drivers around the Michigan are likely to notice something new along the highways -- those familiar brown National Park Service signs with a message welcoming them to the MotorCities National Heritage Area! The first nine signs were installed in November and December 2019 and are the culmination of many years of work with the Michigan Department of Transportation. An additional five signs were added in the Spring of 2020 to bring the total to 14!

Site 6 WB I 96 before US 127 RESIZEDWestbound I-96 before US 127 near Lansing

You can find the signs at the following locations:

  • Southbound I-75 before the Mt. Morris exit north of Flint;
  • Eastbound I-69 near Lansing Road northeast of Lansing;
  • Eastbound I-96 near the I-69 interchange northwest of Lansing;
  • Eastbound I-96 near the US 127 interchange southeast of Lansing;
  • Westbound I-96 near the US 127 interchange southeast of Lansing;
  • Westbound I-94 before the M-59 exit in Chesterfield Twp.;
  • Eastbound I-96 on the ramp to southbound I-75 in Detroit;
  • Northbound I-75 on the ramp to westbound I-96 in Detroit;
  • Northbound I-75 near Monroe-Wayne County border;
  • Northbound US-23 near Exit 15 in Dundee;
  • Northbound I-75 just south of the Michigan Ave. exit in Detroit;
  • Southbound I-75 just north of West Grand Blvd. in Detroit;
  • Northbound I-275 at the Michigan Ave. exit in Canton;
  • Eastbound I-94 near US 127 interchange in Jackson;
  • And Northbound US-23 just south of the I-94 interchange in Ypsilanti.

Site 3 EB I 96 SB I 69 RESIZEDEastbound I-96 near the I-69 interchange

Join Us for our next session coming in November 2022!

Brown Paper Lunch Bag MC

 

Watch our most recent sessions:

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month w/Cindy Estrada of the UAW
Wednesday, October 12, 2022 

UAW.Cindy_Estrada.jpg

Watch the October 2022 session here.

Building the Auto Industry: The History of Organized Labor
Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Orgzd Labor is Marching WRL.21 Orig

Watch the September 2021 session here.

Individual Members 2026

Robert Andersen
Bruce Annett Jr.
Meg Baker
John Baker
Larry Baker
Robert Barr
Michael Bauman
Linda Beauchamp
Marie Beauchamp
John Beck
Robert Benko
John Biedenbach
Sabin Blake
John Bomarito
Mallory Bower
Terry Boyce
Todd Bryan
Robert Burtch
Robert Burtch
Stephen Burton
Joe Bushong
Scott Bushong
Mark Carpenter
Robert Causley
Jaclyn Clark
Ed Clemente
John Clor
John Cole
Richard L. Coleman
James Crawford
Aaron Dahnke
Michael Darga
John Dau
Randy DeGasperin
Robert J. Degenhart
Jacqueline Dick
Charles Dimaria
James Dimond
Rich Dobson
William Donnelly
Russell Dore'
Larry Doyle
James Dyar
Jan Eathorne
Kenneth Ehrenhofer
George Etheridge
Sinche Family
Walter Reynolds Farley
Frederick Flock
Laura Foxman
Gerard Franchina
James Fry
Lloyd Ganton
Harvey Geiger
Elijah Gothberg
Donald Graham
Joel Grgurich
Allen Grzebyk
Jeannette Gutierrez
Heather Haack
Theresa Hall
Gerald Haller
Patricia Hallman
Deborah Hartwick
Margaret Hehr
Charlie Henry
Mark Heppner
Fred Hoffman
Sue Huggett
Daniel Hughes
Wayne Johnson
Michael T Jones
Cynthia Jones
Bill Jones
Bob Kellum
Christopher S. Kelly,Sr
Larry and Eleanor Kelsch
Richard Kinsey
Kevin Kirbitz
Gerald Klein
Strat Koutsouvilis
Robert Kreipke
William Krueger
Lori Lanspeary
William Lawson
Christine Lezotte
Terry Lindsey
George Linker
Kevin Luedtke
Roger and Joan Luksik
David Marold
Michael Mazor
Jerry & Elizabeth McLain
Anne Michelis
David Miller
Thomas Mitchell
Mark Mundorff
Pete Murdoch
Kathleen Mutch
Bruce Nelson
Nick Nerbonne
Joseph Neussendorfer
Don Nicholson
Tim Pawl
Larry Peplin
David and Rebecca Pettengill
David Pierce
Julie Pingston
Charles Pleier
Chris Pokorski
Shawn Pomaville-Size
Arthur Pope
Ken Poynter
John J. Pregler
Jerry Preston
Lila Randolph-Fedokovitz
Richard Ray
Brian Raymond
Charles Reavis
Thomas Remington
Terenence Robinson
Natalia Rocafuerte
Richard Rogers
William Romanski
Joseph Ross
Dick Roth
Richard G. Russell Jr.
James Saliba
Marjorie Sawruk
Joe Schotthoefer
Kurt Schumacher
Sharon Scott
Shawn Pomaville Size
Mike Skinner
Robert Slazinski
Harvey Snitzer
David Stevens
John Summerville
Randy Thayer
Nick Thomas
Nancy Thompson
Clay Thompson
Christopher Topham
Bob Tripolsky
Richard Tweedle
James Varty
Roberta Vasilow
Renee Voit-Porath
Douglas Wallace
Charles Watson
Bruce Webster
Ed Weichsler
Robert Weidendorf
Jay Weidner
Christopher Welborn
Kevin Wilson
Thomas Winkes
Geneva Wiskemann
Larry Wolohon
David & Mary Wood
Kenneth Yopp
Carol Zagorowska
Paul Zatyko
Nelson Zuchetto


Organizational Members 2026

Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation
ASBE Foundation
Automotive Hall of Fame
City of Northville
Detroit Region - Lambda Car Club, Inc.
Don Nicholson Enterprises, LLC
Durant Dort Carriage National Landmark
Ford House
Friends of Highland Recreation Area
Friends of Historic Hamtramck
Gilmore Car Museum
Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society
Grigg Graphic Services, Inc.
Grosse Pointe Historical Society
Henry Ford Estate, Fair Lane: Home of Clara & Henry Ford
Meadow Brook Hall
Merze Tate Explorers
Michigan Firehouse Museum and Education Center
Michigan Labor History Society
Michigan Military Technical and Historical Society
Michigan Rosies (Rosie the Riveter Association of Michigan)
Model A Ford Foundation Inc.
Oh These Irish Hills!
Old Mill Museum /Historical Preservation Society Dundee
Packard Motor Car Foundation, Inc.
Pontiac Transportation Museum
Project Arts & Ideas, Inc.
R.E. Olds Transportation Museum
Roush Automotive Collection
Steve Purdy
The Henry Ford
U.S. & International Supreme Court of Justice & Appeals
Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum
Ypsilanti Historical Society
 

Tributes

Gail Bagale in memory of Ed Bagale
Suzanne Banner in memory of Peter Helck
Chuck Dalton in memory of Gary Dalton
Patrick Foster in honor of Vincent Geraci
Gregg Hothem in honor of James Hothem
Jeffrey Limerick in memory of William E. Melvin
Kevin Luedtke in memory of Dr. Charles A. Blackman
David Schmidt in honor of Albert F. Schmidt
Lawrence Stobbe in honor of Frederick A Stobbe
Greg Stoner in memory of Jeffrey Stoner
Mark Thomas in honor of MacMullen
Robyn Tonkin in memory of Clare E. Cardy

 

MotorCities Automotive Themed Tours Now Available!

MotorCities is partnering with five Detroit-area tour operators to offer public tours related to the automotive or labor heritage of Michigan.  

Tour experiences available vary from walking or riding in a bus to pedaling a bicycle – all while visiting key automotive historical sites and learning the story of how the region put the world on wheels.

Antique Touring photo RESIZED 450    Wheelhouse Detroit Auto Heritage Tour DeQuindre Cut RESIZED AND CROPPED 2022

We are proud to offer the following experiences: 

City Institute

  • City Institute - MotorCities Auto Heritage New Center and Dearborn Walking Tours - On the New Center walking tour, guests will experience the past, present and future of the Detroit area, going back in time with a visit to the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant and speak with some of the innovators who now call these neighborhoods home. This tour is offered on June 22 and August 24. The Dearborn walking tours take place on May 25 and July 27 and provide the opportunity to learn how the past and present of this city are interwoven, get to know the people leading some exciting new projects and see the innovations and adaptations of this important city. For more information, please visit http://thecityinstitute.com/public-tours

City Tour Detroit

  • City Tour Detroit - Becoming the Motor City: A Timeline of Detroit’s Auto History Paul Vachon, author of the Reedy Press book of the same name, guides these tours offered in 2024 on June 22, July 21, Aug 24, and Sept 29. The 3-hour walking tours will also utilize the Detroit People Mover and QLine. For more information, please visit https://citytourdetroit.com/

 

  • Michigan Labor History Society – Detroit Labor History Tours This group offers a free two-hour bus tour in June that drives by the Ford Rouge plant, site of the 1932 Ford Hunger March and the 1937 “Battle of the Overpass” with stops of the Ford Piquette Plant Museum, the Motown Museum and the “Transcending” labor legacy landmark in Hart Plaza. A narrated one-mile walking tour of downtown Detroit is also available. For more information, please visit http://mlhs.wayne.edu/.

Russell Brothers City Tours logo RESIZED

  • Russell Brothers City Tours – Get on board for a fun-filled tour of automotive landmarks in the city of Detroit. Your guide, Emmy-winning TV and radio personality Greg Russell, takes guests to places they may know and some sites they might not. If guests have particular sites they’d like to see, just let Greg know. The tours are informative, insightful and most importantly, fun! For more information, visit https://russellbrotherscitytours.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Wheelhouse Detroit

  • Wheelhouse Detroit - Auto Heritage Bicycle Tour - On this 15-mile tour, guests will discover how Detroit became the center of industry. The tour takes in the Globe Building, Dequindre Cut, Packard Plant, the GM Factory Zero (formerly Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant), Milwaukee Junction, New Center (old GM Headquarters and Fisher Building), and TechTown, where we will learn how industry is evolving with advanced technology. Tour dates are June 23, July 28, August 25, September 22, and October 13. For more information, please visit https://www.wheelhousedetroit.com/auto-heritage.