What to See and Do in Detroit
by Howard Berenbon
After winning (or losing) at one of the local Detroit area casinos, you may want to take a sight seeing break and explore the area. We have several nationally known historical landmarks in and around Detroit that you shouldn't miss, if you can get away from the tables and slot machines. Here's a list of the must-see sites.
Steamers Columbia and Ste. Claire
Location: Nicholson Terminal and Dock Company's South Slip, Ecorse, Michigan,Wayne County
The steamers Columbia and Ste. Claire are propeller-driven passenger steamships built for day trips on the lakes, a design popular in the early 1900s. Both are classic excursion ships of the Detroit and Windsor Ferry Co., designed by Frank E. Kirby, and the oldest passenger steamers in the United States. They were in service for 81 years moving passengers from Detroit to Bob-Lo Island, an amusement park located in Canada.
Cranbrook Educational Community
Location: 500 Lone Pine Road, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Oakland County
Cranbrook is a private school and science museum built in 1907 by George Gough Booth (publisher of the Detroit News) and his wife, Ellen Warren Scripps Booth, on their farm estate in Bloomfield Hills. Named after the Booth family ancestral home, the English village of Cranbrook, it consists of their home, Cranbrook House, the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Brookside School, Kingswood School for girls, Christ Church, Cranbrook School for boys and Cranbrook Institute of Science.
Fair Lane - Henry and Clara Bryant Ford House
Location: 4901 Evergreen Road, Dearborn, Michigan, Wayne County
Fair Lane was the 2000 acre residential estate of Henry Ford (1863-1947) and his wife Clara Bryant Ford (1866-1950) on the Rouge River. Currently, it's used by the University of Michigan Dearborn Campus as a conference center.
The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, The Edison Institute
Location: Oakwood Boulevard, Dearborn, Michigan, Wayne County
The Edison Institute, also know as the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, is both an indoor and outdoor village museum illustrating the history of American material progress.
Ford River Rouge Complex
Location: 3001 Miller Road, Dearborn, Michigan, Wayne County
The Ford River Rouge Complex, a 2,000-acre site, was the first plant to cover all steps in automobile assembly line production, beginning in 1927 with the Model A.
Fox Theatre Building
Location: 2111 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan, Wayne County
The Fox Theatre, in Detroit, is the largest continually operating theater in the country and one of the few remaining movie theaters from that era. It was designed and built in 1928, for William Fox , by C. Howard Crane. The following year, an identical theater, the Saint Louis Fox Theatre, was built.
