Dossin Great Lakes Museum

The Dossin Great Lakes Museum is located in Belle Isle Park.

The Dossin Great Lakes Museum is an historical maritime museum in Detroit, Michigan. Located on The Strand on Belle Isle Park along the Detroit River, this museum places special interest on Detroit's role on national and regional maritime history. The 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m²) museum features exhibits such as one of the largest collection of model ships in the world, and the bow anchor of the legendary SS Edmund Fitzgerald.

History

The Dossin Museum features artifacts and exhibits on the history and ships of the Great Lakes.

Originally founded in 1949 as the City Maritime Museum, aboard the J.T. Wing wooden schooner, which was the last commercial sailing ship on the Great Lakes, the museum was shuttered by 1956, because of the deteriorating condition of the schooner.

With $125,000 worth donations from Detroit's Dossin family, and a matching subsidation by the city's historical commission, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum broke ground on May 21, 1959, and was opened on July 24, 1961, at the former Belle Isle location of the J.T. Wing.^[1]

The Dossin Museum, after a 10-week renovation, re-opened to the public on March 24th, 2007 after over $100,000 in refurbishments. The renovation added four new exhibits, and the museum will rotate exhibits more often than in previous years.^[2]

Permanent Exhibits

• The Miss Pepsi, one of the fastest hydroplane racing boats of all time, and the first boat to reach a speed of 100 miles per hour
• The massive bow anchor of the legendary SS Edmund Fitzgerald; the Fitzgerald had lost the anchor in the Detroit River
• The SS William Clay Ford Pilot House, where visitors can “be the captain” of one of the city’s most noted freighters
• The restored smoking lounge of the SS City of Detroit III, which transports visitors back to the golden age of steamers
• One of the largest known collection of scale model ships in the world^[3]

References

1. ^ The Detroit News Archives - Review Mirror Section, Accessed April 16, 2007
2. ^ Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle reopens - Detroit News, March 24, 2007
3. ^ About Dossin Great Lakes Museum

External links

• Dossin Great Lakes Museum

Coordinates: 42°20′05″N 82°59′07″W / 42.3348°N 82.9854°W / 42.3348; -82.9854