Events by Month

Ages 6+

Families are invited to join us for a group tour of the museum, featuring our Origins: Life Where the River Bends, America's Motor City and Streets of Old Detroit exhibitions. After the tour, participants are welcome to stay and explore the rest of the galleries.

$6 per child, one free chaperone, $8 additional chaperones (includes admission and programming)

Pre-registration is required

JUNE 9 | JULY 14 | AUGUST 11 | SEPTEMBER 8 | OCTOBER 13 | NOVEMBER 10 | DECEMBER 8 | JANUARY 12

To celebrate the new exhibition Kresge at 100, museum admission will be free on the second Sunday of the month through January 2025, courtesy of the Kresge Foundation.

Ages 6+

Families are invited to join us for a group tour of the museum, featuring the S.S. William Clay Ford Pilot House; the restored Gothic Room from the S.S. City of Detroit III; and the newest permanent exhibit, Built by the River. After the tour, participants are welcome to stay and explore the rest of the museum at their leisure. 

Spend an evening in Detroit with a Free Night at the Museum, compliments of the Kresge Foundation!

Featuring a panel discussion on the Black retail experience in Detroit from 6-8 p.m. led by Kenneth L. Harris, PhD. 

Museum admission is FREE from 5-8 p.m.

Spend an evening in Detroit with a Free Night at the Museum, compliments of the Kresge Foundation!

Featuring a panel discussion on the Black retail experience in Detroit from 6-8 p.m. led by Kenneth L. Harris, PhD. Dr. Harris is the 12th National President/CEO of the National Business League, the oldest and largest trade association for Black businesses in the country. He is an expert economic historian and entrepreneur, with a dual PhD in African and African American Studies.

Museum admission is FREE from 5-8 p.m.

Join us for MLK Day 2025 at the Detroit Historical Museum!

Celebrate this important day with variety of educational programming, including panel discussions, a sampling of Dr. King's inspirational speeches, and storytelling.

The day will conclude with a birthday celebration for Dr. King and singing Stevie Wonder's “Happy Birthday.” Attendees can also take a selfie with our life-sized photo of Dr. King. Birthday cupcakes will be available to take home upon departure.

Participation is free with registration.

SOLD OUT! Please email education@detroithistorical.org to be added to the waitlist.

Built by industrialist and art collector Charles Lang Freer in 1892, the Freer House is a masterpiece of American shingle-style architecture and the birthplace of the Freer Gallery of Art (NMAA, Smithsonian) in Washington, D.C. It also housed the Merrill-Palmer Institute, which evolved into the renowned Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute (MPSI). 

SOLD OUT! Please email education@detroithistorical.org to be added to the waitlist.

This 22,000 square foot canal-front stucco mansion was built by Lawrence Fisher at a cost of $2.5 million in 1928. In 1975 it was jointly purchased by Alfred Brush Ford (great-grandson of Henry Ford) and Elisabeth Reuther Dickmeyer (daughter of UAW President Walter Reuther) for the Bhaktivendanta Cultural Center.

SOLD OUT! Please email education@detroithistorical.org to be added to the waitlist.

Karl Kurz, grandfather of the present owner, opened his German-style Rathskeller in 1933, inspired by those he remembered in his native Wiekersheim, Germany. Take a history-focused tour and view the Inn’s artifacts and old-world decor, followed by a meal – wurst, schnitzel, meatballs, German potato salad, kraut, tossed salad, apple strudel, and coffee (beer/other drinks not included)