MotorCities National Heritage Area
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
MotorCities National Heritage Area
"Find Your Road Trip" auto-tourism guide
One of the 230 wayside signs within the heritage area
Educational wayside sign
Car at an Autopalooza event, a statewide summer auto-tourism initiative
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The National Park Service has designated 49 National Heritage Areas, which are unique areas that tell a story about a significant point in the U.S.’s history. The MotorCities National Heritage Area (MNHA) was established on November 6, 1998. MNHA links historic sites affiliated with the development of the automobile and the auto industry in Michigan. It spans across 10,000 square miles and 16 counties in Southeastern and Central Michigan. MNHA contains 1,200 sites, the largest concentration of auto-related sites in the world. It generates more than $410 million in economic impacts and supports over 4,500 jobs.1
Various education, tourism, and
preservation programs are put on by MNHA and its affiliates. 230 wayside exhibit
panels with information and photos mark sites of historical significance. There
are self-guided driving tours published in the annual booklet "Find Your Road Trip," as well as online tours along the Detroit River
and Rouge River. The MNHA webpage has interactive maps and resources to point
visitors to historic sites and events going on in their area. Events include a lecture
series, Michigan Auto Heritage Day, and Autopalooza, an auto heritage tourism
initiative to collaborate and cross-promote auto events around Michigan in the
summer months. The “Forward Gear Yesteryear” program encourages young people to
go into engineering fields of study while providing tours of auto factories. “Making
Tracks” is a project aimed at telling the story of African-Americans who
playing an important role in the auto industry. The MotorCities Ambassador program
recruits volunteers inform the public about the mission of MNHA and organize
events in their local areas such as festivals and car cruises. Finally, MNHA
also has a grant program for projects to revitalize or preserve sites that are
important to the auto or labor history of the area.2