National Heritage Areas, administered by the federal National Park Service, are encompassing geographic areas where natural resources, cultural developments and historic sites have contributed importantly to the nation’s history and evolution. Congress has designated 49 National Heritage Areas. There is, for example, an Erie Canalway National Heritage Area in New York State, an Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area in Illinois and a Northern Plains Nations National Heritage Area in North Dakota.
In 1998, members of Congress approved a Motor Cities National Historic Area commemorating the emergence and development of the American vehicle industry. It includes all or parts of 16 counties in southeast Michigan.
The Motor Cities National Heritage Area and National Park Service have erected historical markers at many relevant sites in southeast Michigan. This website presents the name of or title on the historical marker, a picture of the marker and its location. I have not, however, provided a separate verbal description since the historical markers themselves contain pictures and text describing the importance of the location.
For information about the National Heritage Areas designed by Congress and administered by the National Park Service see:
http://www.nps.gov/history/heritageareas/
For information about the Motor Cities National Heritage area, see:
http://motorcities.org/
Baby Creek/Patton Park: Labor Organization Near Rouge
On the south side of West Vernor Highway near the intersection with
Riverside in Dearborn near the border with Detroit
Big Games, Big Spaces: Tiger Stadium and Corktown Development
Located at the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull in the
Corktown neighborhood of Detroit
Ford and Dearborn: Building a Business, Building a City
16301 Michigan Avenue at the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn
Freeway Fault Lines: Development Impacts Corktown
Southeast corner of Sixth Street and Michigan in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit
I-496 Olds Freeway: Rolling Through the City
On the east side of South Washington Street as it crosses the I-496 Freeway in Lansing
Lansing’s Old Town:
Industry by the River
1200 Turner Street at the intersection of Turner Street and East Grand River in Lansing
Michigan Avenue in Corktown; A Trail of Travel and Commerce
Located at the southeast corner of the intersection of West Vernor Highway
and Michigan Avenue in front of the Michigan Central depot in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit.
Ransom E. Olds Breakthrough: Engines Turning Wheels
400 Cherry Street at the intersection of Cherry Street and East Kalamazoo Street in Lansing.
Olds Returns to Lansing: The Curved Dash Runabout
At the Malcolm X Street entrance to the new General Motor’s Grand River Assembly Plant in Lansing.
Reo City:
Living in an Auto Community
1126 South Washington in Lansing
The Roots of Industry: Fort Street and the Fisher Brothers
East side of West Fourth Street at Sixth Street in southwest Detroit
Shipbuilding Traditions along the Rouge River
Northwest corner of Woodmere and West Vernor Highway in George S.
Patton Park in southwest Detroit
Woodmere Cemetery: Honoring Victims of the Hunger March (March 7, 1932)
On the grounds of Woodmere Cemetery along West Vernor Highway in
southwest Detroit near their Dearborn border
Ypsilanti and the Tucker Phenomenon
East Cross Street at River Street in the parking lot behind the last remaining Hudson Dealer and facing the Michigan Central Tracks in Ypsilanti.