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Dossin Great Lakes Museum facts for kids

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The Dossin Great Lakes Museum is located in Belle Isle Park

The Dossin Great Lakes Museum is a cool museum in Detroit, Michigan. It's all about ships and the history of the Great Lakes. You can find it on Belle Isle Park right by the Detroit River. This museum shows how important Detroit has been in the history of boats and shipping in the region. It's pretty big, about 16,000 square feet! Inside, you'll see amazing things like one of the world's biggest collections of model ships. They even have the front anchor from the famous ship, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank in a big storm in 1975.

How the Museum Started

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

The museum first opened in 1949. It was called the City Maritime Museum. It was actually on a wooden ship called the J. T. Wing. This ship was the last commercial sailing ship on the Great Lakes.

But the ship started to fall apart, so the museum closed in 1956. Luckily, the Dossin family from Detroit donated money to build a new museum. The city also helped out.

The new Dossin Great Lakes Museum started being built on Belle Isle on May 21, 1959. It opened its doors on July 24, 1961. A famous architect named William Edward Kapp helped design the building. In 2007, the museum got a makeover and added four new exhibits for visitors to enjoy.

What You Can See at the Museum

The Dossin Great Lakes Museum has many exciting things to explore. Here are some of the main exhibits you can find there:

  • The Miss Pepsi: This was one of the fastest hydroplane racing boats ever! It was the first boat to go over 100 miles per hour in a race. The Dossin family, who bottled Pepsi-Cola, owned and sponsored it.
  • The SS Edmund Fitzgerald Anchor: You can see the huge front anchor from the famous ship, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. The Fitzgerald lost this anchor in the Detroit River before it sank.
  • The SS William Clay Ford Pilot House: This is super cool! You can pretend to "be the captain" inside the pilot house (the control room) of one of Detroit's well-known freighters, the SS William Clay Ford.
  • The City of Detroit III Smoking Lounge: Step back in time in this beautifully restored room. It shows what it was like to travel on big lake steamers during their "golden age."
  • Model Ship Collection: The museum has one of the biggest collections of tiny, detailed model ships in the whole world. It's amazing to see how many different kinds of ships are represented!

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