What You'll Get
While time travel is an exciting idea, it loses its luster after a faulty time machine drops you in the middle of a congressional filibuster on waste-management issues. Today's Groupon offers a risk-free ticket back in time: for $5, you get two tickets to the Detroit Historical Museum, plus 10% off the museum store. Admission is normally $6 per adult and $4 for students and kids aged 5–17, giving today's deal a total value of up to $12. No need to stow wee ones away in a purse or roomy duffel bag, as children under four can visit the museum for free.
The 80,000-square-foot museum, nestled within the Detroit Cultural Center district, chronicles more than 300 years of Detroit history, in both permanent and temporary exhibits that house more than 600 historical artifacts. Cruise over to the Motor City exhibit, and learn about the development of the automobile industry as you pass through the ancient assembly line. Patrons can immerse themselves in 19th-century life in the Streets of Old Detroit exhibit, in which visitors take a stroll that begins in 1900 and travels back in time to 1840, with streets fading from brick to wood to cobblestone, while old shops and blacksmithery replicas bring a long-lost period of history back to life. Interactive displays and old-Detroit nostalgia pepper the museum floor, allowing you, your children, or your corgis to explore the city's rich history.
The Detroit Historical Museum is one of the nation's oldest metropolitan history museums, and was established in 1928 to save future generations from meaningless video-gaming existences. In addition to the admission for two, your Groupon includes 10% off purchases at the museum store, which is an ideal place to pick up a souvenir for your mantle, or to find a gift to say "sorry" to your neighborhood ice-cream man.
Reviews
The Detroit Historical Museum is a Frommer's Recommended Destination and grabs very-good-to-excellent ratings from Zagat. Nickelodeon Parents Connect calls the museum "one of the coolest cultural establishments in Detroit." Yelpers give it 4.5 stars and Judy's Book reviewers give it four:
- Take a “wonderful trip back in time” at this “pleasant, reasonable” Wayne State museum where a “rich collection” of artifacts document the history of this “important American city” – Zagat
- Walk through cobblestone streets and shops from the 1840s, 1870s, and 1900s in the Streets of Old Detroit. Located in the lower level of the museum, the attraction gives a true glimpse of what it was like to live in Detroit years back. – Parents Connect
- This is probably one of my favorite museums in Detroit! The basement houses the good ol days, with penny candy stores, and brick roads! There are also amazing guest speakers that take you back into the era of Motown and Henry Ford. If you've never been to this museum, plan to visit today! – Torrie B., Yelp
The Fine Print
Promotional value expires Dec 31, 2010. Amount paid never expires. Not valid with other offers. Merchant is solely responsible to purchasers for the care and quality of the advertised goods and services.
About Detroit Historical Museum
On November 19, 1928, the Detroit Historical Society opened the Detroit Historical Museum in a one-room suite on the 23rd floor of the Barlum Tower, earning it the nickname of highest museum in the world. These days, Detroit’s Cultural Center accommodates the museum in an 80,000-square-foot space, where interactive exhibits preserve more than 300 years of city history. Frontiers to Factories traces Detroit's transformation from French-frontier outpost to industrial city, while America's Motor City celebrates its automotive dominance with a changing display of classic vehicles and a 1903 Model T that guests can sit in. Streets of Old Detroit brings the 19th century to life with recreated cobblestone streets that wind past stores of the era such as a five-and-dime, a soda shop, and a barbershop for powdered wigs.
Thanks to recent renovations, the society has expanded its chronicle of Detroit with three new permanent exhibitions. Detroit: The Arsenal of Democracy covers the ways the city's industrial infrastructure adapted to demands of World War II, and The Gallery of Innovation includes videos about renowned innovators and hands-on activities involving trial and error. As The Allesee Gallery of Culture examines the city's cultural history, its Kid Rock Music Lab lets visitors create and share their own music using interactive displays. Outside, the Detroit Legends Plaza honors the city's sports, entertainment, and media legends with cemented handprints and signatures from stars such as Lily Tomlin and Martha Reeves.