View source for Dossin Great Lakes Museum

{{Short description|Museum in Michigan}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
[[Image:DossinGreatLakesMuseum.JPG|thumb|300px|right|The Dossin Great Lakes Museum is located in Belle Isle Park]]

The '''Dossin Great Lakes Museum''' is an historical [[maritime museum]] in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. Located on The Strand on [[Belle Isle State Park (Michigan)|Belle Isle Park]] along the [[Detroit River]], this museum places special interest on Detroit's role on national and regional maritime history. The {{convert|16000|sqft|adj=on}} museum features exhibits such as one of the largest collections of model ships in the world, and the bow [[anchor]] of the [[SS Edmund Fitzgerald|SS ''Edmund Fitzgerald'']], which went down in a storm in 1975.{{efn-ua|The anchor had been lost in the [[Detroit River]].<ref>{{cite book |pages=59, 62, 69, 91|title=Interpreting Maritime History at Museums and Historic Sites |location=United States|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |editor-last1=Stone |editor-first1=Joel |isbn=978-1-4422-7909-4 |date=March 28, 2017 |type=Ebook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nStMDgAAQBAJ}}</ref>}}

==History==
[[Image:DossinGreatLakesMuseumInterior.JPG|thumb|275px|right|The Dossin Museum features artifacts and exhibits on the history and ships of the Great Lakes]]
This was founded in 1949 as the City Maritime Museum aboard the ''J. T. Wing'' wooden [[schooner]], the last commercial sailing ship on the [[Great Lakes]]. The museum closed by 1956, less than a decade later, because of the deteriorating condition of the schooner.

With $125,000 in donations from Detroit's Dossin family, and a matching subsidy by the city's historical commission, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum broke ground on Belle Isle on May 21, 1959, near the former mooring of the ''J. T. Wing.'' It was opened on July 24, 1961.<ref>[http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=34&category=government The Detroit News Archives – Review Mirror Section, Accessed April 16, 2007] {{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20120709145259/http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=34&category=government |date=July 9, 2012 }}</ref>  [[William Kapp|William Edward Kapp]] was the lead architect for the firm of [[Smith, Hinchman & Grylls]].<ref name="Witsil">{{cite news |url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/06/14/meadow-brook-hall-architect-william-kapp/7234324002/ 
|title=Downton Abbey fame leads to Meadow Brook Hall architect getting credit he deserves |first1=Frank |last1=Witsil |date=June 15, 2021 |newspaper=[[Detroit Free Press]]}}{{subscription required}}</ref>

The Dossin Museum went through a 10-week renovation ending March 24, 2007 after over $100,000 in refurbishments, added four new exhibits.<ref>Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle reopens – ''[[Detroit News]]''. March 24, 2007</ref>

==Permanent exhibits==
*The ''Miss Pepsi'', one of the fastest [[hydroplane racing]] boats of all time, and the first boat to qualify for a race at a speed of over 100 miles per hour, owned and sponsored by the Dossin Family, one of the largest bottlers of [[Pepsi-Cola]] in the United States.
*The massive bow anchor of the [[SS Edmund Fitzgerald|SS ''Edmund Fitzgerald'']]; the ''Fitzgerald'' had lost the anchor in the Detroit River
*The [[SS William Clay Ford|SS ''William Clay Ford'']] Pilot House, where visitors can "be the captain" of one of the city's most noted freighters
*The restored smoking lounge of the [[City of Detroit III|SS ''City of Detroit III'']], which transports visitors back to the golden age of lake steamers
*One of the largest known collections of scale model ships in the world<ref>[http://www.detroithistorical.org/aboutus/dossin.asp About Dossin Great Lakes Museum]</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of maritime museums in the United States]]

==References==
===Notes===
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===Citations===
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==External links==
*[http://www.glmi.org/ Dossin Great Lakes Museum]

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[[Category:Maritime museums in Michigan]]
[[Category:Museums in Detroit]]
[[Category:1949 establishments in Michigan]]
[[Category:Museums established in 1949]]
[[Category:Belle Isle Park (Michigan)]]
[[Category:Museums of the Great Lakes]]