The Historical Museum of Bay County, Michigan, United States
4.5 (34 reviews) Spent Ranking #8 in Bay City History Museums
Top-notch museum
Seven of us are bicycling across Michigan, and visited the museum on a layover day in Bay City. Corrine, one of the museum staff, oriented us and answered many questions about the area, its history and current situation. Exhibits include Native American culture, logging, lumbering, maritime, and (news to us) salt mining and sugar beet farming in the county. The exhibits are professional with frequent first-person accounts and appropriate artifacts. We could have easily spent another hour absorbing all the narratives and stories. An outstanding museum and a real gem. Don’t miss it.
Address
321 Washington Ave, Bay City, MI 48708-5837
Mobile
Website
http://www.bchsmuseum.org/
Current local date and time now
Tuesday, May 14, 2024, 5:20
User Ratings
4.5 based on (34 reviews)
Reviews
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5Jo G 5:00 PM Feb 18, 2019
Take a trip into Bay City past
A gem of a museum and a revelation (or three) The insights into the early days of the bay area in a charming, informative and well laid out display covering the region from the earliest settlements right up to today. Learn how the logging industry made way for shipping, kit homes, chemicals and the motor industry. How the native indian population gave places their names. And how time carves into the character of the land. This is not a once only visit but a constant source of information and insight.
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5interceptpubs 5:00 PM Aug 17, 2018
A cut above your typical county museum
A lot of county museums are just repositories of junk people no longer want but can't bear to through away - sadly the staff usually can't say no and has no sense of what is historically significant so what you get looks like a flea market without the little price tags. This museum isn't like that at all. The exhibits tell an interesting story of the county's past highlighted with some interesting artificants and great information panels. The first floor starts with the pre-contact Native Americans in the area then passes through the fur trading era through logging, mining, industry, etc. There is a very interesting display on the militia in the Bay County area from the Provincials formed after the Civil War that ended up being mobilized for the Spanish-American War, the local ambulance companies that served during the First World War, and even the Michigan "polar bears" that served in the American Expeditionary Force that were sent to Russia in 1919. However, the real gem of the museum is the maritime gallery on the second floor. This covers the various shipbuilding enterprises that called Bay City home in the 19th and 20th centuries from wooden sailing and steam ships to motor yachts and World War II and Cold War warships as well as Tugboats, navigation aids, and much, much more. There's also a theater where the view can chose amongst several videos to watch and a small gift shop with various souvenirs and history books for sale. Admission is free, and you can easily spend a couple hours here learning a lot about this areas fascinating past.
