For 66 years, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle has captivated visitors with stories of the Great Lakes and Detroit’s important role in maritime history.
The city paid for half of the $250,000 museum, while the Dossin family generously gifted $125,000 and their famous championship hydroplane Miss Pepsi (the first to ever top 100 mph), displayed next to the museum’s entrance since 1963. Over the years, the Dossin family has provided significant funds to support renovations and improvements to the museum.
Pictured above from right to left at the May 20, 1959, groundbreaking are George W. Stark, president of the Detroit Historical Museum; Robert M. Dossin, representing his father, food and soft drink distributor Roy L. Dossin; and Detroit City Council president Mary V. Beck. They are sharing the museum model with Sidonie Y. Dossin, 11, Douglas P. Dossin, 5, and Pamela Knighton, 5.
The Dossin wasn’t the city’s first maritime museum. It replaced the Museum of Great Lakes History, which resided aboard the landed wood schooner J.T. Wing, the last commercial sailing ship on the Great Lakes. Captain Joseph E. Johnston, a retired ocean shipmaster who led the effort to create the museum, served as its curator. That museum closed in 1956 due to the J.T. Wing’s deteriorating condition, which later led the commission to demolish the ship.
On July 24, 1960, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum opened at the J.T. Wing’s former site. Mrs. Roy L. Dossin used a bottle containing water from all five Great Lakes to christen the museum, accompanying a blessing by the Rev. Elmer B. Usher, the rector at Mariners’ Church.
Operated today by the Detroit Historical Society, the museum offers a variety of changing exhibits, lectures, and other programs. There are also several permanent exhibits, including the restored, elegant Gothic Room from the SS City of Detroit III, the pilot house from the SS William Clay Ford, the bow anchor from the legendary ship the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, the Richard and Jane Manoogian Ship Model Showcase, and the Built by the River display that explores the link between the city and the Detroit River.
This story originally appeared in the August 2026 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Click here to get our digital edition.
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