Detroit's Hidden History Guided Walking Tour

Our tour begins at Grand Circus Park, in the center of Downtown Detroit. We will introduce our tour and familiarize you to one of the most impressive bearded statues in Detroit. We will also discuss potatoes.

When a relentless tinkerer rolled his first horseless carriage out of a Detroit garage, he couldn’t have foreseen the revolution he’d ignite. Henry Ford crowned Detroit the Motor City—but did his legacy also sow the seeds of its unraveling?

Little did they know a slave hunter was hot on their trail and the ensuing struggle for freedom would push a city already on the edge into destruction.

Augustus Brevoort Woodward was nobody’s idea of normal – naming himself after a Roman Emperor was just one example – but he had a vision to turn Detroit into the greatest city in the world. Unfortunately the most powerful men in Michigan had other ideas.

When Detroit’s own Joe Louis faced off against the undefeated German Max Schmeling in their second iconic bout, Americans—Black and White alike—saw more than a boxing match: it was a clash of freedom against fascism. Fewer know what unfolded after the final bell, when a rivalry became one of sports history’s most unexpected and enduring friendships.