When America needed tanks, planes and trucks to win World War II, it called Detroit — and Detroit answered. The Detroit Historical Museum’s Arsenal of Democracy exhibition tells how the Motor City converted its auto plants to war production, built Willow Run bombers at a plane an hour, and welcomed hundreds of thousands of new workers who changed the city forever.
The exhibition mixes vehicles, wartime posters, factory artifacts and personal stories, including the women who stepped onto the lines — the real-life Rosie the Riveters — and the tensions and triumphs of a boomtown at war. It remains one of the museum’s most moving permanent displays.
The Detroit Historical Museum is at 5401 Woodward Avenue in the Cultural Center; the Detroit Historical Society has operated it since 1928. Exhibition and admission details are at detroithistorical.org.
